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You can delete a tweet, but you can’t delete the press. Why earned PR can be a shock to the system for social natives.

Posted on by Claire Stephenson

In modern PR, everything is connected.

That is the logic behind the PESO model – Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned media – developed by communications strategist Gini Dietrich as a framework for integrated communications. And if treating those four areas as one system was useful before, the rise of AI-powered search is making it increasingly difficult to justify doing anything else.

AI search runs on one fuel: information.

And when it sees information from different sources – your website, journalists, publications, communities, social platforms and other parts of the web – it uses those sources to construct answers about organisations, products and people.

Google says its AI Overviews and AI Mode rely on its existing Search ranking and quality systems to retrieve relevant web pages, while ChatGPT Search similarly provides answers accompanied by links to web sources.

That’s why your communications need to be integrated – and they need to tell the same story. A truthful, fact-checked one.

Truthfully integrated comms

The point of PESO isn’t simply that brands should “do a bit of everything” – though admittedly that’s a good starting point.

But a deeper understanding comes from seeing that that each part of the matrix does a different job.

Owned media gives you a place to establish your expertise and explain your position in full. Shared media distributes, discusses and reframes it through networks and communities. Paid media gets relevant content in front of audiences you might otherwise struggle to reach.

And earned media does something fundamentally different.

While you have almost complete control of what your say on your own website, social media and advertising, when it comes to getting published in the actual news media, somebody else decides your story is worth publishing.

That distinction has always mattered for human credibility. It is beginning to matter in a different way for machine-mediated discovery too.

Muck Rack’s May 2026 What Is AI Reading? research analysed more than 25 million links appearing in responses from ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini across 17 industries. It reported that earned media accounted for 84% of the citations it studied.

That shows, in modern PR, you cannot simply buy – or post – your way into authority.

Nor can you build everything on your own website and assume everyone – human or machine – will automatically accept what you say about yourself.

Modern visibility comes from creating useful owned information, distributing it intelligently, amplifying it appropriately and, crucially, earning independent recognition for it.

Integrated PR is therefore not about making four departments use the same campaign hashtag.

It is about creating a consistent body of evidence around an organisation.

The approval shock

This is where integrated communications occasionally hits a cultural pothole.

Teams that have grown up primarily in social media can find the approval requirements surrounding earned media surprisingly intense.

Why does this press release need another check? Why does that person need to approve their quote? Why does somebody mentioned halfway down the release need to see it? Why are PR people being so painfully cautious about what they say?

The answer is not that traditional PR people have an unusual fondness for tracked changes. It is because there is a profound difference between self-publishing and being published.

You can edit a LinkedIn post. You can delete a tweet or X post. You can change the wording on your website. You can unpublish an article, update a caption or replace an image at the touch of a button.

Earned media is different. Because it’s someone else’s finger on the button.

A press release is called a “release” for a reason

Once a press release has actually been released, control starts disappearing very quickly.

It may have reached journalists’ inboxes. It may have been uploaded to a newswire. It may have been syndicated elsewhere. A reporter may already be writing from it. Another publication may have picked up the first report. Search engines may have indexed it.

And, increasingly, an AI system may retrieve one of those copies later.

If you want to change something after the release has gone you cannot just reach through the internet and pull the original fact back into your phone or laptop.

You can issue an updated release. You can contact journalists with amended information. Yeah – you can annoy and disappoint as many people who decide whether or not to publish your next piece of news as you like. It’s up to you.

What you can’t do, is just delete it or change it. It’s gone. So getting it right first time is imperative.

Trust is earned

Unlike social media warriors, journalists work under core obligations around accuracy. The UK Editors’ Code, enforced by IPSO for participating publications, requires the press to take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information and to correct significant inaccuracies promptly and with due prominence.

Reuters similarly describes accuracy as central to its journalism and says accuracy takes precedence over speed.

That’s why, when working with the media, accuracy and trust in what you say is of ultimate importance.

If you can earn a journalist’s trust, your audience – their readership – will naturally follow suit. Trust is earned. And that’s what makes it valuable.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash.

Social media and employee advocacy 

Posted on by Claire Stephenson

Social media is a great tool for business messaging and sharing content with an audience. This includes employees too, which is often forgotten about. Encouraging positive use of employees using social media to share your organisation’s content and messaging is a powerful form of advocacy, allowing business messaging to be shared in an authentic way. 

Global research by LinkedIn and Altimeter Group looked at the top 100 of the most socially-engaged companies on LinkedIn with more than 1,000 employees. The results showed that employee social engagement boosts business outcomes.  

The top-line findings were that socially-engaged companies are: 

  • 40% more likely to be perceived as competitive 
  • 57% more likely to get increased sales leads  
  • 58% more likely to attract top talent 

Advocacy 

Employee advocacy is an important part of your marketing toolkit. Your people are the authentic, grassroots of your organisation. They can help with building brand awareness, trust with clients and customers, and importantly, forming stronger connections with all employees in the organisation.  

According to research by Nielson, 84% of consumers trust in recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising, and 77% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after hearing about it from someone they know. Facilitating an authentic employee advocacy programme allows you to build strong messaging and sharing opportunities for new audiences. 

Hootsuite research shows that “employee advocacy also helps to retain and engage employees, especially Millennials who expect a digital connection with their leaders, community, and peers.” 

Understanding best practice for professional social media use is helpful in determining what your business needs and how to deploy it within your strategic communication plan. 

Which platforms? 

With Twitter being on shaky ground with the latest acquisition by Elon Musk, it’s a good time to reassess your social media for business, and audit existing platforms. For example, LinkedIn may be a key platform for your content messaging. It’s like a professional address book – recruitment, job searching and networking are all strong features. If, for instance, Twitter becomes obsolete as is rumoured, would you rely more heavily on LinkedIn, and could your employees benefit from some guidance on sharing business content? 

Key considerations 

Here are three key points to consider, to enable positive and successful social media for your business. 

  1. Have a clear and consistent social media policy – ensure your company’s social media guidelines are up-to-date and accessible to all employees. Include guidance on harassment, legal responsibilities of publishing content on public forums, and posting responsibly. Outline the official company social account handles and if staff are identifying themselves as employees of the company, do you need to encourage them to add a disclaimer to their bio, such as “All opinions are my own” for example? 
  1. Ensure staff have regular social media training – social media platforms and algorithms are continually updating and evolving. If you’re actively encouraging staff to engage and share content, providing basic support and information should be a minimum. Training on using social channels successfully will allow everyone to be supported and on the same page, keep cyber safety and security as a priority, and ensure brand messaging remains consistent.  
  1. Encourage social advocacy – consider setting up a specific programme to encourage employees to take part in social networking, content sharing and thought leadership. Could you incentivise employee advocacy through rewards and benefits? This could be anything from monetary or gift rewards, to recognition and company shoutouts. Employee advocacy programmes benefit both brand and employee: “brands enjoy increased awareness and controlled messaging while employees earn rewards and establish themselves as thought leaders in their field”. 

Hootsuite’s predictions on social media for businesses in 2023 indicate that those who employ a social-first approach towards their brand and customers, will benefit most. Maggie Lower, Hootsuite’s Chief Marketing Officer said: 

“Social media has never played a more central role to businesses. As businesses continue to look for ways to future-proof operations and connect with today’s tech-savvy customers, social media and digital marketing will inevitably play a part in nearly every business strategy. 

“In 2023, businesses that take a social-first approach to their brand and customer care strategy will be the ones to reap the benefits. Stronger brand reputation, greater customer interaction, trust and loyalty – now and in the future – depends on it.” 

Maggie Lower, Hootsuite

Are you making the most of LinkedIn?

Posted on by Michael Gregory

Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is the dominant social media for the business world. Now owned by Microsoft, as of December 2020, LinkedIn has 760 million registered members from over 150 countries.

In our digitally led-world, it’s the place to engage with likeminded professionals, build your network and establish commercial relationships.

Our social media strategists can help you use LinkedIn effectively with our bespoke training programmes. These workshops will help you make the most of this important business networking platform.

We also deliver LinkedIn training modules and cover the following:

  • LinkedIn Basics – how to get started
  • Creating a profile that works – making sure you stand out from the crowd
  • Using LinkedIn – mastering LinkedIn to build your networks
  • Company pages – how to set up a company profile and make it work for your organisation
  • LinkedIn content strategies – how to create a calendar of compelling content
  • LinkedIn advertising – how it works and measuring activity

If you’d like to know more, drop us a line at enquiries@limitlesspr.co.uk