How to Leverage Earned Media to Increase Brand Loyalty and Advocacy
In today's competitive business landscape, earned media has emerged as a powerful tool for building brand loyalty and advocacy. This article delves into effective strategies for leveraging earned media, drawing on insights from industry experts. Discover how to weave media wins into community experiences, create shareable moments, and transform customer praise into collaborative opportunities that drive long-term brand success.
- Weave Media Wins into Community Experience
- Blend Earned Media into Customer Communications
- Create Shareable Moments for Authentic Advocacy
- Amplify Client Successes as Relationship Builders
- Turn Customer Praise into Collaborative Opportunities
Weave Media Wins into Community Experience
My strategy for leveraging earned media to deepen brand loyalty is rooted in inclusion and visibility. When a client or customer sees themselves reflected in a bigger story—whether that's a press feature, a case study, or a quote in a top-tier outlet—they begin to associate their success with your brand. So, instead of keeping media wins siloed, I look for ways to weave those stories back into the community experience. That might involve highlighting a client feature in a newsletter, tagging them on social media, or using their quote as a real-world proof point in an onboarding sequence. The result? They don't just feel supported—they feel seen.
A great example of this was when one of our FemFounder interviewees was later picked up by a national outlet. Instead of just celebrating the media win, we looped her story into our weekly founder digest and spotlighted how her pitch strategy evolved. The post received 5 times more shares than the average, and she ultimately referred two more founders for interviews. By turning her success into a community moment, we reinforced our value while building genuine advocacy in the process.
Blend Earned Media into Customer Communications
As Director of Consumer Marketing at RedAwning, the leading short-term rental platform offering 20,000+ vacation properties worldwide, I've spent over a decade navigating the intersection of technology, hospitality, and consumer engagement. My approach focuses on building meaningful brand connections that turn transactional travel moments into loyal, repeat experiences—especially in the highly competitive short-term rental space.
In hospitality, where trust is the currency, earned media possesses the uncommon power to validate a brand's promise. We approach earned media as something more than a top-of-funnel driver; it's a narrative tool that continues to shape brand identity for our current customers. When a travel journalist writes about the easy booking process of a guest booking with RedAwning or a travel influencer organically raves about one of our luxury villas, that endorsement is not just a new-user magnet. It acts as a public reiteration of what our trusty customers already know and believe — and want to be assured of: that they've made a good choice.
One example stands out. A Forbes Travel article last year showcased one of our high-end coastal properties as the number one pick for family vacations. We didn't just pay to promote it, but blended the article into post-stay communications, loyalty emails, and inside our app. This was a point of pride and validation for our returning guests — they haven't simply booked a vacation; they've booked one that's been editorially acknowledged. Our data, however, reported a 17% increase in rebookings for those who received that campaign. That's the exponential power of earned media done right: emotional resonance, not just exposure.
Create Shareable Moments for Authentic Advocacy
A couple on their honeymoon once found RentMexicoCity.com through a Reddit thread—not an ad. That single post led not only to their booking but to three of their friends visiting Mexico City months later. That's the power of earned media.
Our strategy to harness it is centered around experiential storytelling. We don't just host guests—we co-create moments they're proud to share. For example, after a guest celebrates an anniversary on one of our rooftop properties, we proactively ask if they'd like a behind-the-scenes feature on our blog or Instagram—highlighting their story, not just our listing. With their permission, we tag them and include a "local love list" they helped co-curate. This human-centric content becomes shareable, sincere earned media.
Here's what's worked best for us:
- We create "share triggers" by gifting local experiences that spark storytelling—like a mezcal-tasting kit or a walking tour with a street art guide. Guests often post these surprises without being asked.
- We track UGC (user-generated content) through hashtags and location tags, then personally reach out to thank and feature those posts. That follow-up alone turns guests into vocal advocates.
- We've also partnered with micro-creators who previously stayed with us, not with money, but by inviting them back with friends. This generated an 18% boost in repeat bookings from their networks in one quarter.
Ultimately, the most effective earned media strategy we've found is to treat every guest like a future storyteller. We don't chase mentions—we earn them by making people feel seen and valued.
As a former tech founder, I'm wired to track performance. Our NPS (Net Promoter Score) jumped from 54 to 71 in just 12 months after implementing this human-first, story-driven approach. And nearly 40% of our traffic today comes from sources we never paid for—just people talking.
That's when you know you've built more than just a rental platform—you've built a community.
Amplify Client Successes as Relationship Builders
Earned media is one of those things that, when done right, feels effortless but has enormous payoff. At Spectup, we treat it less like a PR checkbox and more like a way to let our clients and partners tell the story for us. People trust people, not press releases. So our strategy starts with delivering above expectations—because no one advocates for you unless they're genuinely impressed. From there, we actively encourage clients to share their experiences publicly, not by pushing them, but by giving them something worth talking about—like when one founder posted about how we helped them close a round 3x faster with our investor readiness work. That post brought in three new qualified leads without us lifting a finger.
We also keep an eye out for micro-moments: a tweet about a great call with us, a LinkedIn mention of a deck we helped shape—then we amplify those moments. It's earned, but we don't just let it float by. One time, we turned a client's LinkedIn shoutout into a mini case study that landed in several newsletters. That snowballed into a podcast invite for them, and guess who they brought up unprompted? Exactly. Loyalty deepens when clients feel like they're growing with you—not just buying from you.
Turn Customer Praise into Collaborative Opportunities
My approach to using earned media to build brand loyalty and advocacy is simple: amplify happy customers and make them feel like co-creators of the brand. Earned media - whether it's a customer's social post, a review, or a media mention - carries far more trust than anything a brand can say about itself. So I focus on turning those moments into relationship-building opportunities, not just marketing wins.
One strategy that worked really well was when a customer's TikTok about our product went viral. Instead of just reposting it, we reached out, thanked them personally, and invited them to join a beta group for our next launch. We also featured their video on our website and in our newsletter with their permission, highlighting them as part of our community - not just a case study.
That small gesture created even more user-generated content because others saw that we don't just notice our customers - we celebrate them. Engagement increased and we saw a measurable lift in retention among those who interacted with the campaign.
The key is to treat earned media not as one-off wins but as doorways to deeper connection. When customers feel like their voice has influence and that the brand genuinely values them, loyalty becomes natural. It's not about amplification for vanity - it's about trust, recognition, and turning moments of praise into meaningful collaboration.
