The term Earned Media is often used in conjunction with the other two types of media: Paid Media and Owned Media. Earned Media, as opposed to Paid Media or Owned Media, represents word-of-mouth marketing (content that is generally not paid for) that helps build awareness for the brand, or drives visitors into the advertiser’s owned media.
Examples of earned media would include social mentions, likes, reviews, SEO, retweets, recommendations. Producing great content (eBooks, webinars, blog posts, etc…) is also an effective vehicle for driving earned media, because that content can be syndicated and generate inbound links, etc…