What is shared media?
Shared media is all attention spread through social channels: posts others publish about your brand, reactions, reviews, and the sharing of your own content. You can feed and encourage it, but not control it. In the PESO model, shared media sits between owned and earned.
Written by Timon Hendriks · Last updated on 12 July 2026
How it works in practice
Shared media starts the moment others carry your story: a customer recommending your product, an employee sharing a publication, a peer responding to your post. That shared attention is partly earned (others choose to share) and partly steerable (you supply content worth sharing).
You feed shared media by making shareable material: striking research, a strong infographic, or an outspoken position. Employees are your biggest lever; their combined networks are almost always larger than your company account. And respond to what gets shared: a conversation yields more than a broadcaster that only transmits.
Example
A Milwaukee consultancy for sustainable construction publishes a checklist for contractors facing new building codes. Three employees share the checklist on LinkedIn, clients forward it inside their companies, and an industry association posts it in its member group. Without a dollar of media budget, the checklist reaches thousands of people in exactly the right audience.
Common mistake
Confusing shared media with your own social accounts. What you post yourself is owned; shared is what others do with your story. The question is not "what shall we post" but "why would anyone share this".
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between shared and owned media?
Your own channels and what you post there are owned media. Shared media is what others do with it: sharing, reacting, recommending. You manage owned fully; shared you can only feed.
How do you encourage shared media?
Make content worth sharing (research, practical tools, a clear position), make sharing easy, and activate your employees. Their combined network usually dwarfs your company account.