This is the way you personal your organization’s personal media and forestall others from stealing it

Media is the answer to almost every question in today’s business world. How do you increase brand awareness? Media. How do you generate new leads? Media. What is your company’s primary image control method? Media, media, media.

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Companies are increasingly investing in content marketing and their own media to build customer relationships, but newcomers to these worlds should be aware of their pitfalls – one of the biggest is loss of property. Once you create media, be it a video, an infographic, or even a clever tweet, you run the risk of others copying or hijacking it. Here’s how to make sure your own media is yours only:

1. Look at earned media

Owned media is content that your company creates itself, while earned media is content that has been created about your company by an independent creator, usually a news agency or blog. The two work great together – according to the e-commerce platform BigCommerce, it was found that Earned Media 88% more trustworthy as a content portfolio that was only based on its own media – and the combination of these media can also give you access to your own media.

For example, when your company creates a viral video, this virality is often reported by various news outlets who then attribute it to the original source, making it harder for your content to violate. Affiliation with your business by a well-known news agency can be a powerful deterrent for content thieves. Create your own media that will grab the attention of deserving media and the power of both types of content will increase.

2. Create a strategy

Owned Media’s promise is compelling: just start creating your own content and deliver it on the web, right? The reality is a little more complicated. Without a coherent strategy, your media will appear arbitrary and voiceless. Most worryingly, bad actors find it easier to steal and post them than their own. If you don’t have a strategy, you don’t know what was published where, by whom, and by whom – perfect ingredients to slip through the cracks.

Related: Why your brand should double up on its own media

Any content you create should be planned and curated in advance to create an overarching message about your business. This ensures that any media created by your business can be instantly recognized as such by someone watching it – it’s hard to copy something that consumers would generally recognize as part of your style. Once you have this set, create a content calendar that specifies where, when, and how your media will be posted so you can keep track of everything you post.

Having a media strategy of your own will help you keep an eye on the diffusion of whatever your business creates, but the benefits don’t stop there. Aux Mode digital rights management platform reports that some content creators have seen subscriber growth by over 600% after adopting a long-term content strategy. Not only can you keep your media safe, but you can also give them more reach by simply giving them the direction they need it most.

3. Stay away from warehouse contents

Part of owning your own media is curating every aspect of it – the message, the visual style, the edition, and so on. While there is nothing inherently wrong with using ready-made elements like photos or videos appropriately, there is a risk that your media may have an ambivalent relationship with your business.

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If you use stock photos regularly, someone else may be using the same stock photos to violate the style of your media, and there is not much you can do to stop them. Try to make all aspects of your content completely original, as the benefits go well beyond media security: a survey by the infographic platform Venngage found that, though 40% of marketers Use stock content more often than original content, only 13% believe it will produce the best results – 40% believe that original illustrations and infographics produce the best results.

It’s not enough to create your own media: you really need to make it your own if you want to stand out from the crowd. The more pronounced, noticeable, and memorable it is, the more difficult it will be for others to claim it for themselves.