• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 17, 2010

Troja, founder of Social Symphony said the new dirty word in social media marketing may be "free." No, not free in the sense that Wired's Chris Anderson might mean it, but in the sense that budget-conscious marketers and PR agencies do.

Speaking during a panel on "paid" vs. "earned" strategies at OMMA Social in New York, Troja said the whole nomenclature comes out of the PR industry, which was first to begin using the concept of "earned media" long before social media emerged. Heck, he said they began using it before the Internet emerged - about 20 to 30 years ago - to convey the value of what PR practiononers traditionally do: Get a client's message out into the marketplace without buying media for it.

"Then the 'free' word came along," Troja said in apparent distaste. He said the term can be used as a noun, ad in procuring "free media" inventory. Or better yet, he said, it could be used as an adjective, as in the process of earning valuable media inventory from a marketer's end users.

"As an adjective," he said, the word conveys a meaning of, "earning respect."

"And I'd prefer to think of it as an adjective."

No freebies for Social Symphony's Troja