Share of Voice: What Is It? And How Do You Measure It?

Understanding how well your brand or client is communicating its message is not just a choice - it's a necessity. And for public relations pros, there's a helpful metric that allows you to determine where you stand vs. the competition.

Share of voice (SOV) is used to measure the attention your brand or client gets in comparison to competitors. It helps to evaluate your visibility and presence in the market.

In this blog, we’ll cover what SOV is, how to measure it and how you can work to boost it.

Keep reading to learn more!

What Is Share of Voice?

SOV tells you how much your brand or client is being talked about or mentioned within a specific industry. It’s often expressed as a percentage and can be calculated based on various factors - such as advertising spend, earned media coverage or social media mentions.

It helps businesses understand their relative presence and influence in the conversation when it comes to their target audience.

Measuring share of voice is important for several reasons:

• Competitor Research: SOV helps you figure out where you stand against competitors. Who's the most prominent in your industry? This insight helps you identify areas where you may be lagging and where you excel.
  
  
• Brand Visibility: A higher SOV often indicates that your brand is more top-of-mind among consumers, which can lead to increased awareness and trust.
  
  
• Market Trends: Monitoring SOV over time can help you identify trends in your industry. If your SOV is consistently increasing, it may suggest that your PR or marketing strategies are working effectively. Conversely, a declining SOV might signal the need for adjustments.
  
  
• Strategic Decision-Making: SOV can guide resource allocation, marketing budget planning and competitive positioning strategies. If you have a lower SOV, you might decide to invest more in marketing and promotion to gain ground.
  
  
• Customer Insights: High SOV can indicate that your brand resonates well with your target audience. On the contrary, a low SOV might prompt you to investigate customer preferences and sentiments to improve your market position.
  
  
• Share of Market: SOV is often correlated with share of market (SOM). A higher SOV can lead to an increased share of the market's business, which translates into higher revenue and profitability.
  
  
  • SOM defines the percentage of an industry or a market's total sales, that is earned by a particular company over a specified period.

In essence, measuring share of voice is a valuable tool for assessing your brand's rank in the market, improving your ability to make informed decisions and stay competitive.

What Can You Measure With Share of Voice?

SOV is a versatile metric used in PR, marketing and advertising that allows you to measure and analyze various aspects of your brand's presence and performance in the market.

Here are several key areas you can measure and gain insights into using share of voice:

• Market Visibility: SOV shows how much attention your brand gets compared to others in your field.
  
  
• Competition Comparison: It lets you see how your communications and marketing programs stack up against your opponents.
  
  
• Brand Awareness: A high SOV often means more people recognize your brand.
  
  
• Campaign Success: SOV measures how well your ads and communications are doing. If it goes up during a campaign, you're doing great. If it drops, you may need to adjust your strategy.
  
  
• Geographic Analysis: Calculate SOV in different locations to figure out where your focus needs to be stronger.
  
  
• Customer Sentiment: While SOV mostly deals with numbers, you can also use it with customer opinions. Listen to what people say online to see how SOV affects what they think about your brand.
  
  
• Share of Search: SOV can tell you how often people look for your brand online compared to others.
  
  
• Share of Social Media: Analyze your brand's performance on social media. See if you're getting mentioned, liked, shared and commented on more than your competitors.
  
  
• Product Launch Impact: SOV helps you measure how well a new product is doing when it hits the market.
  
  
• Seasonal Trends: SOV can show if your brand is more popular at certain times of the year. This helps plan your advertising budget.

By measuring your brand or client’s SOV in various contexts and against different competitors, you can make informed decisions to enhance your market position, improve brand awareness and optimize your marketing strategies.

How Do You Measure Share of Voice?

There are various SOV types - including advertising, media coverage, social media, SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) keywords, impressions and more. These metrics help assess different aspects of brand visibility and competition in the market.

The general formula for measuring SOV is:

(Number of brand metrics ÷ Total number of industry or competitor metrics) x 100

You can calculate share of voice through a step-by-step process. Here's a simple guide to help you calculate media coverage SOV.

Step 1: Define Your Metrics

First, you need to decide what media you want to include in your analysis. This could be online articles, social media mentions, TV/radio coverage, etc. You also need to specify a time period for your analysis, such as a month or a year.

Step 2: Identify Competitors

Make a list of your main competitors or other brands you want to compare your media presence with.

Step 3: Gather Data

Collect data on how often your brand and your competitors are mentioned in the chosen media during the specified time duration.

You can use PR tools such as media monitoring software (part of the Notified PR Platform) to help you gather this data quickly and effectively, reducing the need for manual work!

Step 4: Calculate Total Mentions

Add up all the mentions for your brand and each competitor separately.

Step 5: Calculate Your Share of Voice

To calculate your SOV, use the following formula:

SOV = (Total Mentions of Your Brand / Total Mentions of All Brands) * 100

Step 6: Analyze Your Results

The result will be a percentage that represents your brand's share of voice in the media compared to your competitors.

Step 7: Compare vs. Competitors

For a more comprehensive analysis, calculate the SOV of your key competitors using the same formula. Compare your brand's SOV with that of competitors to understand how your efforts measure up in the market.

How To Increase Your Share of Voice

Boosting your SOV in the market is essential for enhancing brand visibility and outperforming competitors.

Here are some general best practices to help you increase your share of voice:

• Boost PR Efforts: Invest in PR efforts to secure media coverage and mentions in news articles, blogs and industry publications.
  
  
• Invest More in Advertising: Dedicate more budget to advertising efforts.
  
  
• Focus on Effective Channels: Identify and prioritize high-performing communications and marketing channels.
  
  
• Utilize Social Media: Share valuable content, engage with your audience and encourage user-generated content to increase your presence.
  
  
• Improve SEO: Improve website SEO for higher organic visibility.
  
  
• Use PPC: Use targeted pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to boost online visibility.
  
  
• Collaborate With Influencers: Partner with influencers to increase brand awareness and expand your reach.
  
  
• Monitor Trends and Seasonality: Adjust strategies according to industry trends and seasons.
  
  
• Geotargeting: Customize marketing and communications for specific regions.
  
  
• Prioritize Customer Engagement: Satisfied customers are more likely to mention and recommend your brand, increasing your SOV through word-of-mouth.
  
  
• Maintain Consistency: Present a uniform brand image across all channels.
  
  
• Customer Reviews and Testimonials: Promote positive reviews and testimonials.

Keep in mind that improving your SOV requires a strategic, ongoing effort and a deep understanding of your target audience and market dynamics.

Thanks for reading! We hope this article helps you better identify your brand or client’s position in the market, improves the evaluation of your competitors' position and uncovers opportunities for growth.

Learn How Notified Can Help You Prove PR Impact

The Notified PR Platform helps you tell powerful brand stories and prove PR impact with everything you need - right at your fingertips:

• GlobeNewswire press release distribution
• Media monitoring and social listening
• Media contacts database
• PR measurement reports
• Newsletters, alerts and coverage books

The Measure module within the platform specifically helps you track detailed PR performance metrics – including share of voice – to give you the full story you need for clients or the C-suite.

Discover how the Notified PR Platform can elevate your PR game in today's fast-paced media landscape – get an interactive tour today!