The term Share of Voice (SOV) is a marketing metric that reveals how much visibility and attention your brand commands compared to competitors. Simply put, it answers the question: What portion of the conversation or market presence belongs to you?
Share of Voice Definition
The share of voice meaning is straightforward: it’s the percentage of exposure your brand receives within a market, channel, or category compared to the total exposure of all competitors. This exposure can be measured through mentions, ad impressions, keyword rankings, or other relevant metrics.
SOV meaning has evolved over the years. Traditionally, it referred to media spend, indicating how much a brand invested in advertising relative to competitors. Today, its use spans across SEO, social media, paid advertising, PR, and digital marketplaces. For example, if your brand receives 15% of all social mentions in your industry, your social media SOV is 15%.
Why is Share of Voice Important?
Understanding what is share of voice helps marketers make informed, data-driven decisions. Here’s why it matters:
Competitive Analysis Tracking SOV allows brands to benchmark performance against competitors, highlight gaps, and uncover new growth opportunities.
Correlation with Market Share There’s a strong link between SOV and market share. Brands with a higher SOV than their market share, known as Excess Share of Voice (ESOV), often experience faster growth. Research shows there can be a positive correlation between excess SOV and market share growth. So, the higher the ESOV, the higher the market share you can capture.
Marketing Optimization Insights from SOV analysis guide where to allocate advertising budgets, which keywords to target, and what channels drive the most impact. So, share of voice marketing helps you become more efficient with your KPIs.
Brand Growth Potential High SOV signals strong brand presence, which often points towards increased customer acquisition and retention over time.
Evaluating Campaigns While SOV does not measure campaign success directly, it indicates whether your campaigns have enough visibility to compete effectively.
Share of Voice vs. Share of Market
There is frequent confusion between share of voice vs. share of market. While they are related, they measure different metrics:
Share of Voice: Measures how much exposure or attention your brand receives in a given channel or category (e.g., SEO impressions, ad clicks, media mentions).
Share of Market: This metric represents the percentage of total sales or revenue your brand generates in the market.
A brand can have high SOV but low market share if visibility doesn’t translate into conversions. However, consistently maintaining a higher SOV than market share often leads to market share growth. In other words, investing in share of voice marketing can be a pathway to increasing revenue.
How is Share of Voice Measured?
You don’t need to be a math geek to understand this.
The formula for calculating SOV is: SOV = (Your brand’s measures ÷ Total measures) × 100
The "measures" depend on the channel:
SEO Share of Voice: Compares your website’s estimated traffic for specific keywords against total competitor traffic.
Paid Advertising (PPC): Measures share of clicks or impressions within a market.
Public Relations (PR) Mentions: Tracks unpaid media mentions in online publications and blogs.
Social Media SOV: Measures how often your brand is mentioned in online conversations compared to competitors.
Marketplace SOV (e.g., Amazon): Calculates product visibility, either by counting listings or weighting higher placements more.
For a broader understanding of how each of these measures work, please refer to our article on how to calculate SOV.
How Share of Voice is Used Across Marketing Channels
SOV has its presence across a variety of marketing channels:
SEO Share of Voice Tracks how your website performs for targeted keywords compared to competitors. High SEO SOV signals strong keyword dominance and a higher likelihood of clicks.
Paid Advertising SOV in PPC campaigns shows how visible your ads are compared to competitors. Platforms like Google Ads provide this data to help optimize bidding.
PR and Media Coverage Tracks unpaid media mentions to measure brand awareness and authority.
Social Media Helps understand how much of the online conversation your brand owns compared to rivals.
Marketplaces Measures how often your products appear in key placements. For instance, holding 50 out of 100 placements means a 50% marketplace SOV.
Common Pitfalls in Share of Voice Analysis
Marketers often misunderstand SOV by:
Treating it as a standalone success metric without linking it to conversions or customer sentiment.
Misinterpreting seasonal spikes as sustained growth.
Focusing on low-volume keywords or irrelevant mentions that inflate SOV without driving revenue.
Ignoring the customer perspective when optimizing visibility.
How to Improve Share of Voice Marketing
Improving share of voice marketing involves a mix of strategic planning and consistent execution:
Content Quality and Expansion Develop relevant, authoritative, and user-focused content. Update pages regularly and target high-value keywords.
Technical SEO Optimize site speed, mobile usability, and metadata to strengthen SEO share of voice.
Thought Leadership Publish guides, whitepapers, or industry research to build credibility and attract backlinks.
Social Engagement Encourage audience interaction and sharing across platforms to boost organic mentions.
Backlink Acquisition Secure high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites to amplify search visibility.
Integrate PR and SEO Combine PR mentions and keyword strategies to build a unified visibility plan.
Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, DeepDive, and Brandwatch can track SOV, analyze competitors, and guide decisions to increase market presence.
Understanding what is share of voice is essential for brands aiming to enhance visibility, benchmark against competitors, and drive sustainable growth. A high SOV alone doesn’t guarantee success, but when combined with a robust content plan, strong SEO, and customer-centric marketing, it becomes a powerful indicator of market influence.
Whether you focus on SEO share of voice, social media visibility, or paid advertising, the key is to measure consistently, interpret data accurately, and align your share of voice marketing strategy with your long-term business goals.
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