The Beginner‘s Guide to Share of Voice:

How to Measure, Analyze and Improve Your Brand‘s Share of the Conversation

As a marketer, you‘re likely drowning in a sea of metrics and KPIs. From click-through rates to conversion rates to return on ad spend, the list of numbers to track can seem endless. But there‘s one critical metric that often gets overlooked in the mix – share of voice.

At its core, share of voice (SOV) measures how much of the overall conversation your brand owns compared to your competitors. It‘s a way to track your brand‘s visibility and mind share in the market. And while it may not be as tangible as sales or as flashy as viral video views, SOV is a key indicator of your brand‘s health and growth potential.

In this guide, we‘ll break down exactly what share of voice is, why it matters, and most importantly, how you can start tracking and optimizing it across different channels to give your brand a boost. Put on your analytics hat and let‘s dive in!

Why Share of Voice Matters for Brand and Business Growth

Before we get into the nitty gritty of SOV calculations, let‘s take a 10,000 ft view of why this metric is so important. At the end of the day, marketing is all about capturing people‘s attention. The more people see and talk about your brand, the more mental real estate you own, and the more likely people are to think of you when it comes time to make a purchase.

As Seth Godin puts it, "Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell." And share of voice is essentially a measure of how well your brand‘s story is spreading compared to competitors.

Consider these statistics:

• Brands that have a higher than average share of voice typically grow their market share over time. In fact, the average brand with a SOV above its SOM (share of market) tends to gain market share, while those with SOV below SOM tend to lose share. (Source)
• A study by Nielsen found that a 10% lift in SOV translated to a 0.5% lift in sales volume. (Source)
• 80-90% of the impact of marketing on sales happens in the long-term, and it takes an average of 6-12 months for the effects to fully play out – meaning consistent SOV is key to driving results. (Source)

In other words, growing your share of voice can help you capture more of the market and drive more revenue over time. So how exactly do you measure and influence your SOV? Let‘s explore how it breaks down across three key types of media – paid, earned, and owned.

Calculating and Optimizing Share of Voice in Paid Media

Paid media refers to any channel where you‘re putting ad dollars behind your message to reach an audience – think PPC search ads, paid social ads, display ads, video ads, etc. Back in the days of mostly traditional advertising, paid SOV was calculated by looking at metrics like:

• Share of impressions: What percentage of total ad impressions served in your space did you capture?
• Share of expenditure: What percentage of the total amount spent on advertising in your category went to your brand?

But in today‘s digital world, we can get more precise by looking at metrics like:

• Impression share: Of the total available ad impressions your ads were eligible for, what percentage did you actually receive? (This takes into account factors like budget, keyword bids, and ad relevance).
• Share of voice: Of the total searches for your keywords, how often do your ads show up?
• Top of page rate: What percentage of your ads show up in the very top ad positions?

Most ad platforms, like Google Ads, will show you these metrics right in their interface. Here‘s how it looks in Google Ads:

To calculate your impression share, simply take the number of impressions you‘ve received divided by the total number of impressions you were eligible for.

For example, if your ads were estimated to be eligible to show 10,000 times, and you received 3,000 impressions, your impression share would be 30%.

Once you know your baseline metrics, how can you improve them? A few tips:

1. Increase your ad budget. The more you‘re willing to spend, the more opportunities you‘ll have to show up.
2. Improve your ad quality and relevance. The better your ads perform in terms of click-through-rate and conversions, the more often the ad platforms will show them.
3. Expand your keyword targeting. Identify new keyword opportunities to go after in your space.
4. Test new ad formats. Experiment with things like responsive search ads that dynamically adjust your messaging to take up more real estate.

The goal is to continue inching up your share of the paid conversation over time by consistently monitoring, tweaking, and investing in your ad strategy.

Earning Your Share of Voice Through Earned Media

Earned media is any publicity or coverage your brand gets through unpaid promotion – media mentions, PR, reviews, influencer shoutouts, word of mouth, etc. This third-party validation is incredibly valuable for building credibility and buzz.

To measure your share of earned media conversation, track metrics like:

• Share of voice in media mentions: What percentage of total media coverage in your space mentions your brand vs competitors?
• Share of voice on review sites: What percentage of reviews in your category are about your product or service?
• Social media & online mentions: How much are people organically talking about your brand online compared to others?

Tools like Cision, Meltwater, and Brandwatch are great for tracking media and social mentions. For example, here‘s a social share of voice breakdown from Brandwatch:

A few strategies for increasing your earned media SOV:

1. Create newsworthy content. Produce data-driven industry reports, infographics, and assets that publications will want to cover and link to.
2. Execute PR & influencer outreach. Proactively pitch relevant media contacts and influencers to secure coverage and mentions.
3. Encourage customer reviews & testimonials. Reach out to happy customers and incentivize them to leave reviews on popular third-party sites.
4. Engage in real-time marketing. Newsjack relevant trending topics to insert your brand into the conversation in a timely way.

The key is to be proactive about generating great earned media opportunities, rather than just waiting for them to happen organically. As you secure more high-value placements, you‘ll see your SOV rise.

Optimizing SOV on Your Owned Media Properties

Owned media includes any web property your brand controls – your website, blog, social media profiles, email list, etc. While it may seem counterintuitive to track "share" of voice on your own channels, it‘s still important to measure how you stack up in your space.

Key owned SOV metrics include:

• Organic search SOV: Of all the searches happening for your target keywords, what percentage of the clicks are going to your website?
• Social engagement SOV: How much engagement (likes, shares, comments) is your content getting compared to competitors?
• Backlink SOV: What percentage of links in your industry are pointing to your site vs others?

Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and BuzzSumo can give you this data. For example, here‘s how a keyword‘s organic search share of voice breaks down in SEMrush:

Some ways to boost your owned SOV:

1. Prioritize SEO. Target high-value keywords, create in-depth content, and build your domain authority to increase organic rankings and traffic.
2. Build a community on social. Consistently post engaging content, ask questions, run contests, and interact with your followers to keep them active.
3. Implement linking best practices. Encourage others to link to you by creating valuable resources, building relationships, and even submitting your site to relevant directories.
4. Leverage email. Build your subscriber list and regularly send marketing emails to encourage repeat traffic back to your site.

Essentially, you want to treat your owned channels like a media company would. Create great content, optimize for discoverability, promote yourself, and measure your audience reach and engagement.

Putting It All Together for Powerful Competitor Intel

By tracking your share of voice across paid, earned, and owned media, you start to get a 360 degree view of how much of the conversation you own in relation to competitors. Gathering this data into a centralized dashboard can help you visualize your SOV at a glance:

Aside from just measuring your own SOV, analyzing the competition is arguably even more valuable. Some questions to consider:

• Where are your competitors outperforming you? On what channels and topics?
• How is their SOV changing over time?
• What strategies and tactics seem to be working well for them?
• What whitespace opportunities are they not taking advantage of where you could swoop in?

Competitive SOV analysis can give you ideas for new keywords to target, earned media outlets to pursue, content gaps to fill, and so much more. The goal is to always be looking for opportunities to steal share from others while protecting your own.

Connecting SOV to Business Outcomes

Of course, building brand awareness and conversation is great, but how does share of voice actually translate to business results? There are a few key ways:

1. SOV is a leading indicator for market share. A variety of studies have shown that brands who sustain a higher SOV than their market share tend to grow over time, while those with a lower SOV tend to shrink.

2. SOV is linked to sales. Analysis by Nielsen found that a 10% lift in SOV drove a 0.5% lift in sales volume for the average CPG brand.

3. SOV sustains brand equity. Consistently high SOV means more people are discovering and talking about your brand, leading to increased awareness, consideration, and positive sentiment – all of which ladder up to long-term brand equity and pricing power.

Consider this case study of the Airbnb vs VRBO rivalry:

In the span of about 5 years, Airbnb went from owning ~20% of the online conversation to over 70%, far outpacing VRBO‘s growth. And that translated to real market dominance – as of 2019, Airbnb owned 20% of the entire US consumer lodging market, while VRBO‘s share was only about 1%.

By aggressively capturing share of voice through PR, content marketing, advertising, and customer experience, Airbnb was able to massively grow their brand and business. That‘s the power of a strong, sustained SOV.

Kick-Starting Your Share of Voice Strategy

Feeling inspired to go out and conquer your industry‘s share of voice? Here‘s how to get started:

1. Benchmark your current SOV across paid, earned, and owned channels
2. Set SOV goals by channel based on your overall business objectives
3. Track competitive SOV and look for opportunities and threats
4. Execute strategies to increase SOV like paid advertising, SEO, PR/influencer outreach, social media engagement, etc.
5. Report on SOV progress monthly and analyze trends against business results
6. Adjust and optimize your approach as you learn

It‘s important to remember that growing SOV is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes consistent, sustained effort to move the needle and keep it moving over time. But the payoff – in terms of brand equity, market share, and ultimately revenue – is well worth it.

Thankfully, with the wealth of tools and data at our fingertips today, measuring and optimizing for SOV is more accessible than ever. So what are you waiting for? It‘s time to get out there and start boosting your brand‘s share of the conversation. Your bottom line will thank you.