Share of voice (SOV) is a metric that measures how much of the total conversation in your market belongs to your brand, relative to your competitors. Originally used in advertising to measure media spend, SOV has evolved in the digital age to encompass social media mentions, organic search visibility, earned media, and more.
In simple terms: if there are 10,000 conversations happening in your industry each month, and 2,000 of them mention your brand, your share of voice is 20%.
Research consistently shows a strong correlation between share of voice and market share. Brands with higher SOV tend to grow faster, retain customers more effectively, and weather competitive threats more successfully. This is because SOV is a leading indicator — it reflects how present your brand is in the minds of potential customers before they make a purchase decision.
Tracking SOV over time also reveals competitive dynamics that other metrics miss. If your SOV is declining even as your revenue grows, it may signal that competitors are gaining ground and eroding your long-term position.
The formula for SOV is straightforward: divide your brand's mentions by the total mentions of all brands in your competitive set, then multiply by 100. The challenge is gathering accurate mention data across all relevant channels — social media, news, blogs, forums, podcasts, and more.
Manual measurement is impossible at scale. Social intelligence platforms like New Intel automate SOV tracking across all major channels, giving you real-time visibility into how your share of conversation changes in response to campaigns, competitor moves, or industry events.
Social SOV measures your brand's presence in social media conversations relative to competitors. Search SOV measures your organic and paid search visibility. Media SOV measures your presence in news coverage and earned media. Each channel tells a different story, and the most sophisticated brands track all of them.
Growing SOV requires a multi-channel approach. Invest in content marketing to capture more organic search visibility. Build a consistent social media presence that generates ongoing conversation. Pursue earned media through PR, thought leadership, and data-driven reports that journalists want to cover. Partner with creators and influencers who expand your reach into new audiences. And monitor your competitors closely so you can respond quickly when they make moves that threaten your position.
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