SOV Meaning: Share of Voice

Digital marketing efforts are measured with a wide range of metrics, and there are many acronyms – CPC, CRO, CTR – that may be confusing to those not in the marketing field. One marketing metric you might not be familiar with is SOV: share of voice.

Read on to learn what SOV is, how it is calculated, and how you can use this metric to improve your business’ marketing and advertising campaigns.

Share of Voice Definition

A definition from Hootsuite defines share of voice as a metric that “helps you understand how your brand or company is performing in comparison to your competitors”.

TrackMaven states that share of voice “measures how much of the conversation with target consumers your brand owns versus your competitors”.

A more traditional definition from Brandwatch calls share of voice “how big your share of advertising is compared to all of your competitors”.

Share of voice used to measure only advertising, but now can be used to look at your performance compared to competitors across different marketing platforms. This metric essentially determines how much of the market your brand controls in your industry.

What is SOV?

SOV, share of voice, is an advertising metric that measures how much of the market your brand owns, relative to competitors. It essentially benchmarks your brand visibility within your specific industry. Share of voice refers to how much of the conversation (digitally speaking) your brand dominates.

The higher your brand’s share of voice, the more popular and relevant your brand is in your industry. A high SOV likely means you are an authority in your field, and therefore likely to win over potential new customers and gain better ad exposure and brand awareness online.

SOV usually refers to the share of voice in paid search advertising, like PPC campaigns. By this older definition, SOV refers to the amount of ad exposure you receive compared to competitors.

Now, SOV can be applied to more than just paid search. Compare SOV across metrics including social media engagement, SEO, overall profits or ROI, impressions, or any other metric in which you can measure your hold on the market compared to competing businesses.

Share of Voice Calculation

Share of voice can be calculated for a few different metrics, but the general calculation is as follows:

(Your Brand Metrics / Total Market Metric) x 100 = Share of Voice

Depending on which metric you want to measure, you may be able to calculate SOV yourself. Often, it is easier to use an analytics tool like Google Analytics, Google Adwords, or some other analytics software.

Why You Should Measure SOV

Share of voice can be a useful metric to consider, especially when looking for a competitive analysis of how your business is performing relative to others in your industry. SOV tells you how your business fares compared to competitors, and tracking SOV over time can show you where you’ve lost or gained ground in your market.

Calculating share of voice across different platforms can also help you recognize where your business falls short. Maybe you have a dominant share of voice in your market on social media, but your SEO SOV is lower. This could tell you where you need to refocus your efforts and improve your business’ overall share of voice and marketing in general.

Tracking SOV can also tell you whether or not new ad campaigns or changes to your website, social media, or marketing strategy was effective. If you try a new ad campaign and your SOV declines, it may be a sign that your ad needs work.

SOV Meaning: Final Thoughts

SOV is a helpful metric to better understand how your business fares compared to competitors in your industry. Share of voice can help you see how much of the market you dominate, but it is far from the only metric you should consider when assessing your digital marketing strategy. Learn more key marketing terms and how to improve your marketing plan by visiting our blog.