Share of Voice in marketing – Your space in customers’ minds
Most business owners look at market share instead of the Share of Voice. After all, people tend to think that you can sell a product or service easier if consumers see it often. They might think big brands like Coca-Cola succeed because you can buy their beverages at almost any store.
Little do they know that these huge companies pay millions to have lasting impressions on consumers. Nowadays, this has become a more competitive metric with the rise of social media. Fortunately, even small businesses can expand their Share of Voice!
Let’s define what Share of Voice (SOV) is and how it’s different from Share of Market. After that, I will share more details on why more digital marketing campaigns focus on SOV. Later, you’ll learn ways to calculate your Share of Voice.
Share of Voice vs Share of Market
You might be wondering why the title compares Share of Voice with Share of Market immediately. That’s because it’s easy to mistake the two based on the definition.
For example, Sprout Social defines it as “a measure of the market your brand owns compared to your competitors.” However, the “market” could refer to products for sale or the customers.
A similar-sounding term called Share of Market (SOM) measures the former. According to Merriam-Webster, it’s the portion of the market for a company’s product or service.
Let’s say we’re measuring the market share of a brand of cookies based on your neighborhood’s total market. You may start by checking how many stores sell those cookies.
Assume that those stores are the only ones that sell cookies. Then, let’s say that there are only ten stores and six offers of that brand. That means the brand’s share makes up 60% of the total.
Note that this is a super simplified example. A brand will have to consider so many other factors in real life. Now, let’s discuss what the Share of Voice measures.
Otherwise known as SOV, it estimates how many people know your brand. This was important even in the time when traditional marketing channels were prevalent.
Back then, people relied on the radio, TV, and various types of print media to learn more about the latest products. That’s why ads were shown frequently on these platforms.
Advertisements played a major role in influencing consumer decisions. They were a major factor in whether or not a person would look for a certain brand at a supermarket.
However, only a few ideas can remain in a person’s mind. This meant that ads must leave lasting impressions on viewers to get a major share of their attention.
Why is Share of Voice important?
Today, Share of Voice still means the same, but it measures different factors. Digital marketing is king now, so it checks metrics like online impressions, shares, and likes.
A business still needs to measure it because it can help in various ways. For example, it lets you see how your marketing campaign is doing.
The overall goal of marketing is to convince consumers to choose your brand over others. If you have a large Share of Voice, that likely means more people remember your brand than others.
There are many other reasons to pay attention to your brand’s Share of Voice. Learn more about them below:
- Market research – SOV can offer more insights into your target audience. Even better, you might be able to divide into smaller groups or niches. Eventually, you may want to find out how to serve niche audiences better.
- Competitive analysis – See your Share of Voice compared to your competitors’. For example, you might want to check how many times your brand has been mentioned on Facebook then look at theirs.
- Brand image – You might want to check what your Share of Voice says about your brand. In other words, SOV analysis can show you what people think of your brand. Let’s say many people know about your brand, but they think it’s bad. That may translate into high SOV, but they may steer clear from your products.
Read More: How Post-COVID Marketing Works
How is Share of Voice calculated?
You can’t exactly measure how many people remember your brand. You can measure the actions that may prove that they recall your products and services.
For example, you could count the number of times your ads got clicks. Here’s the simplest template that people used for calculating Share of Voice:
Your brand metric / Total market metric x 100
In other words, you divide your chosen metric with the real market metric. After that, you multiply it by 100. The result should give you the percentage of your Share of Voice.
Nowadays, most companies don’t compute this by hand. After all, you can find so many online tools that can measure all the needed metrics in real-time.
If you need more data, you can choose from many small business tools. You may want to check the best ones by clicking here. If you need social media Share of Voice, it’s even easier!
That’s because social media sites provide business tools on their own. For example, Facebook can measure organic searches and other metrics for companies.
Believe it or not, TikTok is becoming a major part of digital marketing campaigns. You may also access its analytics tools by turning your regular account into a Pro account for free.
How to increase Share of Voice
Another great thing about our times is that you can boost your Share of Voice with little to no extra budget. For example, you can start right now by improving your SEO.
That term means “search engine optimization,” It involves methods that make it easier for you to rank high on search results. This allows more people to see your brand.
As a result, you more people who are aware of your brand. Eventually, this may reflect as an increase in your Share of Voice. You could boost your SEO by adding certain keywords.
These are words and phrases that are related to your brand. Also, they must be terms that people often look for in search engines like Google.
There are so many other ways to get higher SOV. Learn more about those methods by reading the following list:
- Always be active on your social media channels. Make sure you have someone who will keep it up to date with the latest posts. Moreover, that person should be ready to handle customer concerns that reflect well on the company’s image. If you don’t have a social media assistant, this might be a good time to hire one now.
- Your Share of Voice should be speaking with your customers. In other words, don’t rely on just broadcasting about your brand. Instead, have someone who can speak with customers so that you can build trust. Again, this is when a social media assistant comes serves an important role.
- Post online content that people will find worthwhile to share with others. Some brands choose to inspire with feel-good videos. Others pick the funny route by posting humorous memes; as more people share your content, your Share of Voice increases.
- Publish online articles with information that’s valuable to your target audience. People will view your site as a handy source of tips, so your brand is more likely to stick to their minds. You may want to post sponsored content on other sites too. These are online articles that blend with other content on a third-party website.
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Final thoughts
Now you know the gist about Share of Voice. As you’ve read, this involves a lot of time and effort. After all, you will have to consider so many marketing channels.
Using the tools we’ve discussed could save you time and effort, but they’re not enough. That’s way too much work, and a business owner such as yourself has so many other tasks.
That’s why you might want to let LeadAdvisors take care of your digital marketing. Its expert teams can plan, execute, and analyze your campaigns for you. Click here to learn more.
