By Chantal India, on 5 September 2024
Marketing metrics are key to determining the success of a campaign, whether it's digital advertising, brand awareness, or any other form. Although there are many types of metrics, their goal is to quantify and evaluate trends, behaviors, and outcomes. Share of Voice (SOV) is one such marketing metric, but what exactly is it, and how can it be applied?
What Is Share of Voice?
Share of voice is a marketing metric used to determine the number of conversions a brand has compared to its competitors. In other words, it measures the level of participation a brand has within a specific channel and shows its level of influence within this channel.
Brands must pay special attention to what is said about them on the internet and share of voice helps determine where a brand needs to boost its presence.
How to Calculate Share of Voice
Considering that share of voice determines a brand's market share compared to its competitors, the following formula should be applied to calculate it:
Your brand’s visibility value/Total market visibility value = Share of voice
This means dividing the number of conversations or mentions your brand has had by the number of conversations or mentions that one or more competing companies have had.
Where Share of Voice Applies
Share of voice is one of the marketing metrics that can be applied in social media and advertising campaigns.
To apply it to social media, you need to know how many times customers have mentioned your brand. This shows the level of brand awareness, what is being said about the brand, and how much it's discussed compared to competitors.
If applied to advertising campaigns on television or radio you need to know the Gross Rating Points (GRP), which is the number of impacts achieved per 100 people in the target audience within a specific period. This is calculated by multiplying the audience reach by the exposure frequency within a given time frame.
For example, if a sports apparel brand launches an advertising campaign and 10,000 people comment about it while 500,000 talk about sports apparel in general, the share of voice would be 2%. (10,000 / 500,000 x 100 = 2). The same should be done for the competition to determine its share of voice. If they have a higher percentage, it indicates room for improvement in the marketing strategy, prompting necessary changes.
