Share of Voice vs. Competitors (By Channel)¶

Definition¶

Share of Voice (SOV) vs. Competitors (By Channel) measures your brand’s visibility as a percentage of total market conversations, mentions, or impressions compared to key competitors — segmented by specific marketing or communication channels.

Description¶

Share of Voice vs. Competitors (By Channel) is a key indicator of brand awareness and GTM competitiveness, reflecting how often your brand is mentioned, seen, or engaged with compared to competitors across channels like search, social, ads, and review sites.

The relevance and interpretation of this metric shift depending on the model or product:

In B2B SaaS, it highlights mindshare among technical buyers in content and analyst channels
In DTC/eCommerce, it reflects ad impression share, influencer coverage, or UGC dominance
In mobile or PLG, it surfaces earned media buzz, product-led advocacy, and shareability

A rising share of voice typically signals growing brand authority and message resonance, while a declining trend may suggest competitive pressure, underfunded channels, or stale positioning. By segmenting by channel or persona, such as search vs. social, or execs vs. practitioners, you unlock insights for adjusting spend allocation, tailoring creative, or prioritizing influencer and thought-leadership plays.

Share of Voice vs. Competitors informs:

Strategic decisions, like rebalancing channel mix or shifting positioning to stand out
Tactical actions, such as revamping paid campaigns or retargeting content gaps
Operational improvements, including media monitoring systems or campaign dashboards
Cross-functional alignment, by syncing marketing, product marketing, and sales enablement around category leadership and visibility goals

Key Drivers¶

These are the main factors that directly impact the metric. Understanding these lets you know what levers you can pull to improve the outcome

Content Output and Distribution: Volume, frequency, and promotion drive visibility — not just quality.
PR and Influencer Mentions: Thought leader endorsement and earned media shape SOV on fast-moving channels.
Community and Ecosystem Participation: Competitors dominating forums, Slack groups, or LinkedIn threads can drown you out.

Improvement Tactics & Quick Wins¶

Actionable ideas to optimize this KPI, from fast, low-effort wins to strategic initiatives that drive measurable impact.

If SOV is low, run a competitive content gap analysis and publish responses to top-ranking topics.
Add UTM tracking to brand terms to separate organic vs. paid share by channel.
Run influencer co-marketing or quote inclusion campaigns to win earned reach.
Refine distribution strategy — some competitors win not with better content, but with better syndication.
Partner with brand and SEO to build a cross-channel visibility tracker with monthly deltas.

Required Datapoints to calculate the metric
- Mentions, impressions, or content counts for your brand and competitors
- Channel segmentation (e.g., social, search, ads, review platforms)
- Timeframe
- Competitor set (3–5 ideally)
Example to show how the metric is derived

Social mentions across your category this quarter: 40,000 Your brand: 9,800 mentions Formula: 9,800 ÷ 40,000 = 24.5% Social Share of Voice

Formula¶

Formula

\[ \mathrm{SOV\ by\ Channel} = \left( \frac{\mathrm{Your\ Brand\ Presence}}{\mathrm{Total\ Market\ Presence}} \right) \times 100 \]

Data Model Definition¶

How this KPI is structured in Cube.js, including its key measures, dimensions, and calculation logic for consistent reporting.

SOVByChannel

cube(`SOVByChannel`, {
  sql: `SELECT * FROM sov_by_channel`,

  measures: {
    brandMentions: {
      sql: `brand_mentions`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `Brand Mentions`,
      description: `Total number of mentions for the brand across all channels.`
    },
    competitorMentions: {
      sql: `competitor_mentions`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `Competitor Mentions`,
      description: `Total number of mentions for competitors across all channels.`
    },
    brandImpressions: {
      sql: `brand_impressions`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `Brand Impressions`,
      description: `Total number of impressions for the brand across all channels.`
    },
    competitorImpressions: {
      sql: `competitor_impressions`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `Competitor Impressions`,
      description: `Total number of impressions for competitors across all channels.`
    },
    shareOfVoice: {
      sql: `brand_mentions / (brand_mentions + competitor_mentions)`,
      type: `number`,
      title: `Share of Voice`,
      description: `The brand's share of voice as a percentage of total mentions.`
    }
  },

  dimensions: {
    id: {
      sql: `id`,
      type: `string`,
      primaryKey: true,
      title: `ID`,
      description: `Unique identifier for each record.`
    },
    channel: {
      sql: `channel`,
      type: `string`,
      title: `Channel`,
      description: `The marketing or communication channel (e.g., social, search, ads, review platforms).`
    },
    timeframe: {
      sql: `timeframe`,
      type: `time`,
      title: `Timeframe`,
      description: `The timeframe for the data, used for time-based filtering and analysis.`
    }
  }
})

Note: This is a reference implementation and should be used as a starting point. You’ll need to adapt it to match your own data model and schema

Positive & Negative Influences¶

Negative influences

Factors that drive the metric in an undesirable direction, often signaling risk or decline.
- Competitor Content Dominance: High volume and frequency of competitor content can overshadow your brand, reducing your Share of Voice in specific channels.
- Lack of PR and Influencer Engagement: Absence of endorsements or mentions by influencers can lead to reduced visibility and a lower Share of Voice.
- Inadequate Community Engagement: Limited participation in key online communities can result in competitors dominating the conversation, reducing your Share of Voice.
- Channel Saturation: Overcrowded channels with high competition can dilute your brand's visibility, negatively impacting Share of Voice.
- Ineffective Content Strategy: Poorly targeted or low-quality content can fail to engage audiences, reducing Share of Voice compared to competitors.
Positive influences

Factors that push the metric in a favorable direction, supporting growth or improvement.
- Content Output and Distribution: Increased volume and frequency of content output and strategic distribution can enhance visibility, thereby increasing Share of Voice in specific channels.
- PR and Influencer Mentions: Endorsements from thought leaders and earned media coverage can significantly boost Share of Voice by increasing brand visibility and credibility.
- Community and Ecosystem Participation: Active participation in relevant forums and online communities can enhance brand presence and increase Share of Voice compared to competitors.
- Channel-Specific Advertising: Targeted advertising efforts in specific channels can increase brand visibility and improve Share of Voice against competitors.
- Cross-Channel Synergy: Coordinated efforts across multiple channels can amplify brand presence and increase overall Share of Voice.

Involved Roles & Activities¶

Involved Roles

These roles are typically responsible for implementing or monitoring this KPI:

Brand & Communications
Demand Generation
Product Marketing (PMM)
Social Media & Community Manager
Activities

Common initiatives or actions associated with this KPI:

Competitive Analysis
Channel Planning
Campaign Reporting
Community Strategy
Social Listening

Funnel Stage & Type¶

AAARRR Funnel Stage

This KPI is associated with the following stages in the AAARRR (Pirate Metrics) funnel:

Awareness
Type

This KPI is classified as a Lagging Indicator. It reflects the results of past actions or behaviors and is used to validate performance or assess the impact of previous strategies.

Supporting Leading & Lagging Metrics¶

Leading

These leading indicators influence this KPI and act as early signals that forecast future changes in this KPI.
- Brand Awareness: Brand Awareness is a critical early signal that forecasts future changes in Share of Voice vs. Competitors. A rise in brand awareness typically precedes an increase in market conversations, mentions, and thus SOV, especially by channel.
- Engagement Rate: Engagement Rate measures how actively audiences interact with your brand's content and campaigns. High engagement often translates into more mentions and discussions, driving up SOV ahead of lagging reporting cycles.
- Number of Monthly Sign-ups: An uptick in monthly sign-ups signals growing brand interest and digital presence, which can lead to greater SOV as more users share, mention, or discuss the brand online.
- Net Promoter Score: NPS indicates the likelihood of customers recommending your brand. High NPS can drive organic conversations and advocacy, which appear as increased SOV in subsequent periods.
- Content Engagement: High content engagement (shares, comments, time spent) acts as an early indicator that brand messaging is resonating, often leading to more mentions and a stronger SOV in the future.
Lagging

These lagging indicators confirm, quantify, or amplify this KPI and help explain the broader business impact on this KPI after the fact.
- Brand Mentions: Brand Mentions directly quantify the number of times your brand is referenced, feeding into SOV calculations by channel and providing the immediate building blocks for measuring SOV vs. competitors.
- Branded Search Volume: Branded Search Volume reflects the frequency people search for your brand name, which amplifies SOV by indicating intent and awareness that often leads to more discussions and digital visibility.
- Social Shares: Social Shares quantify how often your content is shared across platforms, confirming and amplifying your SOV by extending reach and creating further opportunities for mentions.
- Influencer and Advocate Mentions: Mentions by influencers and advocates validate and amplify your brand's SOV, as these figures can sway large audiences and directly impact comparative visibility across channels.
- Brand Recall Score in ICP Surveys: This score quantifies how well your brand is remembered among target buyers, which helps explain the broader impact of SOV and connects direct channel visibility to deeper market positioning.