Share of voice (SOV) in B2B marketing refers to the proportion of visibility your brand holds compared to competitors across marketing channels. It shows how often your brand is mentioned, seen, or discussed across social media, search engines, digital ads, and news platforms.
Imagine your industry as a room full of conversations. Share of voice tells you how loud and how often your brand speaks in that room compared to others. A higher SOV means your brand is more visible, talked about, and likely to be remembered when buying decisions happen.
Why does "Share of Voice" (SOV) matter in B2B Marketing?
In B2B, where buying decisions involve multiple stakeholders and long sales cycles, visibility matters as much as conversions. Share of voice helps marketers:
- Understand brand awareness
If your brand is hardly mentioned or seen, it's unlikely to be considered when a business starts evaluating solutions. SOV gives you a quick sense of your presence in buyers' minds.
- Benchmark performance
Instead of measuring leads or clicks, you can measure how your presence compares against key competitors. This context gives meaning to your efforts.
- Spot content or channel gaps
If competitors dominate social media chatter or Google rankings, SOV data helps you identify where to improve.
- Report brand impact to leadership
Leadership often wants to see how marketing impacts visibility, especially in early-stage brand-building efforts. SOV helps prove value beyond lead counts.
- Inform budget and campaign priorities.
Seeing where your voice is quietest (e.g., PR or paid search) can help you reallocate spending or resources more effectively.
How is "Share of Voice" calculated?
While formulas vary by channel, the general approach is:
SOV = (Your brand's activity / Total market activity) x 100
Here's how this plays out in different contexts:
- Social media SOV
Count the times your brand is mentioned on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or Facebook, and divide that by the total mentions across all competitors. For example, if you were mentioned 300 times and competitors totaled 1,200, your SOV is 20%.
- Paid media SOV
Use tools like Google Ads to see your impression share, essentially your SOV in paid search or display. If your ads received 10,000 impressions and competitors received 40,000, your SOV is 20%.
- Search engine SOV
Track how many high-value keywords you rank for compared to others in your space. SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush show visibility percentages across keywords your audience is actively searching for.
- Media/PR SOV
Use tools like Meltwater, Mention, or even Google Alerts to track how often your brand is mentioned in the media. This helps you understand your voice in thought leadership and earned coverage.
What channels should B2B marketers track for sharing their voices?
Tracking the proper channels helps you get a well-rounded view of where your brand is strong and where it might need support. Here are the top places B2B marketers measure SOV, with detailed context:
- Social media
Social platforms, especially LinkedIn, are goldmines for B2B visibility. Track:
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Mentions of your brand name or hashtags
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Shares and reposts of your content
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Tagging activity by customers or partners
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Volume of branded vs. competitor posts
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This gives you a sense of your brand's role in industry conversations.
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Organic search (SEO)
SEO visibility indicates how often your content shows up in response to relevant searches. Track:
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Number of ranking keywords compared to competitors
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Position your pages for top search terms
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Share of total search traffic in your niche
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These metrics show how visible your expertise is when buyers are researching.
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Paid advertising
Paid search and social ads offer direct insights into impression share. Monitor:
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Impressions vs. competitors for your top keywords
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Click Share in Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads.
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Budget share across key topics
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It helps assess how competitive your paid campaigns are in capturing attention.
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News and media mentions
Media coverage in B2B publications adds credibility. Look at:
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Press mentions vs. competitors.
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Quoted executives and thought leadership articles
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Event or speaking engagement visibility
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This shows how much your brand is recognized in expert or leadership contexts.
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Industry forums and communities
Don't forget niche spaces like Reddit, Slack communities, or industry groups. Track:
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Mentions of your brand in community discussions
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Influencer or peer recommendations
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Mentions of competitors in comparison
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These can influence decision-makers during vendor research.
How can you increase your Share of Voice?
Growing SOV takes strategy and consistency. Here's how B2B brands can build visibility with purpose:
- Create consistent, high-quality content.
Publish articles, infographics, webinars, and reports that solve real customer problems. Quality content builds credibility and fuels visibility across SEO and social.
- Improve keyword rankings through SEO
Target relevant, intent-based search terms. Optimizing blog posts and landing pages helps you show up more often when buyers seek solutions.
- Engage on social media.
Share insights, respond to comments, and join industry conversations. A human, active voice on platforms like LinkedIn makes your brand more present and relatable.
- Run thoughtful paid campaigns.
Use paid social or search ads to fill in the gaps where organic reach falls short. Prioritize high-value keywords or audiences your competitors are already targeting.
- Enable employee advocacy
Encourage your team to share branded content or post their insights. Employee voices often get more engagement and extend your brand's reach without additional ad spend.
- Collaborate with industry voices.
Co-host webinars, publish guest articles, or partner on research. These tactics expand your audience and position your brand alongside trusted names in your space.
- Track and optimize regularly.
Use dashboards to monitor shifts in SOV over time. If competitors suddenly gain ground, you can respond quickly with targeted campaigns or content pushes.
How often should you measure the Share of Voice?
Share of voice is most useful when tracked regularly. The ideal frequency depends on your campaigns and market activity:
- Monthly tracking
Great for fast-moving campaigns or active social media strategies. You'll see short-term changes and trends.
- Quarterly reviews
Aligns well with strategic planning and budget reviews. Helps connect visibility efforts to pipeline or revenue impact.
- Campaign-level analysis
Measure before, during, and after key campaigns (like product launches or significant events) to assess momentum and impact.
- Annual benchmarking
A yearly snapshot shows how your brand has grown in visibility across channels and where there's room to scale.
How does the share of voice relate to the share of the market?
These two metrics often move together, though they measure different things:
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Share of voice is about awareness. It answers, "How much are we seen or heard in our space?"
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Share of market is about sales. It answers, "How much of the business are we actually winning?"
In B2B, increasing SOV can lead to increased market share over time, especially when a strong value proposition backs your visibility. If your brand is more visible, trusted, and talked about, you're more likely to get shortlisted and ultimately selected.
This is why many marketing teams use SOV as a leading indicator of market growth potential.
How can B2B marketers measure share of voice on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn deserves special attention as the go-to platform for B2B networking and thought leadership. Here's how to measure your SOV specifically on LinkedIn:
- Track brand mentions
Use social listening tools or native LinkedIn analytics to see how often your brand is mentioned in posts and comments.
- Monitor content performance
Compare your posts' reach and engagement to similar competitors. Metrics like reactions, shares, and comments can reveal relative visibility.
- Measure executive visibility
Check how often your leadership team is mentioned or engaged with. C-level visibility usually reflects brand authority and presence.
- Review paid impression share.
LinkedIn Campaign Manager shows how often your ads appeared for sponsored content or ads compared to competitors targeting the same audience.
- Benchmark hashtags
If you use a branded hashtag (e.g., #YourBrandName), track its performance compared to industry tags or competitor hashtags.
Combined, these insights offer a focused view of how well your brand is represented on LinkedIn which is a key space for B2B trust and decision-making.
Summary
In B2B marketing, share of voice is more than just a buzzword- it's a practical way to measure how present, recognized, and influential your brand is within your market. Whether you're launching new products, building executive thought leadership, or scaling demand generation, SOV tells you if your message is breaking through.
By tracking SOV across multiple channels and acting on the insights, you can build sustained awareness, outpace competitors, and ultimately drive long-term growth.