Share of voice

Share of voice is a brand's portion of the total conversation in its category: your mentions divided by the mentions of everyone competing for the same attention, over a period. It measures visibility relative to competitors rather than in absolute numbers.

The metric came from advertising, where it meant share of ad spend; on social it usually means share of mentions, sometimes weighted by reach or engagement. As always with composite metrics, the comparison is only valid if every brand is measured with the same method, the same platforms and the same keywords.

Its value is direction, not the decimal: growing share while a competitor launches means your voice carried; a spike can be good or catastrophic news, since crises are also mentions. Pair it with sentiment before celebrating.

Measuring it requires listening (you need everyone's mentions, not just your notifications), which is why it lives in listening tools.

Related terms: Social listening · Sentiment analysis