Share of Voice: Measuring Your Brand Against Competitors in Community Discussions

Share of Voice: Measuring Your Brand Against Competitors in Community Discussions

You know your brand gets mentioned in online communities. Your competitors get mentioned too. But who gets mentioned more? In what context? With what sentiment? Share of voice (SOV) answers these questions, and in community monitoring, it is one of the most powerful metrics you can track.

This guide explains what share of voice means in the context of community discussions, how to measure it effectively, and how to use SOV data to make better strategic decisions.

What Is Share of Voice in Community Monitoring?

Share of voice measures how much of the total conversation in your market belongs to your brand compared to competitors. In traditional marketing, SOV often referred to advertising spend or media coverage. In community monitoring, it refers to the proportion of organic mentions, discussions, and recommendations your brand receives relative to the competition.

For example, if there are 100 mentions of project management tools across Reddit, Hacker News, and G2 in a given week, and your brand accounts for 25 of them, your share of voice is 25%. If a competitor accounts for 40, they are dominating the conversation.

The formula is straightforward:

Share of Voice = (Your Brand Mentions / Total Market Mentions) x 100

But the real value is not in the raw number. It is in the trends, the context, and the breakdown by platform and sentiment.

Why Share of Voice Matters

It Predicts Market Share

Research consistently shows a correlation between share of voice and market share. Brands that dominate community conversations tend to capture more customers over time. When someone asks "what is the best X?" on Reddit or Quora, the brands that appear most frequently in answers are the ones that win new users.

It Reveals Competitive Shifts Early

A competitor launching a new feature, running a promotion, or getting viral attention will show up as a spike in their share of voice before it shows up in your revenue numbers. Monitoring SOV gives you early warning of competitive threats.

It Measures Campaign Effectiveness

After a product launch, content campaign, or PR push, did your share of voice increase? SOV is a leading indicator that your efforts are generating awareness and discussion.

It Highlights Platform-Specific Strengths

You might dominate discussions on Hacker News but be invisible on G2. A competitor might own the Reddit conversation but have terrible App Store reviews. Platform-level SOV data shows you where to focus your efforts.

How to Measure Share of Voice in Community Discussions

Measuring SOV manually is tedious but possible. Measuring it well requires tooling. Here is the process:

Step 1: Define Your Competitive Set

Identify 3 to 5 direct competitors. Include both established players and emerging alternatives that appear in "best of" discussions. Your competitive set should reflect who your potential customers are actually comparing you against.

Step 2: Choose Your Platforms

Select the platforms most relevant to your market. For B2B SaaS, that typically includes Reddit, Hacker News, G2, Product Hunt, and Quora. For consumer products, add Google Reviews, Yelp, Trustpilot, app stores, and YouTube. The more platforms you track, the more accurate your SOV measurement.

Step 3: Set Up Monitoring for All Brands

Create keyword monitors for your brand and each competitor. Include brand names, product names, common abbreviations, and misspellings. Use a competitor monitoring tool that can track multiple brands simultaneously across platforms.

Step 4: Aggregate and Compare

Over a defined time period (weekly or monthly works best), count the total mentions for each brand. Calculate each brand's percentage of total mentions. Track this over time to identify trends.

Step 5: Break Down by Dimensions

Raw mention count is useful, but the deeper insights come from segmenting your SOV data:

• By platform: Where are you winning? Where are you losing?
• By sentiment: Are your mentions positive, negative, or neutral? A high SOV with negative sentiment is worse than a lower SOV with positive sentiment.
• By topic: Are you mentioned more for pricing, features, support, or reliability? This reveals your perceived strengths and weaknesses.
• By intent: Are people recommending you, complaining about you, or asking about you? Recommendation mentions are the most valuable.

Using SOV Data for Strategy

Once you have SOV data, here is how to turn it into action:

If Your SOV Is Low

You have a visibility problem. People are not talking about you enough. Strategies to increase SOV include:

• Engage directly in community discussions where your category is mentioned
• Create content that naturally gets shared on relevant platforms
• Launch on Product Hunt or Indie Hackers to generate buzz
• Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on G2, Trustpilot, and app stores
• Respond to competitor comparison threads with honest, helpful information about your product

If Your SOV Is High but Sentiment Is Poor

You are getting talked about, but for the wrong reasons. This is a product or support problem. Focus on:

• Identifying the most common complaints across platforms
• Addressing critical bugs or UX issues that generate negative mentions
• Responding to negative mentions with genuine helpfulness (not defensiveness)
• Turning detractors into advocates by resolving their issues publicly

If a Competitor's SOV Is Spiking

Investigate why. Did they launch a new feature? Get press coverage? Go viral? Understanding the cause helps you decide whether to respond, compete, or differentiate.

If Your SOV Varies Dramatically by Platform

This is normal and actionable. Double down on platforms where you are strong, and create targeted strategies for platforms where you are weak. If you dominate Reddit but are invisible on G2, consider a review generation campaign for G2.

Competitive Benchmarking in Practice

Kaulby's brand monitoring includes share of voice tracking that automates this entire process. Set up monitors for your brand and competitors, and get automatic SOV calculations broken down by platform, sentiment, and time period. The competitive benchmarking dashboard shows you exactly where you stand and how the landscape is shifting.

For teams that take social listening seriously, SOV is not a vanity metric. It is a strategic compass that tells you where to invest your limited time and resources.

Making SOV Actionable: A Weekly Review Framework

Here is a simple framework for incorporating SOV into your workflow:

• Monday: Check weekly SOV report. Note any significant changes (yours or competitors').
• Identify anomalies: Did any competitor spike? Did your SOV drop on a specific platform?
• Investigate causes: Read the actual mentions behind the numbers. Context matters more than percentages.
• Assign actions: Respond to key mentions, address complaints, amplify positive discussions.
• Track trends: Over months, watch for sustained shifts that indicate real competitive movement.

Share of voice is one of those metrics that gets more valuable the longer you track it. A single week's snapshot is interesting. Six months of data reveals the trajectory of your market position. Start measuring now, and future you will be grateful for the baseline.

Want to see your share of voice across 17 platforms? Create a free Kaulby account and set up competitive monitors in minutes.