Share of voice on social media for small businesses

Key takeaways

Social media share of voice is the proportion of visible activity in your market that belongs to your business compared with competitors. For a small business, the practical version is simple: how often your target buyers see you compared with the two or three competitors they also consider. Consistency, not virality, is what grows it steadily.

• Share of voice: your visible activity divided by the total for you and competitors.
• Measure against 3 to 5 real local or sector competitors.
• Count posts, engagement and mentions monthly.
• Consistent posting grows share of voice. A single viral post does not hold it.
• Marketing research links share of voice to future market share.

What is share of voice on social media?

Share of voice on social media is the percentage of total conversation, visibility or engagement in a defined market that belongs to your brand. Large brands measure it with listening tools across millions of posts. Small businesses can measure a simpler version by comparing themselves with the handful of competitors their buyers actually consider.

• Why consistency matters more than going viral on social media

Why does share of voice matter?

Marketing effectiveness research, including work published by the IPA, has found that brands whose share of voice exceeds their share of market tend to grow over time. The principle for a small business is straightforward: if buyers see you more often than your competitors, you are more likely to be the business they remember when they need you.

• The mere exposure effect: why repeat visibility sells

How do you measure it without expensive tools?

• List 3 to 5 competitors your buyers genuinely consider.
• Each month, count posts per week for you and each competitor on your main channel.
• Note average engagements per post for each.
• Count mentions or tags of each business if relevant.
• Calculate your share of the total for each measure.

• Social media competitor analysis in one afternoon

How does consistency grow share of voice?

Share of voice is cumulative. A competitor who posts in bursts has a high share for a week and almost none for the next month. A business that posts steadily holds its share every week. Over a quarter, the steady business nearly always wins, even with less impressive individual posts.

• The compounding effect of consistent social media

When is share of voice misleading?

When the competitors are the wrong ones, when volume is high but relevance is low, or when a competitor's activity reaches a different audience. Share of voice among your buyers is what matters, not share of general noise. Check that engagement comes from relevant people before celebrating a higher share.

What does this look like in practice?

A UK independent optician compared itself with three local competitors on Facebook. Its share of posts was about 15%, because it posted irregularly. After six months of three posts a week, its share of posts rose to around 40% and its share of engagement to about a third. New patient bookings from local families rose over the same period.

• See client work

What does a worked example look like?

A UK independent estate agent compared itself with three local rivals on Facebook for one month. It posted 8 times; rivals posted 12, 6 and 4. Its share of posts was 8 out of 30, about 27%. Its posts averaged 40 engagements; rivals averaged 35, 20 and 15. Its share of total engagement was 320 out of 1,010, about 32%.

With roughly a fifth of local listings, the agency's share of voice was ahead of its share of market, which is where it wanted to be.

• How to calculate social media engagement rate properly

How do you raise share of voice sustainably?

• Post consistently every week rather than in bursts.
• Focus on the channel where your competitors are weakest but buyers are present.
• Use recurring series so volume does not depend on new ideas.
• Encourage staff to share and comment from their own profiles.
• Support organic posting with a small always-on ad budget.

• Always-on vs burst social ads for small budgets
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Next step

Choose your three to five competitors, record this month's numbers and repeat monthly. The trend matters more than the first figure.