How to Boost Share of Voice on Amazon & Social Media (2025)

Share of voice (SOV) is a metric that tracks how much of the market conversation your brand owns compared to competitors. In simple terms, it answers the question: “How much are people talking about your brand versus others?”* SOV can be measured across various marketing channels – from social media mentions to search engine results and even Amazon listings. It’s usually expressed as a percentage of the total conversation in your industry. For example, if 1 in 5 online discussions or impressions in your niche is about your brand, you have a 20% share of voice. This metric essentially reflects your brand’s visibility and influence within your market.

It’s important to note that share of voice is not the same as market share. Market share measures actual sales percentage, while share of voice measures brand visibility. Think of SOV as a leading indicator of future growth – when you consistently “own” the conversation in your space, you’re building recognition and authority that can later translate into sales. In other words, a high share of voice today often foreshadows higher market share tomorrow.

Why Share of Voice Matters for E-Commerce Brands

In a crowded digital marketplace, being loud isn’t enough – you need to be heard in the right places. For e-commerce brands and Amazon sellers, share of voice is a critical health check for your marketing. Here’s why SOV matters:

• • Visibility & Brand Awareness: Share of voice directly reflects how visible your brand is to your target audience. The greater your SOV, the more people are encountering your brand messaging. This visibility has a direct impact on customer awareness and perception. If prospective customers constantly see or hear about your brand (whether via social posts, influencer mentions, or search results), you’re more likely to be top-of-mind when they’re ready to buy.

     

  • Competitive Benchmarking: SOV is essentially a competitive scorecard. It shows how you stack up against rivals in capturing audience attention. For example, if your competitor is dominating TikTok chatter or Amazon search results, a low SOV alerts you that you’re being overshadowed. Understanding your share of voice helps identify where your brand is losing ground so you can strategize a comeback. It’s an early warning system – if a competitor starts gaining SOV, you know they’re gaining mindshare that could translate to market share.

     

  • Indicator of Marketing Effectiveness: Share of voice is a powerful performance indicator for your marketing campaigns. Increases in SOV over time usually mean your marketing strategies (SEO, social media, influencer campaigns, etc.) are working to boost your presence. A sudden drop in SOV, on the other hand, might signal that competitors launched a big campaign or that your own efforts are fading. Because of this, SOV acts as a leading indicator of growth – consistently owning more of the conversation lays the groundwork for future sales. As Sprout Social notes, when you dominate industry conversations, you build the brand recognition that drives future market share growth.

     

  • Opportunity to Improve ROI: Tracking SOV can guide smarter resource allocation. If you discover, for instance, that your brand has a tiny share of voice on Instagram but does well in organic Google search, you might shift resources to social media campaigns (or vice versa). It helps e-commerce marketers pinpoint which channels need more attention or where additional budget could yield a visibility boost. The end goal is to get more mileage (in awareness and engagement) for each marketing dollar by focusing on areas with low SOV.

     

  • Crucial for Amazon Sellers: For Amazon sellers, share of voice often means the percentage of visibility your products have in Amazon search results and ads. This is make-or-break for sales. According to Amazon’s own data, 70% of Amazon customers never click past the first page of search results. If your products aren’t showing up prominently (i.e. if your Amazon SOV is low), you’re likely missing out on a huge chunk of potential sales. Having a high share of voice on Amazon – by appearing in top results and sponsored slots – gives your brand more chances to be seen and purchased. In short, if you’re not visible, you’re not sellable on platforms like Amazon.

In summary, SOV is a vital metric for understanding your brand’s mindshare in the market. It adds context to all your other metrics – you might be getting good engagement or sales, but how do those results compare to the total market opportunity? Share of voice tells you that. For e-commerce brands, DTC companies, and Amazon sellers, keeping an eye on SOV can reveal whether your marketing is truly competitive and where you have room to grow.

How to Calculate Share of Voice

Measuring share of voice might sound complex, but it boils down to capturing a few key data points and doing a simple calculation. Here’s a step-by-step framework to calculate your brand’s SOV across different channels:

1. 1. Identify Your Competitors: Start by listing the main competitors in your space – both direct competitors (selling similar products) and notable indirect competitors (brands in your niche competing for the same audience’s attention). You can’t calculate share of voice in a vacuum; you need a frame of reference for comparison. For example, a small organic skincare brand might list other skincare companies of similar size, plus a couple of industry giants, as competitors to monitor. Knowing whom you’re benchmarking against ensures your SOV calculation is meaningful.

       

   2. Choose the Metrics to Track: Decide what aspect of the conversation you want to measure. Share of voice can be calculated using various metrics depending on the channel: brand mentions on social media, percentage of search engine impressions or clicks, share of advertising impressions, etc. Pick metrics most relevant to your goals. Common examples include:

       

      • Social media mentions – How often your brand is mentioned or tagged on platforms (compared to competitors).

         

      • SEO visibility – Your share of organic search results or traffic for important keywords.

         

      • Paid advertising – Your share of total ad impressions (e.g. impression share in Google Ads) in your category.

         

      • Media/PR mentions – How frequently your brand appears in news articles or blogs vs. others.

         

      • Amazon search results – How many of the top product listings for key searches are yours vs. competitors.
        Choose one metric at a time and gather data for your brand and each competitor on that metric.

         

   3. Gather Data (Use Tools if Available): Collect the numbers needed for your SOV formula. This can be the most time-consuming step, but marketing tools make it easier:

       

      • For social media mentions and engagement, social listening platforms (like Brandwatch, Sprout Social, or Meltwater) can track how often brands are mentioned and even sentiment of those mentions. These tools can quickly tally your brand mentions versus competitors across platforms.

         

      • For organic search (SEO) share of voice, SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, etc.) can estimate what percentage of search results or clicks your site gets for certain keywords compared to others. Google Search Console can show your impressions relative to total searches.

         

      • For paid search advertising, Google Ads provides an “Impression Share” metric – if you have 50% impression share, you got half of the possible ad impressions in your category/search. Third-party PPC tools can compare competitors’ impression shares as well.

         

      • For Amazon, you might manually search key terms to see how often your products appear on page one, or use Amazon analytics tools (like Jungle Scout, Helium 10) to measure your share of top placements.

         

      • For PR/media, PR tracking services (Cision, Meltwater) can count media mentions.

         

      • Tip: Create a simple spreadsheet to log your brand’s value and competitors’ values for each metric. This will make calculation easy.

         

   4. Apply the SOV Formula: Once you have the necessary data, calculate the share of voice percentage. The formula is straightforward:
      
      SOV (%) = (Your Brand’s Metric ÷ Total Industry Metric) × 100.
      
      In other words, divide your number by the sum of everyone’s number (yours + all competitors), then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. For example, if your brand was mentioned 500 times on social media last month out of 5,000 total industry mentions, your social SOV is (500/5000)×100 = 10%. Similarly, if you had 1,000 organic search clicks out of an estimated 10,000 total clicks for a set of keywords (yours + competitors), that’s also a 10% SOV. Perform this calculation for each metric or channel you’re interested in.
      
      Make sure to calculate the share of voice for each major competitor too – seeing the breakdown (e.g. you 10%, Competitor A 30%, Competitor B 25%, etc.) gives context on who leads and how far behind/ahead each brand is.

       

   5. Analyze and Monitor Over Time: A single SOV snapshot is useful, but tracking it over time is even more powerful. Regularly monitor your share of voice (e.g., monthly or quarterly) to spot trends. Is your SOV growing after that new campaign or influencer collaboration? Or did a competitor’s big sale event cause your SOV to dip this month? Monitoring these fluctuations will alert you to meaningful changes in the competitive landscape. If you see a decline in share of voice, it’s a prompt to investigate – perhaps a rival ramped up their marketing or conversation around your brand died down. If you see an increase, identify what caused it and double down on that strategy. Share of voice is not a “set and forget” metric; it should become a ongoing part of your marketing KPIs. Many brands integrate SOV tracking into their regular reports to ensure they stay competitive. Tools with dashboards can automate some of this tracking once you’ve set up the parameters.

By following these steps, you can seamlessly calculate your share of voice across channels. For accuracy, ensure you’re comparing equivalent metrics (don’t mix apples and oranges) and that the data sources/timespans are the same for your brand and competitors. Next, let’s look at what exactly you can measure with SOV and how it might differ by channel.

Key Share of Voice Metrics Across Channels

Share of voice can be applied to multiple marketing channels, and each one defines “voice” a bit differently. Below is a summary of how SOV is measured in various areas relevant to e-commerce and retail brands:

Social Media

% of brand mentions, hashtags, or engagements your brand gets vs. competitors (on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, etc.). Share of online buzz and conversation about your brand on social networks. A higher social SOV means your brand is dominating discussions in your niche, often reflecting strong brand awareness or viral content.

Organic Search (SEO)

% of organic search visibility, clicks, or impressions your website earns vs. others for important keywords. Share of search engine presence. High SEO SOV means your content ranks well on Google for key terms, driving a larger portion of industry web traffic to you (and indicating strong content marketing or SEO performance).

Paid Advertising

% of ad impressions or share of voice in paid channels (Google Ads, social ads) that your brand accounts for vs. competitors. Often measured via impression share metrics.Share of paid visibility. A high SOV in advertising implies your ads are appearing more frequently or prominently than others, which can correlate with higher brand visibility (though it also reflects ad spend).

Influencer Marketing

% of influencer or creator content in your niche that features your brand vs. competitor brands. (E.g. how many influencer posts or YouTube videos mention you out of the total relevant ones.)

Share of influencer-driven conversation. This shows how present your brand is within content by micro-influencers and creators. A strong influencer SOV means many creators are talking about your products (often a result of a successful influencer campaign or organic buzz).

Amazon Marketplace

% of top Amazon search results and sponsored product spots that belong to your brand vs. others in your category. (Measured per keyword or overall.) Share of product visibility on Amazon. A high Amazon SOV means your listings occupy a large portion of the first page for relevant searches, indicating strong Amazon SEO and/or aggressive advertising – crucial since most Amazon shoppers stick to page one

Note: You can calculate SOV for any channel where you can get data for both your brand and the total market. The above are common examples. In practice, many marketers create a report that includes multiple SOV metrics (social, SEO, etc.) to get a holistic picture of brand presence. Each channel’s SOV tells a part of the story of where your brand is strong versus where you might be “quiet” compared to competitors.

By breaking SOV down this way, you might discover, for instance, that you have a strong voice on social media but a weak voice in organic search – which would suggest focusing on SEO improvements. Or maybe you dominate on Amazon but lag on broader social conversations, implying you should invest in social campaigns or community building. The goal is to turn these insights into action. In the next section, we’ll explore actionable strategies to increase your share of voice across these channels.

How to Increase Your Share of Voice

Improving share of voice requires strategic action – essentially, you need to ramp up your brand’s presence in the areas where you’re underrepresented. By now you’ve identified where your SOV could be higher. Here are several proven strategies to boost your share of voice (especially relevant for e-commerce brands and sellers):

• • Leverage Micro-Influencers & UGC: One of the fastest ways to amplify your brand’s voice on social media is by partnering with micro-influencers – niche content creators who have smaller but highly engaged followings. Micro-influencers and enthusiastic customers can create authentic user-generated content (UGC) about your products, leading to more brand mentions and discussions. Their recommendations carry weight: in one survey, 82% of consumers said they are “highly likely” to follow a micro-influencer’s recommendation. This kind of advocacy can dramatically boost your SOV on platforms like Instagram or TikTok. For example, a few dozen micro-influencers posting about your new product can flood social feeds with your brand – suddenly you own a bigger slice of the conversation. Tip: Engage content creators who truly align with your product niche for genuine buzz. (Platforms like Stack Influence, as an example, help connect e-commerce brands with vetted micro-influencers to generate authentic UGC and word-of-mouth exposure.) By scaling up micro-influencer campaigns, you not only increase share of voice, but also build trust through real voices talking about your brand.

     

  • Optimize Your Content and SEO: If your share of voice in organic search is lagging, invest in content and SEO improvements. Conduct keyword research to find which relevant search terms your competitors are dominating. Then create high-quality, keyword-optimized content (blog posts, guides, product pages) to start capturing those searches. Regularly publishing valuable content will increase your visibility on Google, thereby raising your SEO share of voice over time. Also ensure your website’s technical SEO is solid (fast load times, mobile-friendly, etc.), so you don’t miss out on rankings. The more you appear in top search results for queries related to your product/category, the more of the “organic conversation” (people seeking info or solutions) you own. Content marketing is an excellent long-term play for SOV – for instance, a small direct-to-consumer brand can outrank bigger players on specific niche keywords, grabbing a disproportionate share of voice in that content space.

     

  • Ramp Up Social Media Engagement: Simply having a social media presence isn’t enough to grow SOV – you need active engagement strategies. Encourage your audience to interact and talk about your brand. This can include running interactive campaigns (challenges, polls, contests), creating a branded hashtag and urging customers to post with it, and resharing user-generated posts. The more people tag your brand or use your hashtag, the more your share of voice increases in social spheres. Don’t forget to engage back: respond to comments, join relevant conversations or trending topics, and perhaps host live sessions or Q&As. Being consistently active and personable on social platforms will keep your brand visible in followers’ feeds. Over time, this steady drumbeat of engagement translates into a larger footprint of brand mentions and a higher SOV on social media. Additionally, community management (e.g., active groups or forums around your brand) can amplify word-of-mouth. Every bit of genuine interaction adds to the overall voice of your brand online.

     

  • Dominate on Amazon: For those selling on Amazon, increasing share of voice means maximizing your product visibility on Amazon’s search results. There are a few ways to do this: First, optimize your product listings with relevant keywords in titles and descriptions so your products rank higher organically for key search terms (Amazon’s A9 algorithm rewards listings with good sales history and keyword relevance). Second, leverage Amazon’s advertising tools – Sponsored Product Ads, Sponsored Brands, etc. – to secure prime real estate in search results. Yes, it costs money, but it ensures your brand is front-and-center. For example, bidding to appear in the top 1–2 sponsored slots can significantly boost your SOV for that keyword during the campaign. Also focus on earning strong reviews and ratings, as well-reviewed products tend to get more clicks and maintain better organic placement. Remember, many Amazon shoppers don’t scroll far. If you can occupy multiple spots on page one (through a mix of ads and organic ranking), you might “own” a large chunk of the first page – effectively capturing a huge share of voice for that product category on Amazon. Monitoring your Amazon SOV per keyword can guide which terms to target more aggressively with optimization or ads.

     

  • Invest in Paid Advertising Strategically: If budget allows, increasing your share of voice can be accelerated by buying visibility – but do it in a smart, targeted way. Identify the channels where a boost in exposure could really move the needle. For instance, if competitors are drowning you out on Google search, consider running search ads for the high-value keywords in your niche to ensure your brand shows up. Or if your social SOV is low, allocate budget to social media ads or sponsored posts to reach a wider audience. Paid campaigns can quickly increase your impression share (a proxy for share of voice in advertising). The key is to target them: use demographic and interest targeting to hit your ideal customers, so that the increased voice is effective in driving engagement or sales. Keep an eye on the corresponding SOV metrics; you might see, for example, your paid search SOV jump from 10% to 25% when you run a focused Google Ads campaign. That means you’ve captured a quarter of the ad space in your area – making your brand much more visible than before. Important: Track ROI alongside SOV – the goal is not just to be seen, but to get results from that visibility. If one channel’s ads aren’t yielding engagement or conversions, refine or reallocate the spend.

     

  • Analyze, Adapt, and Repeat: Boosting share of voice is an ongoing process. Regularly analyze which strategies are increasing your SOV and which aren’t. For example, maybe your influencer push greatly increased your social mentions (social SOV up), but your paid ads didn’t move the needle much. Use these insights to refine your approach – double down on tactics that are working, and tweak or drop those that aren’t. Also, pay attention to competitors’ moves. If a competitor launches a big campaign, you might temporarily lose some share of voice; be ready to counter with fresh content or offers. Set up alerts or periodic reports for your SOV metrics so you can respond in near real-time to significant changes. The brands that maintain a high share of voice over the long term are the ones who continuously adapt their marketing strategy based on what the data (and their competitors) are telling them. In essence: treat SOV as a key performance metric to optimize, just like you would optimize conversion rates or ad spend. By fostering this culture of monitoring and optimizing, you’ll ensure your brand’s voice not only grows louder, but stays loud.

Each of these strategies feeds into the others – for instance, content marketing can fuel social media posts, and micro-influencer UGC can be repurposed on your website for SEO or in ads for higher engagement. Ultimately, increasing share of voice is about expanding your brand’s presence wherever your customers spend time, and doing so in a way that’s compelling enough to cut through the noise. With a mix of creativity (to earn attention) and analysis (to target efforts), even smaller brands can substantially grow their SOV against bigger competitors.

Conclusion to How to Boost Share of Voice

In the fast-moving landscape of 2025, achieving a strong share of voice is a critical advantage for e-commerce brands and Amazon sellers. It’s not just about bragging rights – it’s about ensuring your potential customers hear your brand’s message loud and clear amid a cacophony of competitors. By measuring your current SOV, you gain a clear picture of where you stand. By implementing the right tactics – from micro-influencer campaigns and UGC that spark conversations, to SEO and Amazon optimizations that secure top positions – you can steadily expand your share of voice. The payoff is a brand that is not only more visible, but also more trusted and influential in purchasing decisions.

Remember, share of voice = share of audience mindshare. The brands that consistently invest in growing their SOV are essentially investing in future growth. When more people are talking about you (and seeing you everywhere they look online), you’re building the foundation for higher brand awareness, engagement, and ultimately higher sales.

For e-commerce entrepreneurs and marketers, now is the time to put these insights into action. Start by tracking your SOV metrics to find your baseline, then pick a few strategies from this guide to boost those numbers. Maybe you’ll partner with a batch of micro-influencers for an Instagram campaign, or perhaps revamp your product page content on Amazon and bid for top ad slots – whatever aligns best with your audience. Monitor the impact on your share of voice, learn and iterate. With each cycle, you’ll get closer to owning the conversation in your market.

Ready to amplify your voice? In a world where attention is the new currency, actively growing your share of voice is one of the best investments you can make in your brand’s longevity. By staying vigilant and proactive, you can ensure that when customers are chatting, searching, or scrolling – your brand is the one they encounter again and again. And that consistent presence is what will drive sustained growth in the long run. So gear up, implement these strategies, and watch your share of voice (and competitive edge) rise in the year ahead.