Media is noisy, which makes it challenging to connect with your audiences. But there’s a way to determine if your brand is breaking through the noise: measuring and tracking its share of voice (SOV).

Simply put, SOV refers to the media coverage your brand or company receives relative to its competitors. A substantial SOV can translate to increased brand awareness, better customer perception and improved lead generation and sales.

However, improving SOV isn’t easy. It requires a strategic approach to media relations and comprehensive coverage tracking that goes beyond quantitative results.

Below are some techniques to improve your company’s SOV.

Measure media coverage

The first step is determining a baseline. This allows you to track growth against a fixed starting point. To get a baseline, pull all your media coverage beginning from a specific date.

Once you have a comprehensive list, consider analyzing the impact of each piece. Key metrics such as domain authority and unique visitors per month will help your analysis.

You’ll want to note how each article affects the company’s objectives. Coverage review and analysis help you understand which media strategies are successful and which need refinement.

Once you see the impact of each article, you can understand what audiences your coverage reached and intrigued.

Understand the audience

Understanding whom your coverage is reaching helps dictate what resonates. One way to do this is by reviewing the social media channels of the outlet and the writer who published the coverage. You can also check the posts’ engagement to gauge reader reactions.

Then, you should assess how that coverage measures against your goals. For example, if securing coverage in industry trade publications is a priority, you can review the number of articles published in that type of outlet relative to the total amount of coverage for that period. This helps you understand the access you’re securing to that audience.

Track and compare progress

Improving SOV is an ongoing process. To ensure your strategies are garnering positive results, it’s essential to record and review the quality of all media coverage.

Determining what messages are included in coverage can help you understand which resonate with your target audiences and drive SOV gains.

Regularly measuring and updating your goals against key competitors is also essential. You can identify growth opportunities by comparing your SOV with other industry players.

Analyze areas for improvement

Once you’ve pulled your media coverage, determined the impact of each article, evaluated the quality, and noted your progress, take the time to analyze areas for improvement. This may include identifying gaps in media coverage, new outlets and reporters to target, or new story angles.

Remember, improving your SOV is an ongoing process that requires dedication and effort. But SOV can translate into results. A strong SOV helps you grow brand awareness and move the needle for sales and marketing efforts.

With the above steps, you can maximize the impact of your media coverage and increase your SOV, making your company more competitive.