Author: Franz Malten Buemann

If you’ve ever been in charge of gathering reports for your marketing team, then you know there are a plethora of metrics you can measure.
One metric that you might not think to use for several channels is share of voice. However, this is a versatile metric that you can use in a competitive analysis for social media, organic traffic, or even paid advertising.

As a marketer, share of voice is important because it helps you understand how well your brand is performing against the competition.
Below, let’s review everything you need to know about share of voice.

While share of voice isn’t the same thing as market share (more on that below), share of voice tends to correlate with market share and revenue. For instance, the more you’re dominating in the conversation online, the more market share you’ll have and the more authority you’ll have among users.
This metric was mainly used as a way to measure success in paid advertising, however it’s much more than that now. You can calculate share of voice for organic traffic and social media, in addition to paid advertising.
By calculating your share of voice, you’ll have a better understanding of many people know about your brand, and you can identify areas to work on. For example, if you have a high share of voice in social media, but not as much in organic traffic, then you know you need to improve your organic traffic strategies.
Now, what’s the difference between share of voice and share of market?

Share of Voice Formula
To calculate share of voice, divide your brand’s measures by the total market measures. This could be your social mentions, paid advertising clicks, or website traffic.
To find these numbers, you’ll need to use some of your marketing tools. You can look at your social media automation tool, for instance, to count how many mentions your brand has. Then, you can calculate how many mentions your competitors have. After you add all those together, you can divide your mentions by the total to find the share of voice percentage.
Calculating share of voice should help you learn which channels need your attention the most and how you stack up against competitors. Now, let’s see which channels you should calculate share of voice for.
Share of Voice
Advertising
When it comes to advertising, it’s important to find your share of voice to see how much ad space you’re taking up compared to the competition.
To find this, you’ll divide how well you did in a paid advertising metric (such as impression shares), by the total number in the industry.
For PPC ads, you can look at impression shares, which represent the amount of times your ads were shown to users compared to the number of times your ads could have been shown, based on your keyword and campaign settings.
Share of voice is important in advertising because it will help you budget, measure campaign effectiveness, and give you a competitive advantage.
Social Media
Social media is one of the main channels where you can use share of voice as a measure of success since social media is where consumers go to be heard.
With social media, you can measure brand mentions, hashtags, reach, impressions, or even sentiment.
To calculate, use a social media tool to measure brand mentions. Calculate yours, your competitors, then add those numbers together and divide your mentions by the total.
Share of voice is important in social media because it will help you determine which competitors are getting mentioned more, so you can analyze what you do versus what they do. This will help you identify gaps in your strategy. Ask yourself, what platforms are working for your competitors, which influencers talk about them, and where they’re the most popular.
Now, you might be wondering, “How can I generate these reports?”
Share of Voice Reports
To create a share of voice report, you should be able to use your marketing automation tool to gather the numbers. You can simply create an excel sheet and begin calculating share of voice for several channels including social media, advertising, or organic traffic.
Calculating share of voice is a great way to learn how well you perform against your competitors. The best part is that you can use this metric for several marketing channels, from advertising to social media.

The irony doesn’t escape me that I’m currently writing a “How to” guide on … “How to” guides.
Fortunately, I’ve had my fair share of experiences writing How to guides for HubSpot over the years — some of my favorites include How to Give a Persuasive Presentation, How to Develop a Content Strategy: A Start-to-Finish Guide, and How to Write a Request for Proposal.
How to Guides are incredibly valuable opportunities to reach new audiences with useful, high-quality content. Plus, for both B2B and B2C businesses, How to Guides are often necessary components of a healthy lead generation strategy.
For instance, consider how many people search “How to [fill in the blank]” on Google each day:

These search queries demonstrate one of the primary reasons people turn to the internet — to learn how to do something.
If your business can reach those users with informative, relevant answers to their questions (related to your own products or services), those readers will begin to see your brand as an authority on the topic. Additionally, they’ll appreciate the value you’ve provided them.
Down the road, those same readers you first attracted with a How to Guide could become customers and loyal brand advocates who spread the word about your products or services to friends and family.
Suffice to say: How to Guides matter.
Here, we’ll explore the right structure to use when making a How to Guide and how to write a comprehensive How to Guide. We’ll also take a look at some impressive examples of How to Guides for inspiration. Let’s dive in.

How to Make a How to Guide
1. Conduct research to ensure your guide is the most comprehensive piece on the topic.
People read How to Guides to learn how to do things. And even if you know very well how to do something, it’s critical you conduct research to ensure you’re writing content that can help both the beginner and the expert who’s searching for your post.
Additionally, to rank on the SERPs, you’ll want to conduct keyword research and competitive research to ensure your How to Guide is the most comprehensive post on the subject.
For instance, let’s say you’re writing a blog post, “How to Make an Omelette.” Upon conducting research, you find Simply Recipe’s post is at the top of Google.
Diving into the post, you’ll see Simply Recipe has covered sections including “French Verses American Omelettes”, “The Best Pan for Making Omelettes”, and even “Ideas for Omelette Fillings”.
If you want to create your own How to Guide on omelettes, then, you’ll want to cover all (if not more) of the sections Simply Recipe has covered in its post.
Additionally, you should use Ahrefs or another keyword research tool to explore similar keywords or queries people ask when searching for topics like “Omelette”. This can help you create a well-rounded piece that will answer all your readers’ questions, and help you rank on Google.
Even if you know a topic incredibly well, research isn’t a step you should skip. In fact, knowing a topic well can make it more difficult to write a How to Guide on the topic, since it feels like second-nature to you. For that reason, you’ll want to rely on your research to ensure you’re including all relevant information.
2. Understand your target audience’s concerns and challenges.
For this step, you’ll want to use online community forums like Quora or internal data to identify all the various concerns or challenges your target audience might have that your How to Guide can answer.
If you’re writing “How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy”, for instance, you could start by looking at responses to “What is content marketing?” on Quora. These user-generated responses can help you identify common themes, misconceptions, or confusion around content marketing.
Next, you might reach out to your research marketing team to identify common pain points or questions they’ve seen in surveys or focus groups regarding “content marketing”. For instance, you might find that most of your audience says content marketing is a priority for them — but they don’t know how to do it on a budget.
Conducting qualitative research like this arms you with the information necessary to ensure your How to Guide answers all relevant concerns on a given topic.
3. Structure your steps in the correct order for your reader, and when possible, use screenshots.
Your readers will bounce from your page if it’s too difficult for them to quickly find the answer to their question, so you want to deliver all relevant information as quickly as possible — and in the right order.
Many readers will use your How to Guide as a list of instructions. For instance, if you’re writing, “How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac”, you’ll want to write down each specific action necessary to take a screenshot. When possible, images, screenshots, or videos can also help take your content to the next level.
For less tactical, more ambiguous topics, you should still list your tips for easy readability.
4. Tell the reader why it matters.
To write a high-quality How to Guide, it’s important you start by asking yourself: Why do my readers need, or want, to know this?
Understanding the high-level purpose behind a topic can encourage you to write with empathy. Additionally, it will help you create content that accurately meets your reader’s expectations and needs.
For instance, when writing “How to Create a Facebook Group for Your Business”, I took some time to identify that readers might search this topic if a) they are seeking out new ways to connect with customers or want to create a stronger sense of brand community, or b) they want to raise awareness about their products or services.
As a result, I wrote:
“A group is a good idea if you’re interested in connecting your customers or leads to one another, you want to facilitate a sense of community surrounding your brand, or you’re hoping to showcase your brand as a thought leader in the industry. However, a group is not a good idea if you want to use it to raise awareness about your products or services, or simply use it to post company announcements.”
In the example above, you can see I targeted a few different segments of readers with diverse purposes to help readers determine whether this How to Guide would even help them meet their own goals.
Ultimately, understanding the purpose behind your How to Guide is critical for ensuring you target all the various components or angles of the topic at-hand.
How to Write a How to Guide
Once you’re ready to start writing your How to Guide, you might wonder if your tone or writing style should differ, compared to other types of posts. 
In short: Yes, it should.
When people search “How to …” they’re often in a rush to find the information they need, which means it’s critical you write in short, concise sentences to provide an answer quickly.
Additionally, How to Guides need to offer tactical, actionable advice on a topic so readers can begin implementing the steps immediately.

There’s a world of difference between readers who search “what is an RFP”, and those who search “How to write an RFP”. While the former group is looking for a definition of RFPs and maybe an example or two, the latter group likely already has a fair understanding of RFPs and needs to create one ASAP.

If you’re writing a How to Guide, there are a few best practices to keep in mind when it comes to writing:

Use verbs when writing out steps. For instance, you’ll want to say, ‘Write a company background’, rather than ‘Your RFP should start with a brief background on your company.’

Use numbered lists, headers, and bullet points to break up the text and make your content as easy to skim as possible.

Use both screenshots and written text for readers who can’t load the image on their screen or don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them from the image itself. 

Link out to other relevant blog posts, pillar pages, or ebooks so readers can find follow-up information on certain topics mentioned in your How to Guide.

Provide examples to show your readers what you mean.

Write with empathy, acknowledging it can be frustrating when learning or refining a new skill. 

How to Guides often attract a wide range of readers, all with varying levels of expertise.
“How to Create a YouTube Channel,” for instance, likely attracts YouTube beginners who are simply interested in creating a channel to watch and comment on friends’ posts — but it probably also attracts professional marketers who need to create a channel for their business to attracts and converts leads.
With such a diverse audience, it’s critical you write clearly, but not condescendingly, to ensure you retain readers regardless of skill level or background experience.
To explore what this looks like in-practice, let’s explore some examples of How to Guides next.
How to Guide Examples
1. The Recipe How to Guide

McCormick’s “How to recipe guide on french toast” is neatly organized so readers can quickly determine a) how long the recipe will take, b) the ingredients you’ll need, and c) instructions for cooking.
If a reader already knows the ingredients necessary for french toast, she can click to “Instructions” to get started right away. Alternatively, if a reader prefers viewing instructions rather than reading, she can click “Watch How-to Video”. This offers good variety when it comes to how readers’ prefer consuming How to materials. 
Takeaway: When you’re structuring your own How to Guide, consider how you can best organize it so readers can jump straight to what they need. For instance, perhaps you put the most important information at the top, or include a jump link so readers can determine what they need to read — and what they can skip. 
2. The B2B How to Guide
Atlassian’s “How to write the perfect 90 day plan” provides important contextual details to the 90 day plan, including “What is a 90 day plan?” and “What should be included in a 90 day plan?” The piece is well-researched and empathetically-written. 
Best of all, the guide provides a downloadable 90 day plan PDF, so readers can immediately download and use Atlassian’s plan with their own team. 
Takeaway: Consider what ebooks, PDFs, charts, Canva designs, or Google Sheets you can make internally as an option for readers to download and use. Readers will appreciate the option to immediately apply what they’ve learned.
3. The B2C How to Guide
This “How to Become a Freelancer” guide from FlexJobs does a good job providing relevant links and data to create a comprehensive overview of what freelancing is.
Additionally, the post uses action verbs to inspire the reader — for instance, under “How to Start a Freelance Business”, you’ll see tips such as “Do Your Homework”, “Create a Brand”, and “Plan Ahead”. The language used in this post goes a long way towards encouraging readers to get started immediately. 
Takeaway: Use action verbs and concise language to keep a reader engaged. When possible, start with a verb instead of a noun when listing out steps. 
4. The Product-related How to Guide
“How to Find Data in Google Sheets with VLOOKUP” isn’t necessarily the most interesting topic, but How-to Geek effectively keeps the content engaging with empathetic statements like, “VLOOKUP might sound confusing, but it’s pretty simple once you understand how it works.” 
Additionally, How-to Geek includes useful, original images to demonstrate each tip they’re describing. These images don’t have to be state-of-the-art visuals created by a professional design team, either — as this post proves, a few simple screenshots go a long way towards helping the reader understand a complex topic. 
Takeaway: When possible, create your own visuals/screenshots to walk readers through each step-by-step instruction.
5. The Lifestyle How to Guide

I recently saw this post in Medium titled, “11 Ways to Quickly Stop Stress in Your Life”. I clicked it expecting a few quick, easy tips for stopping stress — but, instead, I was engrossed in the first section of the post, “The Effects of Stress in Your Life”. 
While I previously mentioned the importance of starting with a quick answer to the searcher’s How-to question, there are exceptions to that rule. In this case, it’s important readers understand why they should stop stress before knowing how. This Medium writer did a good job understanding the structure he should use to keep readers engaged throughout. 
Takeaway: Play around with structure. Consider what your readers need to know in order for the rest of the post to matter to them. For instance, you might start with a section, “What is XYZ?” and “Why XYZ matters” before diving into, “How to do XYZ.” This way, your readers are fully invested in finding out how these tips can improve their lives in some small (or big) way. 

Our Engineering team is the largest team at Buffer. It has a lot of moving pieces and is composed of several smaller teams. As with any large team, we’re keen to make sure no one individual lacks guidance or an opportunity to grow. In this post, I’ll share a little bit more about how we’ve done that through a new program at Buffer that we’ve already had a lot of success with, our Engineering Mentorship Program.
Why a mentorship program?
Over the years on our Engineering team, we’ve had great results from engineers pairing and sharing knowledge. We’ve also seen spontaneous mentorship relationships form and are currently at a point where we have several senior engineers who naturally fill the role of a mentor for a more junior team member.These relationships proved to be extremely beneficial both for the junior and the senior engineers’ growth and have helped the teams be more cohesive and move faster. To extend the mentorship opportunities to more engineers, we’ve decided to launch an official Mentorship Program in the Engineering team, to add momentum to existing relationships and form new ones between engineers interested in growing as mentors or learning from one.One of our main focuses on the Engineering Management team is helping engineers grow and advance in our career framework. At the same time, they learn and apply best practices to improve our codebase quality over time. In the past, we’ve heard some confusion from our engineers around how investing in code quality and best practices relates to our career framework, and concerns that some technical debts might be making it more challenging to advance for newer engineers. This Mentorship Program feels like it has helped to level up more junior engineers, something we’re always keen to do more of.
How we’ve set up our mentorship program
There are three roles in our Engineering Mentorship Program: mentors, mentees, and mentorship champions.
MentorsMentors are senior engineers who have a depth of experience to develop the skills of others. They have regular meetings with their mentees and provide a safe space for the mentee to think out loud and be a sounding board to explore new ideas and innovative thinking.Mentors can also be the personal cheer squad for a mentee, motivating mentees to achieve their goals and inspiring mentees with a mentor’s own accomplishments.Mentors will share best practices, code quality, testing, refactoring, and how those relate to our engineering career framework. A mentee’s promotion is a sign of success! A mentor’s goal is to grow mentees technically, and promotions are one (but of course not the only) way that growth shows up.Mentors will help identify and solve problems and provide practical, timely advice, and pair program to help remove any blockers and share knowledge.
Mentees
Mentees are engineers that feel they could benefit from having a mentor to guide career and skill growth. They don’t have to be “more junior” necessarily. A Senior Back-End Engineer who wants to learn front-end could be a mentee, too.This program is for mentees, so they own the relationship and are responsible for organizing and driving all meetings with their mentor. They shouldn’t wait for their mentor to drive this growth. In their discussions, they should prepare tasks they want help with and code examples. Mentees are responsible for implementing and growing from the feedback their mentor gives them. It’s on the mentee to take the advice and run with it.
Mentorship ChampionsWe’ve tried mentoring before, but we’ve had something missing: supporting our mentors. To fix this, we came up with the idea of Mentorship Champions. These are team members who are amazing mentors themselves, have extensive experience with teaching mentoring engineers and are highly experienced engineers.Mentorship Champions regularly meet with mentors to provide guidance and support on how to be a great mentor. They help with any blockers, challenges, or frustrations that mentors might have and give feedback on the program to the Mentorship Manager to make sure it’s successful.
The difference between a mentor and a manager
Although there are some similarities in the mentorship and management relationships, such as helping and guiding team members to achieve certain goals, there are also key differences.A manager’s focus is generally on achieving organizational and team goals, as well as ensuring their advice and decisions are aligned with the organizational vision. With a mentor, the focus shifts to personal and career growth. The agenda of a mentor-mentee relationship is focused on sharing knowledge and experience.A manager is responsible for reviewing the contributions of an employee and giving performance feedback, while mentor feedback and reviews are personal communication targeted to help a mentee remain focused on their long-term goals.Open and candid communication is a key element in a mentor-mentee relationship. In fact, the entire purpose of the relationship is to openly talk about mentees shortcomings and learn how to overcome them with the help of an experienced mentor, while it can be trickier to talk about ones technical gaps with a manager.In short:✅ Mentors give answers; managers ask questions✅ Mentors advocate for you; managers develop you✅ Mentorship is casual; management is formal✅ Mentorship is personal; management is organizational
Key principles of this program
To help guide our mentors and mentees, we’ve defined some key principles of this program:A mentorship session is all about the mentee. It’s the mentee’s time, so the mentor should focus the session around them, their questions, and what they need. The mentor should also be prepared to fill in the gaps that the mentee does not bring or struggles to see for themselves. Mentors help their mentees grow technically by supporting their mentee’s identity and interests. The program’s aim is not to take a one-size-fits-all approach. It provides the tools and support for mentors to help everyone flourish in their own unique way.Not everyone needs a mentor. Some people learn best alone, or from casual chats with lots of different people, or they might already be getting everything they need at this moment from their manager and do not require additional mentoring.An engineer does not need to be a mentor to grow. There are other ways for engineers to expand in their careers and our mentorship program isn’t a requirement in our career framework.
Feedback from the Mentorship Program
Initially, we ran this program as a six-month experiment. After the first 6-months, we asked those who participated for feedback on the program and if they wanted it to continue.The feedback we got from the program was extremely positive, showing that these kinds of relationships and the support the program provides has been very useful for the growth of both mentees and mentors.Here are a few highlights:

[…] I believe this mentorship has been the biggest factor in my growth at Buffer
[…] the mentorship syncs are definitely one of the most helpful syncs I have
[…] it’s a very positive experience overall, really enjoy building a trust relationship with my mentees, and seeing them progressing, it’s a rewarding experience for sure. It’s also a good way for me get more involved with different product areas, and problems, outside of my strict day to day work
This program has been an amazing help for me, I’ve been enjoying every single one of the calls I’ve had […], my mentor always challenges me and he has helped me to grow by doing the things I love.
[…] “it’s been only a joy full of learning and mutual trust. I felt that we were able to bond together and discuss many things on career framework, personal growth and technical decisions in our organization”

Based on the feedback and individual chats with engineers, we decided to continue the Mentorship Program indefinitely with a few changes.
What we’ve changed in the program
Adding more Mentorship ChampionsOne of the Mentorship program’s identified benefits was having dedicated support for our mentors through Mentorship Champions. So far, this role was fulfilled solely by our Staff Engineer, Mike San Roman, making it difficult to scale and add more mentorship pairings (support more mentors). Because of that, we decided to add additional senior engineers and experienced mentors as Mentorship Champions.Introducing regular mentorship chatsThere have been important topics that emerged from this experiment, such as ensuring the program is inclusive and diverse, supporting and growing women mentors, and making the program more transparent and collaborative with Engineering Managers.For this reason, we are now holding once-a-month calls between Mentorship Champions to discuss the above points, chat about any recurring themes in mentorship, and share learnings and updates with the Engineering Management team and wider Engineering team.Introducing async office-hoursIt has been quite tricky to gather mentors and mentorship champions on one call since so many of our team are in various time zones. With the 4 day work-week and leaning more towards asynchronous communication, we decided to introduce async office-hours where, on a dedicated day, everyone will share their updates asynchronously in our private Slack channel. The updates will include any successes, challenges, blockers, and celebrations that emerged during the past few weeks.So far, we’ve seen great results from the mentorship program for the Engineering team, and we’re excited to keep investing in it and supporting our engineers in their career journey.

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