If you need to blow your nose, what do you reach for? A Kleenex or a facial tissue?
Kleenex is a brand name that has managed to gain so much mindshare in the world of facial tissues that it has come to mean “facial tissue.” When most of us think of reaching for a facial tissue, we almost always think of reaching for a Kleenex, even if we’re using a different brand. For example, I happen to do a lot of my shopping at Trader Joe’s, so I have their brand of tissues sitting next to me as I write this, but I still think of them as Kleenex.
The goal of marketing is to make sure your brand is always the first thing that comes to mind when people think of your product or service. That’s mindshare.
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Mindshare vs Market Share
Mindshare sounds a lot like market share, and when done well, higher mindshare should lead to a higher market share. But that does not mean the two terms are the same.
Market share refers to the number of units sold or transactions made in a given time period. For example, according to a quick Google search, McDonald’s sells approximately 6.5 million burgers per day. By contrast, Burger King only sells about 6,575 burgers per day. McDonald’s has a significantly higher market share in the world of burgers than Burger King.
McDonald’s probably also has a higher mindshare, but that’s harder to measure. How can you measure every time someone thinks (or doesn’t think) about your brand in a given situation?
How to Measure Mindshare
Yes, there are challenges when it comes to measuring mindshare. And while there’s no way to get a measure of mindshare that’s 100% accurate, there are ways we can get an estimate of our mindshare.
The best way to get an idea of your mindshare is to use a social listening tool like Mention, which can tell you when people on social media are talking about a certain subject. You can set up these tools to tell you every time someone talks about your brand. You’ll see the number of times your brand is mentioned, who mentioned it, and what they said about you.
This is better than just relying on your notifications on any given social media channel because people might be talking about you without tagging you. While looking at the number of views, likes, and comments on your posts is a good start, you should dig deeper using a social listening tool.
You can also set up a Google alert for your brand’s name. That way, any time someone mentions your brand in an article or blog post, even if they don’t include a backlink, you’ll see that they were talking about you, and you’ll be able to see what they said. You can also send them a quick message asking them to include a backlink to help boost your SEO.
If you work for a large corporation like McDonald’s, there might be too many messages for you to be able to look at every, single social media post that mentions you. By reading a representative sample, you can get an idea of the kinds of things people are saying about you.
Is All Publicity Good Publicity?
I’ve never bought into the idea that all publicity is good publicity, but when it comes to mindshare, there does seem to be some value just in having people talk about you, even if it’s not in the best light.
The first thing that comes to my mind is Subway, which appears to be getting bad press on a pretty consistent basis. Yet, there still seems to be a Subway on every corner, so the bad press can’t be hurting them too bad.
That said, Subway is very aggressive with their advertising and product placement, so maybe they’re just balancing the bad press with a whole lot of advertising so people will associate them with good things without even realizing it.
Heart Share
Heart share is even harder to measure than mindshare. It refers to how people feel when they think about your brand.
Not only is it harder to measure, but it can vary greatly from person to person. Take the example of this blog post I published a few weeks ago about politics in marketing. Having your brand take a side in politics can help your brand resonate with some people on a deeper level, while making other people associate all kinds of negative emotions with your brand, including disgust, loathing, and even anger.
As always, it comes down to knowing your target audience. What are they looking for? What will help you resonate with them over another group that’s not your target audience?
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