The formula
Six steps, run monthly.
- 01Define the panel
Twelve to twenty-four queries per platform. Mix of head terms (2–4 words) and long tail (5+ words). Buyer-intent only — 'best cold brew ratio' stays; 'coffee' doesn't. Panel is locked at the start of the engagement and reviewed quarterly.
- 02Poll native search
Weekly manual polls of each platform's native search bar from a clean browser and a signed-out session. Position, thumbnail, and cover text logged. We don't scrape — platforms rate-limit and shadow-throttle scrapers, breaking the signal.
- 03Score positions
Position 1 = 10 points. Position 2 = 7. Position 3 = 5. Positions 4–10 = 3 each. Below top-10 = 0. Weighted to reflect the click-through curve — top-3 does most of the work, but a top-10 hold still counts.
- 04Compute the share
Your Share of Discovery = your total points ÷ the maximum possible for the panel. Reported as a percentage per platform, and as one blended number across the mix. A B2B SaaS panel weights LinkedIn heavier; a D2C panel weights TikTok and Pinterest.
- 05Benchmark against peers
Three category peers are polled on the same panel — you pick them at kickoff. Your Share of Discovery is reported alongside theirs so 'we grew' and 'we're winning' become the same conversation.
- 06Feed it back into the calendar
Queries where you've slipped this month become next month's hero-video briefs. The report isn't a scorecard — it's the input to what gets made next.
Worked example
A D2C skincare panel.
A twelve-query panel across Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest. Peers polled on the same queries. Six-month snapshot from an anonymised client engagement.
| Month | Client SoD | Peer A | Peer B | Peer C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 8% | 34% | 22% | 17% |
| Month 2 | 14% | 33% | 22% | 17% |
| Month 3 | 22% | 31% | 22% | 16% |
| Month 4 | 31% | 29% | 21% | 16% |
| Month 5 | 38% | 28% | 20% | 15% |
| Month 6 | 44% | 26% | 20% | 14% |
Illustrative. Numbers anonymised from a real engagement; per-query breakdown available under NDA.
FAQ
What people ask.
+Why not just report engagement rate?
Engagement rate tells you how a post did with the audience that already found you. Share of Discovery tells you whether new people can find you at all. Both matter — one is a lagging indicator, the other is the leading one.
+How is this different from SEO rank tracking?
Same idea, different surface. Google is one search box; social is six. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn each have their own index, ranking factors, and click-through curves. Share of Discovery is the cross-platform equivalent of an SEO rank report.
+Can you guarantee a specific Share of Discovery number?
No. Anyone who does is lying. What we commit to: a starting panel, a monthly measurement, and a calendar that adapts to what it reads. Growth curves published in case files typically show meaningful movement inside quarter two.
+What happens if a platform changes its algorithm mid-engagement?
The panel stays. The scoring stays. The calendar adapts. Because we measure on a common yardstick, algorithm changes show up as movement on the report — which is exactly the signal you want.
+Is the raw data available to us?
Yes. Every client gets the weekly poll sheet — every query, every position, every screenshot. The monthly report is the summary; the sheet is the audit trail.
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