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How to view Advanced Listening search results

Learn how to access and interpret the results of your Advanced Listening search!

This article will outline how to access and interpret the results of your Advanced Listening search, including key volume, sentiment, and engagement metrics. The results are visible in two separate panels:

  • Right Panel - Displays aggregated visual reports to analyze search results
    ​Search Volume, Sentiment Analysis, Conversation Trends, and Engagement

  • Left Panel - Provides a list of all posts that match the designated search criteria, along with a counter showing how many posts are unseen.

Before accessing Listening search results, you must first create a Listening search by following these instructions. Listening reports are only available in the Listening tool and cannot be accessed through Reports.

If Advanced Listening alerts have been configured, a warning message will appear in the search results when an alert in triggered. More information is available here.

Please Note: Advanced Listening is available as an add-on to your subscription. More information on pricing is available here.


How to access Listening search results

To access the results of your Listening searches:

  1. From the left-hand navigation bar, click on Listening

  2. Click on your chosen search


Right Panel - Listening Search Results

The right panel provides key insights into your Listening search results. This panel is divided into four sections:

  • Search Volume - Displays the number of criteria matching search results per day

  • Sentiment Analysis - Classifies the overall sentiment of Listening search results

  • Conversation Trends - Displays common keywords colorized by sentiment

  • Trends by Volume - Displays the most popular words used in posts across all competitors

  • Engagement - Measures engagement on content matching search criteria

Depending on the type of Listening search selected (Regular or Competitor) determines the type of metrics shown in each section. Each section is clickable and will allow you to more easily filter results appearing in the Right Panel.

Please note: Clicking on any graph element (a donut slice (competitor search), a bar, a trending keyword, or a date) applies a temporary filter to the mentions feed only. Clicking Rest will remove this filter.

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Search Volume

The Search Volume section can be used to understand the scope and visibility of your tracked topics over time. This is available for both Regular and Competitor searches.

Regular search

Metrics available:

  • Total volume - A donut chart showing the number of matching posts during the selected time period, broken down by source

  • Average per day - Daily average of matching posts

  • Unique authors - Number of distinct accounts that published matching posts​

  • Volume by day - The total volume of posts by day. The data displayed can be changed via the drop-down. The available options are:

    • Total volume (default)

    • Volume by Source

Note: Results from Instagram hashtags are excluded from the Unique Authors metric, because Instagram does not provide usernames for hashtag content. Results from mentions are included, as usernames are available.

Competitor search

Metrics available:

  • Share of voice - Donut chart showing each brand's percentage of the total conversation volume

  • Total volume breakdown - Horizontal bar chart comparing your brand to each competitor, broken down by source

  • Volume by day - The total volume of posts by day.

Sentiment Analysis

The Sentiment Analysis section automatically classifies search results into one of three categories. This provides insight into overall audience sentiment on specific topics related to your search criteria. This is available for both Regular and Competitor searches.

Please Note: Some items cannot be analyzed because of language or other constraints. Supported languages include English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Danish, and Arabic.

Regular search

Sentiment score

The Sentiment score is calculated from a scale of 0 (very negative) to 100 (very positive).
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Score <= 20: Very negative

20 < Score <= 35: Quite negative

35 < Score <= 49: Slightly negative

49 < Score < 65: Slightly positive

65 <= Score < 80: Quite positive

Score =>80: Very positive

Metrics available:

  • Items analyzed - Total number of posts with enough data to generate a sentiment classification

  • Sentiment score - Ratio of positive items to positive and negative items

  • Sentiment breakdown - Total number of posts classified as Positive, Negative, or Neutral

Daily volume by sentiment

Daily volume by sentiment shows a line graph broken down by Positive, Negative, and Neutral sentiment, showing how the sentiment fluctuated per day. You can hover over any day on the graph, and it will show you the breakdown of:

  • Positive items

  • Negative items

  • Neutral items

Competitor search

Sentiment score

The Sentiment score is calculated from a scale of 0 (very negative) to 100 (very positive).
​

Score <= 20: Very negative

20 < Score <= 35: Quite negative

35 < Score <= 49: Slightly negative

49 < Score < 65: Slightly positive

65 <= Score < 80: Quite positive

Score =>80: Very positive

Metrics available:

  • Items analyzed - Total number of posts with enough data to generate a sentiment classification

  • Sentiment scores - Ratio of positive items to positive and negative items. This score is broken down for your brand and all added competitors

  • Sentiment breakdown - Total number of posts classified as Positive, Negative, or Neutral. This score is broken down for your brand and all added competitors

  • Evolution - Give a breakdown of the volume of Positive, Negative, and Neutral posts for the selected competitor or your brand.

Please note: When a post matches multiple competitors, the sentiment score is not split or weighted per competitor; it is applied equally to all of them.

Conversation Trends

The Conversation trends section will display keywords that are mentioned most often in the Advanced Listening search results. If the word appears more frequently, the words will appear larger. This is available only for Regular searches.
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Each word is classified into associated sentiment with the following qualifications:

  • Green = Positive

  • Grey = Neutral

  • Red = Negative

If you click on a word within this section, all search results that mention this word will be displayed in the left-hand column.

Trends by volume

The Trends by volume section displays a bar chart showing the most popular words used in posts across all competitors. This is available only for Competitor searches.
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Hovering over the chart will display a breakdown of:

  • Volume of posts containing this word

  • Positive items

  • Negative items

  • Neutral items

If you click on a word within this section, all search results that mention this word will be displayed in the left-hand column.

Engagement

The Engagement section measures user interaction on posts included in your Advanced Listening search results. The types of engagement include reactions, comments and shares. This helps you assess how much traction these conversations are generating. This is available for both Regular and Competitor searches.
​

Regular search

Metrics available:

  • Total engagement - Overall engagement within the reporting period

  • Average per day - Total engagement divided by the number of days in the reporting period

If you click on a date within this chart, all search results from this day will be displayed in the left-hand column. ​

Competitor search

The chart shows an engagement breakdown per day of the selected competitor or your brand. Hovering over the chart will show a breakdown of your engagement by:

  • Total engagement

  • Shares

  • Comments

  • Reactions

If you click on a date within this chart, all search results from this day will be displayed in the left-hand column.

Please Note: You can drill into granular results by hovering over a specific day on the graph.


Left Panel - Listening Search Results

The Left Panel displays individual posts that match your Advanced Listening search. Hovering over a post within your listening feed will allow you to mark the post as seen by clicking on the double check mark (✓✓), while clicking on a post will open up a preview of the full post.`
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When you drill down into any chart in the left panel (e.g., Sentiment or Engagement), the left panel will update to show only the results related to that data point. Results in the Left Panel can be customized and re-ordered using the following options:

  1. Competitors (Competitor search only): Select the competitors that you want to be included in your results

  2. Networks: Toggle on or off sources that are included in your results.
    ​Note: The sources listed here depend on the sources that were selected when creating your listening search

  3. Sentiment: Choose to only display posts of a specific sentiment:

    • Positive

    • Neutral

    • Negative

    • Undefined

  4. Attachment: Choose to display posts that contain certain attachments:

    • Images

    • Links

    • GIFs

    • Videos

    • Text Only

  5. Date Range:

    • Last 7 days

    • Last 30 days

    • Last 2 months

    • Last 6 months

    • Last year

    • Custom (up to 2 years when comparing)
      ​Note: The selectable date range available depends on the age of the listening search or the Historical date range that was selected when creating your search. The default Historical date range is 2 months, but up to 2 years can be selected.

  6. Mark all as seen (✓✓): Mark all unseen posts in your feed as seen

  7. Sort By:

    • Newest

    • Oldest

    • Engagement (most engaged)

  8. Search screening (Regular search only): If search screening is enabled, a blue banner will be shown at the top of your feed along with the number of posts that were screened. Click See posts to see a list of the posts, and click Include to restore the post to your feed
    ​Note: If more than 25% of posts were screened, a warning will be shown.

Note: You can reclassify the sentiment of a search result by clicking on the current sentiment classification, then choosing a more applicable option.


How to export Listening search results

Listening reports can only be exported for Regular searches. You can export your listening report by following these instructions:

  1. Click Export search on the top right

  2. A new window will open showing a live preview of your listening report.
    ​Note: Any changes made to the report will be reflected in the preview

  3. Add a name to the report (Optional)

  4. Select the Report date range

  5. Assign metrics to the report by checking any relevant boxes

  6. Click Send PDF

Exports are only available in PDF format.

Please Note: You can only export results for the entirety of your search criteria; individual items may not be exported.

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