Learning Outcomes:
Learn how to access location data in TRAC.
Discover the features of TRAC's location analysis.
Gain insights on how to interpret location data to improve your strategy.
Location analysis in TRAC allows you to obtain valuable insights into the geographic distribution of your audience involved in conversations. By identifying where your audience is located, you can begin to understand how their attitudes and opinions vary by location, including regional and city differences, not just country-level differences. This article covers how to access and use TRAC's location data and the different tools available to help you make data-informed decisions about your content or audience strategy.
How does Pulsar Analyse Locations?
X: For X we use bio location keyword filtering, using words designed to match countries based on their major cities, country codes, and full country names. The result may not be accurate in all cases due to factors such as multiple places with similar names or ambiguous names. If location is not provided in a user’s profile location field, X will not attempt to make a classification and as such it's expected behaviour that some tweets may not be pulled into a search. We also look for geo-tagged tweets, where at the time of posting the user has tagged the tweet with a place or location that matches the specific country.
News, Blogs, Forums, Youtube, and Tumblr: we filter for location using the country_code of the domain or the author location (if available).
Reviews: the country filter is based on the source (e.g. all reviews from Amazon.com will automatically be associated with the country USA).
Facebook: the data we collect in a Topic search or Panel Search is from Facebook Pages, not Facebook users. If we have the page's specific country then we apply this as the location of the post.
Location data can only captured if the data source provides location data and if the piece of content itself provides a location signal. Not all content provides a geographic signal and will therefore be pulled into the platform as 'unknown' location.
Here are some examples of how location is determined:
📝 Note: There are some data sources where we don't collect location data, like Instagram, Reddit and Web Search data. You can read more about this here.
Location Data in TRAC
There's a wealth of location information available within TRAC. Let's learn more about where these insights can be found .
Posts Level Location
From the Feed view, you can understand the location of the content that has been collected within your search. You have the option to override the assigned location if you believe that this has been incorrectly assigned. The override action can be applied to that piece of content only, or past and future content from the same author or domain.
Location Maps
The Locations page within Content Insights provides interactive maps that illustrate the geographic distribution of people involved in a particular conversation. These maps enable you to visualize where your audience is located at various levels, including country, city, and geo-coordinates. You can zoom in and out and click on specific locations to explore individual posts in the Feed. The shading on the map represents the sentiment of the content collected from those regions, with darker green indicating strongly positive and darker red indicating strongly negative. Therefore, using location maps not only shows you the geographic distribution of people discussing a topic, but also their sentiment towards it.
💡 Top Tip: You can change from the map view for Country and City Breakdown to a list view.
Top Locations
The list of top locations can be found in Audience Insights > Demographics. This shows the top countries and cities where the authors contributing to your conversation are from, ranked by the volume of authors found in those locations. You can mouse over each location to gain more information about the number of unique authors from that location and use the city view to further understand if the conversation is concentrated in largely urban, or rural areas.
Location Data Filters
You can apply various location filters to your dataset, for example, you can filter by country or by city. This allows you to segment your search results and focus only on content collected from the filtered regions.
Export Options Available
TRAC enables you to export location information to XLS, PNG or SVG image formats, making it easy to share your findings with your team or incorporate them into your reports.
Interpreting Location Data for Strategy Improvement
As you delve into your location data, consider the following tips to help you make informed decisions for your audience and content strategies:
Identify high-potential regions: For brands, you can focus on areas with a high volume of conversations or mentions based on brand-specific keywords, as these may be prime targets for marketing campaigns or tailored content.
Spot regional trends: Pay attention to patterns in location data, such as a sudden spike in interest from a particular region. This could indicate an emerging market or an opportunity for targeted engagement.
Tailor your messaging: Consider regional preferences, language, and cultural nuances when crafting your content and messaging. This can help you resonate with your audience and improve engagement.
Monitor changes over time: Regularly review location data to stay informed of any shifts in audience demographics or interests. This can help you adapt your strategies proactively to stay ahead of the competition.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article! 📚
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team via live chat. 🚀