6 Hyperlocal Platforms That Transform Social Media Into Data

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The sheer volume of messages being posted across social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can be overwhelming for marketers. With more than 350,000 tweets sent each minute—not to mention all the @mentions, @replies and #hashtags calling out businesses by name—many marketers are finding it virtually impossible to use social media in a truly productive way.

Taking a high-level approach to social media allows larger businesses to utilize the information that customers are posting without being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of messages. Social media analytics platforms with geo-location features built-in alongside keyword and hashtag searches take this concept one step further, providing an opportunity for marketers to get the gist of what people are saying about the companies they represent without getting lost in a sea of individual posts.

Here are six examples of hyperlocal platforms with location-specific features that businesses can use to turn social media postings into actionable data.

1. Venuelabs: Measure satisfaction using location-based social data.
Created for the restaurant, retail, and hospitality industries, Venuelabs is a social media analytics and measurement platform that uses location to identify issues and track things like customer satisfaction, experiences, and feedback themes. Venuelabs works with more than a dozen social channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and TripAdvisor. The platform aggregates and analyzes location-based data from social channels, such as likes, check-ins, reviews, and mentions. It then turns this aggregated information into actionable data for businesses with physical locations. The company also offers a social listening tool geared for small businesses called AboutLocal.

2. Spotlyte: Filter social activity by geo-location, keyword, and hashtag.
An audience engagement platform for brands, sports teams, and musicians, Spotlyte offers a way for businesses to engage customers on more than half a dozen social platforms, whether they’re inside a stadium or at home on the couch. The platform offers a way for businesses to monitor activity on social networks, filtered by parameters like geo-location, keyword, and hashtag. This enables brands to hone in on their most active demographics. Brands can monitor all the content from a certain location containing a specific hashtag, and they can use the data they collect to make more informed online marketing decisions.

3. Earshot: Collect synthesized location-based insights.
Earshot synthesizes location-based insights from social media and uses the information to help brands develop real-time, precision-based marketing strategies. The company applies location data to social media channels, and analyzes individual posts for sentiment, mood, and intent, along with custom filters. Online posts are given a score using Earshot’s “algorithmic scoring system.” This score reflects how relevant a post is based on location, sentiment, profile information, user influence, time of day, and content. Earshot is also able to interpret how a social media user’s behavior fluctuates as he or she changes locations throughout the day.

4. Geofeedia: Analyze social posts by location.
Using Geofeedia, businesses can search and analyze social media posts from any location in real-time. Brands and agencies, in particular, can use Geofeedia’s location-based monitoring tools to gain insights into the conversations happening in and around physical locations. By utilizing location-specific content mining, brands are able to uncover trends and improve overall sentiment management. Businesses can also use Geofeedia to monitor and analyze the social activity going on inside certain geographies by drawing perimeters around the areas they’d like to monitor.

5. ListenLogic: Turn unstructured data into actionable intelligence.
ListenLogic aggregates social media postings, surveys, emails, and other documents and turns them into actionable insights for brands, marketers, and market research teams. Operating in real-time, ListenLogic mines social media feeds and detects “reputational and operational risks.” Businesses can dissect the data that ListenLogic provides by location, gender, or age segmentation. For example, a restaurant chain that notices a number of people discussing its undercooked dishes could use ListenLogic to trace the problem back to its original source or restaurant location. ListenLogic can also be used to analyze “trigger events” along a customer’s path to purchase.

6. LifeRaft: Put social conversations into context.
Although LifeRaft was designed for the education and law enforcement communities, the platform’s location capabilities make it applicable for a number of industries. LifeRaft monitors social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and adds location data to publicly available posts. Using a proprietary algorithm, LifeRaft understands the context of social posts, including the relationships between users and location patterns. It then combines this contextual data with geo-location and sends out real-time alerts to clients. For example, a school could find out when someone is tweeting about bringing a weapon onto campus.

Know of other tools that businesses can to turn social media posts into actionable data? Leave a description in the comments.

Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.

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Stephanie Miles is a journalist who covers personal finance, technology, and real estate. As Street Fight’s senior editor, she is particularly interested in how local merchants and national brands are utilizing hyperlocal technology to reach consumers. She has written for FHM, the Daily News, Working World, Gawker, Cityfile, and Recessionwire.