Explore This Guide
Understanding the Cluster Comparison Heatmap
The Cluster Comparison feature exists inside the Custom Ranking sub-tab of Influencers & brands within your reports.
It offers a visual heatmap that helps you analyze how your custom ranking (personalized list of X accounts) performs across different audience clusters. It’s a great tool for identifying key patterns in your data.
When you look at the heatmap, you’ll notice that the clusters are sorted by size. The full audience is shown first, followed by clusters, ranked from the largest to the smallest. This is consistent with how clusters are displayed in the Audience Breakdown page, making it easy to navigate and compare.
The default sorting view shown is Affinity, but you can also view the Uniqueness score as a secondary option. This lets you dive deeper into the nuances of your data.
When it comes to interests, they are ranked based on the highest Affinity with the full audience, so you’ll quickly see which interests resonate the most. If you prefer, you can toggle between sorting by Affinity or Uniqueness to get a different perspective on your data.
Important:
Only profiles within the top 20K of each cluster will have a score because Custom Ranking is a filter applied to the Influencers & Brands tab. If a profile isn’t in that top 20K list, no score is calculated for it in the report.
Finally, the heatmap colors are designed to make patterns stand out. The color intensity varies depending on the level of affinity, so you can easily spot the key trends in your audience clusters.
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Making the most of Custom Rankings: Key Use Cases
The Custom Rankings feature allows you to create tailored influencer and brand benchmarks that meet your specific research goals. Whether you're evaluating brand partnerships, tracking niche influencers, or comparing competitors, this tool gives you valuable insights into how accounts or influencers stack up across different audience clusters.
Some practical uses for "Custom Rankings" include tracking your competitors, monitoring influencers within your industry, keeping tabs on brands relevant to your sponsorships, and so much more. "Custom Rankings" can help you understand how your brand fares within a specific niche compared to your competitors.
Case Study:
Imagine you’re an analyst at a leading beverage brand, and you need to assess how your brand ranks among 20 competitors across a range of target audiences - like “young mums,” “active grandmas,” and “power executives.” First, you could create personalized insights reports for each audience to dive deep into their clusters and affinities.
Next, you’ll create a Custom Ranking that includes all 20 brands and see where your brand stands in relation to each audience. This gives you a clear view of which clusters have higher affinity with your brand and which ones may offer growth opportunities.
For example, you might discover a niche where your brand is performing well, but your competitors aren’t as strong - helping you identify areas where you can capitalize on your strengths. On the flip side, you can also spot weaker clusters and adjust your marketing strategy to focus on those personas.
Similarly, if you’re focused on influencer marketing or brand partnerships, you can use "Custom Rankings" to compare and rank influencers or brands, identifying those that align best with each of your target audiences. This helps you refine your strategy and make data-driven decisions that connect with the right partners for your brand’s success.