The Heatmap is one of Fanaura’s most visually striking and strategically useful features. It takes your fan location data and paints it onto an interactive map, showing you exactly where your audience lives — not in abstract numbers, but in glowing color on a real map. If you have ever wondered “Where should I tour next?” or “Am I marketing to the right cities?” — the Heatmap gives you the answer.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.fanaura.com/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Accessing the Heatmap
How It Works
Location Data Collection
Fanaura collects fan location data from multiple sources and geocodes them (converts “Nashville, TN” into latitude and longitude coordinates) so they can be placed accurately on the map. Fans without location data will not appear on the Heatmap — make sure your smart link forms include location fields to improve coverage.
- Signup forms: When fans enter their city and state on a smart link or RSVP page.
- IP geolocation: When fans click a smart link, their approximate location is inferred from their IP address.
- Shopify addresses: When fans make a purchase, their shipping address is captured.
- Manual entry: When you add a fan by hand with location data.
- CSV import: Location columns from your import file.
Density Visualization
The Heatmap uses a color-coded gradient to show fan density:| Color | Density |
|---|---|
| Dark purple | Low fan density — a few fans scattered in the area |
| Blue | Moderate density — a noticeable cluster |
| Bright pink / magenta | High density — a major fan hotspot |
| White / bright core | Extremely high density — your biggest concentration of fans |
The visualization uses exponential scaling, which means the colors reflect relative density accurately even when you have one city with 5,000 fans and another with 50. The most dense areas glow brightly while less dense areas stay subtle.
Feathered Glow Layers
At higher zoom levels, the heatmap switches to a feathered glow effect so you can see individual clusters within a city. Zoom into Nashville, for example, and you might see distinct hotspots in East Nashville, Music Row, and Germantown.Interacting with the Map
Zooming
- Scroll wheel: Zoom in and out
- Pinch gesture: On trackpad or touch devices
- Plus/minus buttons: In the bottom-right corner of the map
- Double-click: Zoom into a specific area
Panning
Click and drag the map to move around. On mobile, swipe to pan.Clicking a City Cluster
When you click on a visible cluster (a colored area on the heatmap), a popup appears showing:- City name and state/country
- Total fan count in that area
- VIP breakdown — how many Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond fans are in that city
- Top sources — where those fans came from (pre-save, SMS, Shopify, etc.)
- Save as List button — create a fan list from everyone in that city with one click
Filters
The filter bar above the map lets you change which fans are shown on the heatmap. Filtered results update the map in real-time.- Fan Type
- VIP Status
- Date Range
| Filter | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| All Fans | Every fan with location data (default) |
| Pre-Savers | Only fans who pre-saved a release |
| RSVP’d Fans | Only fans who RSVP’d to an event |
| Merch Purchasers | Only fans who bought merch via Shopify |
| SMS Subscribers | Only fans who opted in to SMS |
| Email Subscribers | Only fans who opted in to email |
Tour Overlay
The Tour Overlay is where the Heatmap goes from “cool data viz” to “essential business tool.”Enabling the Tour Overlay
View your tour pins
Your upcoming tour dates (from the Events section or MasterTour integration) appear as pin markers on the map. Each pin shows the venue name, city, and date.
What You Can Learn
With tour dates overlaid on your fan heatmap, you can instantly answer critical questions:- Am I touring where my fans are? If you have a massive fan cluster in Atlanta but no shows within 300 miles, that is a missed opportunity.
- Are there markets I am ignoring? Look for bright hotspots with no tour pins nearby. Those are cities hungry for a show.
- Am I playing to empty rooms? If you have a tour date in a city with almost no fan presence on the heatmap, your ticket sales might struggle — or you need to ramp up marketing in that market before the show.
Sharing with Your Team
The tour overlay view can be screenshotted or shared with your booking agent, manager, or label. It makes a compelling visual argument when discussing routing decisions.Top Cities Modal
Click the Top Cities button in the upper-right area of the heatmap to open a ranked breakdown of your fan geography.What It Shows
A sorted list of your top cities by fan count, including:| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Rank | Position in the list (1 = most fans) |
| City | City name and state/country |
| Fan Count | Total number of fans in that city |
| VIP Breakdown | Visual bar showing the distribution of fans across VIP tiers |
| Top Source | The primary channel driving fans in that city |
| Growth | Percentage change in fan count over the last 30 days |
Using the Top Cities List
- Spot trends: If a city is growing fast (high growth percentage), something is working there — maybe a playlist placement, a local influencer, or a recent show.
- Prioritize markets: Your top 10 cities are your core markets. Make sure they are always included in tour routing and targeted marketing.
- Identify emerging markets: Cities ranked 11-30 with high growth rates are your emerging markets. These might be worth adding to the next tour cycle.
Save as List
One of the most actionable features of the Heatmap is the ability to turn a geographic cluster into a fan list.- From a City Popup
- From Top Cities
What You Can Do with Geographic Lists
Once you have a geographic list, you can:- Send a targeted blast — “Hey Nashville! We’re playing Exit/In on March 15. Grab your tickets before they sell out.”
- Trigger a flow — Enroll fans in a city-specific nurture sequence leading up to a show.
- Track growth — Monitor how your fan count in that city changes over time.
- Compare markets — Put geographic lists side by side to see which cities have the most engaged fans (by average engagement score or VIP tier distribution).
Use Cases
For Booking Agents
For Booking Agents
“My artist has 3,200 fans in Denver and 4,100 in Phoenix, but we’ve never played either market. Can we add a Southwest run to the spring tour?”The Heatmap gives you data-backed evidence for routing decisions instead of gut feelings.
For Managers
For Managers
“We’ve been spending ad money in Miami, but our organic fan growth is strongest in the Midwest. Should we shift our budget?”Use the Heatmap alongside the Top Cities growth data to see where your money is working and where organic momentum is building.
For Marketing Teams
For Marketing Teams
“The new single just dropped. Where are the pre-savers concentrated? Let’s run geo-targeted Instagram ads in those markets.”Filter the Heatmap to Pre-Savers and see exactly which cities responded to the new music. Then create lists from those cities for follow-up campaigns.
For Artists
For Artists
“I want to do a surprise pop-up show. Where should I do it?”Pull up the Heatmap filtered by Diamond and Platinum fans. Find the city with the highest concentration of your most dedicated fans. That is your pop-up city.
Tips & Best Practices
- Compare filtered views. Switch between “All Fans” and “Pre-Savers Only” to see if your pre-save audience matches your overall audience. Differences might reveal where your streaming promo is strongest.
- Use date range filters for campaign analysis. After a marketing push, filter to “Last 7 days” to see where the new fans came from geographically.
- Save lists early and often. Whenever you spot an interesting cluster on the map, save it as a list. You can always merge or refine lists later, but you cannot go back and recreate a moment-in-time snapshot.
- Review before every tour cycle. Make the Heatmap part of your pre-tour planning process. Share it with your booking agent and manager so everyone is making decisions from the same data.
Troubleshooting
Some of my fans don't appear on the map
Some of my fans don't appear on the map
Fans only appear on the Heatmap if they have location data (city and state at minimum). Fans with no location information will not be plotted. To improve coverage, make sure your smart link forms include location fields.
The map looks empty even though I have fans
The map looks empty even though I have fans
Check your filters. If you have a restrictive filter active (like “Diamond fans only” when you have no Diamond fans yet), the map will appear empty. Reset filters to “All Fans” and verify.
A city shows more fans than I expected
A city shows more fans than I expected
Fanaura geocodes to the city level, so all fans in the Nashville metro area (including suburbs like Franklin, Brentwood, and Murfreesboro) may cluster under the “Nashville” pin depending on how specific their location data is.
What’s Next
Fan Lists
Turn geographic insights into targeted segments.
Fan Directory
View and filter your full fan table.