Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook shares, comments, and likes, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account social signals when determining website ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. Research shows that an average post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your site page has accrued, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search engine rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, spot market opportunities, measure the impact of campaigns, spy on your competitors, and take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers. It can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific brands, topics, products, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, social signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including marketing teams, market research, online reputation managers, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different providers have developed many affordable tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can react to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about. Visit this page to learn more:
(Are you measuring your social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress-driven websites and blogs for monitoring social media signals and growing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your goal is simple … convert reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ sites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. From these tests, they noticed that their top 10 best performing sites saw an improvement of up to 360% more traffic, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can significantly impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to convert red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social marketing campaigns require investing more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social activity across leading networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many features to WP users. Below we have listed just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to use in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro shows the latest information right on your WordPress dashboard, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. You can update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting configuration. The plugin can generate social metrics reports fast, consuming very little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post type, publishing date, or post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered data and custom queries in Excel for further analysis. Data can be exported in tab-delimited and comma-separated file formats, and imported to Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just convert more reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback users have written about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Product Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a practical guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This edition allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on 1 site only. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This edition allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on multiple sites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost of purchasing the SocialMetricsPro software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software seller when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and guides them where and how to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
For full details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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