Social interactions like Facebook shares, likes, and comments, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of 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 social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. Research shows that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second 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 online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing the information, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, authority of adds and shares, 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 social media-related signals that can influence search rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or services on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, identify market opportunities, spy on your competitors, and be alerted to impending crises. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, brands, topics, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various groups that include market research, marketing teams, digital reputation management companies, agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately various service providers have made available a range of tools to facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article on social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns here:
(Are you tracking social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and improving your social media exposure.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your task is to turn red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of 3 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Be Up And Running In No Time
Social Metrics Pro installs like every other plugin. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin area and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to turn all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to put more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social activity across leading social networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social 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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many unique features. Here are just some of these:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to start using in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-updating functionality. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications whenever a new version is released.
- Minimal usage of hosting resources. Reporting is in seconds, consuming little hosting resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server resources used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter your data 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 by 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just convert reds into greens!)
Testimonials From Plugin Customers
Here are a couple of the testimonials that plugin users have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
A step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Licensing Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on one site only. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This edition lets you run SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. Price includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software sells for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Product
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you how and where to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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