Social recommendations like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account various social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses 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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social media network in the world. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million 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 value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting socially on GooglePlus every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social signals, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus your URL has amassed, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search traffic and 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 visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, spot potential market opportunities, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, measure the impact of campaigns, and spy on your competitors. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, social signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by a cross-section of people including marketing professionals, online reputation management (ORM) specialists, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many providers have developed many tools to facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands so they can react to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article on social media tracking tools and technologies that you may want to check out. Go here to learn more:
(Are you looking for an effective tool that can help you monitor social signals?)
In this article, we discuss a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and improving your social media exposure.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the system tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s job is simple … change more red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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 everything “green”. From these tests, they noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can significantly affect your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to turn all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to centrally track and monitor social media activity from networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro provides a number of features to WordPress users. Here are just some of these features:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays the latest information right on your WordPress admin bar, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click auto-upgrade functionality. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Plugin suits even the smallest hosting configuration. The plugin generates reports fast, consuming little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data: You can export and plot data 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 really simple to use … just convert all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about SocialMetricsPro:
“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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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Plugin Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This edition enables you to set up Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on multiple sites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the plugin is selling for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown 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.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and 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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to see measurable results.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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