Social interactions like Facebook shares, comments, and likes, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines are now taking into account various social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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 the 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 perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 websites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. Research shows that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, don’t 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, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest 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 importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social site 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 interacting socially on Google+ every year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(Social media 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 a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sharing the posts is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 factors that can indirectly influence search traffic and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or services on social media, identify opportunities for engagement, spy on your competitors, be alerted to crises, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, businesses, brands, or products.
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, often carried out by a cross-section of groups that include online reputation specialists, market researchers, marketing professionals, social marketing agencies, sales teams, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various service providers have created a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track what is being said online about their brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. Go here for more information:
(Do you know how to effectively track your social signals?)
This article explores a simple social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and improving your social media presence.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the tool measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s goal is to convert all the red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can operate … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display 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”. According to the plugin developers, 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 the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below are 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:
Easy, Fast & Simple To Install
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every other WordPress plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your administrator login and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to convert all the red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know which campaigns need more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity from networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many features. Here are a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated information right on your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. Update SocialMetricsPro in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Plugin works even on the smallest hosting configuration. Reporting is very quickly, using very little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post authors, post type, or category.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials that users have submitted regarding the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”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 Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This edition allows you to install Social Metrics Pro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This lets you install Social Metrics Pro on all the websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of the SocialMetricsPro product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was correct at the time this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Product
As mentioned earlier, Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and guides them how and where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to track your social signals automatically.
For more details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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