Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, shares, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account various social signals when determining website ranking.
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 the web spam team Matt Cutts 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 reliable ‘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 ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, 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 search engine rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of monthly 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 each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(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 Bing and Google track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has amassed, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments 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 desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, services, or company on social media, spy on your competitors, be alerted to impending crises, identify potential market opportunities, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific products, brands, businesses, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to track social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include marketing teams, online reputation managers, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and sales teams. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different technology providers have developed many tools to facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict what consumers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about their brands or products allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media measurement tools that you may want to check out. For more details, go here:
(Are you looking for an effective way to track your social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media influence.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you increase your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is simple … change red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any website owner can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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 everything “green”. According to the plugin developers, 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, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in better search rankings, more web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Ready To Use In Minutes
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally track and monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest directly from your WP dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social 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.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides web site owners with a number of great features. Here are just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in very little time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest stats from your WordPress admin bar, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update Social Metrics Pro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting configuration. The plugin generates reports in seconds, consuming very little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, publishing date, post authors, or by category.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export filtered, sorted data and custom queries to 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 very simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials plugin users have written about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This option enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This license lets you install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for the SocialMetricsPro product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to 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 website owners instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them 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 right from your WordPress dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to reduce your social media marketing learning curve.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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