Social recommendations like Facebook likes, shares, and comments, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social media presence 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 social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. 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 websites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses 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.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social signals, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines 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 web page has, the number of people sharing your posts, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a URL has accrued, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. 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 poor quality by other users [negative].
As a business 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 performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, services, or company on social media, spot opportunities for engagement, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and spy on your competition. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, products, topics, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, social 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 groups that include marketing teams, market research, digital reputation managers, sales teams, social engagement and community staff, and social marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different service providers have developed a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your products or brand allowing you to respond to conversations and interact with online users in a timely manner.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that can affect your business, etc, see what online conversations are taking place that can affect your business,etc. Go here to learn more:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple WordPress plugin for tracking social signals and growing your social media influence.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the system tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your goal is simple … convert more red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any user can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and 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 their metrics on “green”. From these tests, they were able to notice a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 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 result in better search engine rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
Social Metrics Pro installs like any other plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your admin user section and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s objective is to turn more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know which social campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to track and monitor social activity across leading networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro offers website owners with a number of great features. Here are just some:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to use in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. View updated stats from your WordPress admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. Update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting. Reporting is in seconds, using very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or by category.
- Export Data: You can export and plot filtered, sorted 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 all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are some of the testimonials and feedback users have published about SocialMetricsPro:
”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 – Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical 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 upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License Edition – This lets you run SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was correct when this review was published. This may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Plugin
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 the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you how and where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to avoid wasting resources on over-optimized networks.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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