Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking 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, rather than 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 assessing social media signals, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals 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 value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media community on the planet. Research shows that an average post on Facebook 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 importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website 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 every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single 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 has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on Google+ every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay 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 shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person sharing the posts is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus your URL has accrued, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search engine rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, spy on your competitors, identify market opportunities, measure the impact of campaigns, and help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, topics, brands, or products.
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, often carried out by a cross-section of people including market research, digital reputation management (ORM) specialists, marketing professionals, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various service providers have made available affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to track what is being said online about your brand or products allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
To learn more about social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth knowing about, see this article:
(Do you know how to effectively measure your social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet effective social media monitoring tool for a WordPress-based digital presence and improving your social media exposure.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media presence online uncomplicated. 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. Your objective is to change all reds into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand sites 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 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can dramatically impact your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast Installation
Social Metrics Pro installs like any other plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your admin user account and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally monitor social media activity from networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many great features to web site owners. Here are some:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Ready to use in very little time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated information right on your WP dashboard, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update the plugin in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal consumption of hosting resources. Metric reports are compiled fast, consuming minimal hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, category, or by publishing date.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments that customers have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.com
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
A practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on a single website. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This option lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost of purchasing Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the plugin sells for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product 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 the latest pricing information:
Additional Plugin Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you how to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social marketing campaigns or train your staff to manage your campaigns inhouse.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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