Social interactions 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 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 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 tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals 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 value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social community on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your site page has accrued, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, assess competitor activity and market share, measure the impact of campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, and help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, topics, brands, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to track social media channels like blogging, forums, social networking sites, micro-blogging platforms, discussion groups, video/photo sharing sites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including marketing professionals, PR agencies, market researchers, sales teams, social engagement and community staff, and agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the active tracking of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what consumers are saying about your products or brand so you can react to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
Go here if you want to learn more social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that can affect your business,etc:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
In this article, we review a simple plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and increasing your social media exposure.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is to turn all red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Fast Installation
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to convert more reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally monitor social media activity from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
Social Metrics Pro 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 this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with a number of features. Below we have listed some of those features:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View the latest information from your WordPress dashboard, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update the plugin in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Low-resource consumption. Social reports are compiled very quickly, consuming very little hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post authors, or by post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export data to 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just convert more reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are just some testimonials that plugin customers 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 is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This license option enables you to activate Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This edition allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the Social Metrics Pro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the price at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the software developer 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 Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
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. 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 campaigns and shows you how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing campaigns work for you.
For more information, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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