Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook likes, comments, and shares, 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 brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team 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 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 sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing the posts, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, spread rate of adds and shares, 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 signals that can influence search engine traffic. These include positive and negative 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 irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, spy on your competitors, avert disasters, identify opportunities for engagement, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to track social media channels like blogs, internet forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Medium, etc., discussion boards, video/photo sharing websites, and user-generated content 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 marketing professionals, market research, online reputation management (ORM) agencies, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of service providers have developed a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to identify consumer behavior around your brand allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media tracking tools and technologies that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. More info:
(Are you monitoring social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective social monitoring tool for a WordPress-based online business and increasing your social media presence.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the system measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s job is simple … change all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro 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 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing can result in better search rankings, more traffic and more revenue!)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro installs just like every plugin. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change all the reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require investing more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social media activity from networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, Digg, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro 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 this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides web site owners with a number of features. Below we have listed just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. SocialMetricsPro shows the latest information from your WP admin bar, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updating. Update SocialMetricsPro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal usage of hosting resources. The plugin can generate reports fast, using very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post type, publishing date, or post authors.
- Export Data: 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 very simple to use … just convert more red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials that plugin users have written 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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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Plugin Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license allows you to set up Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This license option enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on all domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
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.
Download The 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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them how to improve their 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 Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social marketing results professionally.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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