Social recommendations like Facebook shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account social signals to help determine website ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social media presence 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 reliable ‘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 value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network on the planet. It has been estimated that one great post 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 power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter orGoogle+.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers 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 networking site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on Google+ every month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 traffic. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or services on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, spot potential opportunities for engagement, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, and assess competitor activity. It can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to monitor trends, activity, and social conversations on social media channels like blogging, forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Quora, etc., discussion boards, video 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 a cross-section of groups that include market research, marketing teams, online reputation specialists, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community staff, and professional sales reps. 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 online reputation.
Fortunately different providers have created affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the tracking of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to track what consumers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about your brand allowing you to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article on social media measurement tools and technologies that you may want to check out here:
(Are you measuring social signals effectively?)
In this article, we look at a simple social media tracking tool for your online business and increasing your social media exposure online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you improve your social media presence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the system tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is simple … turn all red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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”. 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 the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to change all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know which social marketing campaigns require investing more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally monitor social activity from networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks the social media sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers website owners with many features. Here are some:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to use in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. View the latest information from your WP admin bar, add socially popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Plugin works the smallest hosting. Reporting is very quickly, consuming very little hosting resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the information as 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 and plot filtered 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just turn all reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments that customers have written about the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”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 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)
SocialMetricsPro – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Product Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This edition enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License Edition – This enables you to use SocialMetricsPro on unlimited sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing at the time this content was written. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines have started taking into account various social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
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 instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing or train your staff to manage your campaigns in-house.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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