Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social community in the world. It has been estimated that an average post 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 power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGoogle+.
(Number of monthly 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 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 amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting socially on GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending a tweet is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your URL has amassed, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (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 website owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, and help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor social media 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 PR staff, marketing teams, market research, social marketing agencies, professional sales reps, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your brand or products allowing you to react to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article listing many social media measurement tools and technologies that you may want to check out. To learn more, visit this page:
(Are you tracking your social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple social tracking tool for your website and increasing your social media influence online.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The user’s objective is simple … change reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with the 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 three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, 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 can result in better search engine rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Easy Installation
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator login and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to convert more reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity from social media networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to 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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro provides a number of features to WP users. Below we have listed just some:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access the latest stats right on your WordPress dashboard, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updating. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when new plugin updates are released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting. Reporting is in seconds, using very little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, category, publishing date, or by post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just convert more reds into greens!)
Testimonials From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and feedback that users have submitted regarding 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
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Tips
A step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license option enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on a single domain. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This license enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on all sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
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 This Product
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them how and where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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