Social interactions like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook likes, comments, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
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. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts 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 the social sphere 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 develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media community in the world. It has been estimated that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest 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 on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social media site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using Google+ 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, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, amount and growth rate of +1s, 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 influence search traffic and 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 of poor quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, identify market opportunities, avert crises, assess competitor activity and mind share, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, brands, topics, 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, typically carried out by various people including market researchers, marketing professionals, digital reputation management companies, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of providers have created affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to track consumer behavior around their products or brands so they can respond to conversations and engage with consumers 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. Visit this page to learn more:
(Are you looking for an effective tool that can help you monitor social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective social monitoring tool for WordPress and improving your social media presence online.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the tool measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s objective is to turn red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can operate … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ 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”. According to the plugin developers, 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, increased web traffic and more revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Easy, Quick And Simple To Install
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to change more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
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 of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many features to WP users. Here are just some:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest stats right on your WordPress dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when new plugin updates are released.
- Low server resource consumption. The plugin can generate reports fast, using very little hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to gather and compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to 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 publishing date, post authors, category, or by post type.
- 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 very simple to use … just turn more reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials that users have published about SocialMetricsPro:
”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
Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to install Social Metrics Pro on one website only. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on unlimited web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of the SocialMetricsPro software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this review was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the product seller 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
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Product
As mentioned earlier, Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 website owners immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them how and where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing campaigns work for you.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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