Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, 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 have started taking into account various social signals when determining 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, rather than 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 social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere 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 websites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social community on the planet. Research shows that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites.
(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 each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ 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+ every month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying 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 shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, the authority of the person sharing your posts, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, products, or company on social media, spy on your competitors, avert crises, measure the impact of campaigns, and identify opportunities for engagement. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
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, often carried out by various people including market researchers, digital reputation specialists, marketing professionals, professional sales reps, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, many small businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various service providers have made available affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the monitoring of a broad range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify what is being said online about their brands or products allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Are you tracking your social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media exposure.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the system tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your goal is simple … turn reds into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares display 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 2,000+ websites 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”. From these tests, they noticed 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, improving your social marketing campaigns can positively impact your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any other WordPress plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP admin section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to convert more red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns require investing more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social activity from networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many unique features to web site owners. Here are just a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro shows updated information from your WordPress dashboard, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal use of server resources. The plugin can generate social metrics reports fast, consuming minimal server resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter your 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, post authors, or by publishing date.
- 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just convert all red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are some of the testimonials that users have provided for SocialMetricsPro:
”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
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a 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
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This lets you install SocialMetricsPro on one domain only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This edition lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing details of this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
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.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking 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 WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to use social signals to get better search rankings.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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