Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses 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 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 summary, 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 sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. Research shows that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search 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 low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, spot opportunities for engagement, spy on the competition, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, and measure the impact of campaigns. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific businesses, topics, products, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, social media signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various groups that include digital reputation managers, marketing professionals, market research, social marketing agencies, professional sales reps, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many service providers have developed tools that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify what is being said online about their products or brands allowing them to react to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing many social media measurement tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. More information:
(Can you measure your social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media influence.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is to convert more red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 everything “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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can affect your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your admin user login and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to turn all the red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to invest more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Track Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social media activity from social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Digg, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to 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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides a number of great features to web site owners. Here are just some of these features:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. View the latest stats right on your WordPress dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update Social Metrics Pro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Uses very little resources. The plugin can generate reports very quickly, using very little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to gather data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by publishing date, post type, post authors, or by category.
- 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 very simple to use … just convert reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials users have published about SocialMetricsPro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
SocialMetricsPro 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 Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This edition enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on 1 site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product sells for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the website and you may be shown 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, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and guides you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to monitor which social networks are working for your business.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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