Social recommendations like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
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. Google’s own head of the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. 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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide value normally 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 for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion 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 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 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 second largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each 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 Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting socially on GooglePlus each week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing the posts, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your URL has amassed, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot new market opportunities, spy on the competition, and take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, products, businesses, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor conversations and social activity on social media 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 people including market research, online reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing professionals, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products allowing them to react to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have created a detailed article listing several social media tracking tools and technologies that will help you identify new trends and opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that could affect your business,etc. More info:
(Are you measuring social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and increasing your social media influence.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s objective is simple … turn reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any website owner can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most 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+ 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, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Fast Installation
SocialMetricsPro installs like every plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change more red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity from networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, Pinterest, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress dashboard.
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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers web site owners with many unique features. Here are some of those:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. Update Social Metrics Pro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Minimal server resources use. Social reports are generated very quickly, using little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to gather and compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or by publishing date.
- Export Data: You can export filtered data and custom queries to 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 reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials that plugin customers have published about SocialMetricsPro:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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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)
Useful Tips
A practical 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.
Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This lets you configure Social Metrics Pro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This license option lets you run Social Metrics Pro on all the domains that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for the Social Metrics Pro software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was current when this review was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro 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 and how to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to shorten your path to success with social media marketing.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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