Social recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, shares, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
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. 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 perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus a URL has, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or products on social media, spot opportunities for engagement, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users, spy on your competition, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific products, businesses, brands, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, social media monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include marketing professionals, market research, PR agencies, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and social marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
To learn more about social media tracking tools and technologies that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that can affect your business,etc, refer to this article:
(Are you monitoring your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet effective social media monitoring tool for WordPress and improving your social media presence online.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media presence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s job is to change all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that anyone can operate … just turn 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 display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ sites 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”. From these tests, 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, improving your social marketing can result in better search engine rankings, more web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up. Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro installs just like every plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your admin user login and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity from networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WordPress users with many features. Below we have listed some of these features:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access the latest information from your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new versions are released.
- Low-resource consumption. The plugin generates reports fast, consuming very little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, publishing date, post type, or by category.
- Export Data: You can export data 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 very simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials customers have provided for the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
“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
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This option enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on 1 website only. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This license enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on unlimited web sites that you own. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software retails for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and 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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and shows you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to shave years off your social media marketing learning curve.
For full details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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