Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account social signals to help determine website 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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 websites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, GooglePlus 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 every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, 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 and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, products, or brand on social media, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of campaigns, identify potential market opportunities, and be alerted to impending crises. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, brands, businesses, or products.
As a tool for business intelligence, 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 marketing teams, online reputation management companies, market researchers, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands or products so they can respond proactively to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
Go here if you would like to learn more about social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
In this article, we explore a simple social monitoring plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is to change more red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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”. According to the plugin developers, they noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 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 marketing can positively can have a significant impact on your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro installs like every other plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to turn reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns require more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social media activity across leading social networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which posts 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 the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many great features to web site owners. Below we have listed a few:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access the latest information right on your WordPress admin bar, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on 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 be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin uses very little resources. Reporting is very quickly, consuming little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, category, or publishing date.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just turn red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Product Customers
Here are just some testimonials and feedback that users have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”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
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This license option lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on all the domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the Social Metrics Pro software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price shown above was current at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
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. 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 media marketing campaigns and shows 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 right from your WP admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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