Social interactions like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines have started taking into account various social signals to help determine website ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence 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 assessing social media 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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social community on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of 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 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential 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 factors that can influence search traffic. These include positive 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 find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, assess competitor activity, spot market opportunities, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, businesses, topics, or products.
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, typically carried out by a cross-section of groups that include online reputation management companies, market research, marketing teams, sales teams, social engagement and community staff, and social marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately different technology providers have developed a range of tools to facilitate the tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their products or brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have created a comprehensive article listing many social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. Go here for more information:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and growing your social media influence.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is to convert reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … 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 and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro 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 their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, more web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin login and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to turn all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity across leading networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress admin area.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to 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 tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WP users with many unique features. Here are a few of these:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated information right on your WordPress admin bar, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal hosting resources usage. Metric reports are compiled in seconds, consuming little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, category, post type, or by publishing date.
- 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 really simple to use … just convert all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin customers have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.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 (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Product Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Licensing Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This option enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License Edition – This enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the plugin retails for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the 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 Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download 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 the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy 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 admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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