Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook shares, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines 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. 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 so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value tend to 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 look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. It has been estimated that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social networking 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 Google+ each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the number of people sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has amassed, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social media marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, spy on your competitors, spot opportunities for engagement, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, businesses, topics, 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 a cross-section of groups that include digital reputation management (ORM) companies, market research, marketing professionals, professional sales reps, social engagement and community staff, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately a number of providers have made available affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what consumers, competitors, critics, and supporters are saying about your products or brand allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. More info:
(Are you searching for an effective tool that can help you measure your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple plugin for WordPress-driven websites and blogs for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media exposure.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The user’s job is simple … convert all reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure 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 display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin 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”. According to the plugin developers, 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, more web traffic and more revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro installs just like every other plugin. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s goal is to turn all the red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many unique features to WordPress users. Here are some of these:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to use in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access updated information from your WP dashboard, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reporting is fast, using very little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, category, post authors, or by post type.
- 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 more reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback plugin customers have submitted regarding Social Metrics Pro:
”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
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This option allows you to run SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing for the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the product is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author 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 the current price here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, 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 WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them where and how to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to track your social signals automatically.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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