Social recommendations like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines now take into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social media presence 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 its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, 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 sites that provide true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social community on the planet. Research shows that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, 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, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site 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 interacting socially on Google+ each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus your URL has amassed, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can 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 site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social media marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, identify opportunities for engagement, spy on your competitors, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific businesses, topics, products, or brands.
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, often carried out by a cross-section of groups that include market research, digital reputation management companies, marketing teams, agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of providers have created tools that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify what customers, competitors, critics, and supporters are saying about their products or brands allowing them to react to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article about social media monitoring tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more details, go here:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple plugin for WordPress users for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s goal is simple … change red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any website owner 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 show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of 3 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 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, increased web traffic and more revenue!)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every other plugin. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WP admin user area and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social activity across leading networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social 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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many great features. Below we have listed some:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access the latest information right on your WP admin bar, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update the plugin with a single 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.
- Low server resource consumption. The plugin can generate social metrics reports in seconds, using minimal server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to gather and compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post type, publishing date, or post authors.
- 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 simple to use … just change more red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
SocialMetricsPro – Useful Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to set up Social Metrics Pro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This allows you to set up Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product retails for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product seller when you visit the product website 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.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account social signals when determining website 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 media marketing campaigns and guides them how and where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns or train your staff to manage your campaigns in-house.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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