Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, comments, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
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 its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community in the world. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 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 uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search 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 has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has accrued, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, spot potential market opportunities, measure the impact of campaigns, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, and assess competitor activity. It can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific products, brands, topics, or businesses.
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, typically carried out by various people including marketing professionals, PR staff, market researchers, social media marketing agencies, sales teams, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed tools and solutions that facilitate the tracking of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
Go here to learn more about social media measurement tools that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that affect your business,etc:
(Can you track your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet highly effective social media monitoring plugin for your WordPress-based online presence and increasing your social media exposure online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media presence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is simple … convert red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any website owner can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display 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 their metrics on “green”. From these tests, 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 campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Really Easy To Install
Social Metrics Pro installs just like every WP plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to convert all the red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns 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.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides a number of great features to website owners. Here are a few of these:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to use in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrades. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Minimal hosting resources usage. Reporting is fast, consuming little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to gather data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, category, post authors, or by publishing date.
- Export Data: 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just turn all red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Customers
Below are just some testimonials and feedback that customers have submitted regarding 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
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license option enables you to use SocialMetricsPro on 1 domain only. Price includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This option enables you to run SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for the Social Metrics Pro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing:
Additional Product Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account various social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
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 instant feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and shows them how 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.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to reduce your social media marketing learning curve.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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