Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account various social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than 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 media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a full ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, 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 engine rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
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 actively using GooglePlus every week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive 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 website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, 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 help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your products, company, or brand on social media, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of campaigns, avert disasters, and spot new market opportunities. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, brands, businesses, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, social media 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 people including marketing teams, digital reputation specialists, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track what is being said online about their brands allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Can you monitor your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet effective plugin for WordPress-powered sites for monitoring social signals and improving your social media presence online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the tool tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your task is to change all the reds into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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, improving your social media marketing can positively impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s objective is to change all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social activity from networks like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Digg, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro 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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many great features to site owners. Below we have listed a few of these:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to go to work in no time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays the latest stats right on your WP admin bar, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click auto-updating functionality. You can update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal server resources consumption. Social reports are generated in seconds, consuming little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, category, or 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 really simple to use … just change reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and feedback users have submitted regarding the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”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
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a practical guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to use Social Metrics Pro on 1 website only. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on unlimited sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Price details for SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to 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 marketing campaigns and shows them how to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to monitor which network are working for your business.
For full details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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