Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook shares, likes, and comments, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals to help determine website ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than 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 social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. 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 value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community in the world. Research shows that an average post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses social 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 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 each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using Google+ every month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable 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 not only important to find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, products, or brand on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on the competition, identify potential market opportunities, and be alerted to crises. It can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, topics, businesses, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various people including digital reputation management companies, market research, marketing teams, professional sales reps, agencies, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed tools to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand so you can react to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article on social media monitoring tools and technologies that you may want to check out. Go here to learn more about this:
(Are you searching for an effective tool to help you track your social signals?)
This article explores a simple social media monitoring tool for WordPress and increasing your social media exposure.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is simple … change more red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing can positively impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Installation Is Easy
Social Metrics Pro installs like every WordPress plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin user account and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn all reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social activity from social networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social 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 this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with many features. Below we have listed a few of these:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in no time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access the latest information from your WordPress dashboard, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Minimal usage of server resources. Reporting is very quickly, consuming very little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to 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, post type, publishing date, or category.
- 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just convert all reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have written about the SocialMetricsPro 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)
Useful Tips
A practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This lets you install Social Metrics Pro on unlimited websites that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and guides you how to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to make social marketing measurable.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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