Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook comments, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to 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, 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 perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 real value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community on the planet. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, 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, research indicates that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGoogle+.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest 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 importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries great 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 day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 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 to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality 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 monitor, measure and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, spy on your competitors, identify opportunities for engagement, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and be alerted to disasters. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, businesses, brands, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to track volume and sentiments of social conversations, trends, and social activity on social media channels like blogging, forums, social networking sites, micro-blogging platforms, message boards, video sites, and user-generated content 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 groups that include PR staff, marketing teams, market researchers, professional sales reps, social engagement and community personnel, and agencies. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different technology providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your brand or products so you can react to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing many social media measurement tools and technologies that you may want to check out. More information:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress websites and blogs for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media presence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your task is to convert all the red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or 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”. 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can dramatically can have a positive impact on your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any regular WordPress plugin. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally track and monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro 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 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 sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with many features. Here are a few:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Be up and running in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. View updated information from your WordPress admin bar, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications whenever a new version is released.
- Minimal hosting resources usage. The plugin can generate reports fast, consuming minimal server resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post authors, publishing date, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered, sorted data and custom queries 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback that 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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”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on one domain only. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License Edition – This edition allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on multiple web sites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking 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 instant feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and shows you where and how to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to reduce your social media marketing learning curve.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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