Social recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook shares, comments, and likes, 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 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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team 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 social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media network in the world. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, 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, research shows that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other 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 500 million 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 number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, Google+ 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 starting to interact socially on Google+ each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a web page has, the number of people sharing your URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your URL has, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, spy on the competition, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, and avert crises. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to track social media 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 people including marketing professionals, online reputation specialists, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of technology providers have developed a range of tools to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify consumer behavior around their products or brands allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have created a comprehensive article listing several social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. Go here for more information:
(Are you searching for an effective way to measure your social signals?)
This article explores a simple social tracking tool for your WordPress-based digital business presence and improving your social media exposure online.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your goal is to turn all the red squares into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can affect your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Implement. Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin account and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns require more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social media activity across leading networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.
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 just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many features to website owners. Below we have listed just some of these features:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. View the latest stats from your WordPress dashboard, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. You can update SocialMetricsPro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Plugin uses minimal hosting resources. Social metrics reports are generated very quickly, consuming little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, category, publishing date, or by post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered 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 convert more red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials that plugin customers have submitted regarding SocialMetricsPro:
“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 (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This license lets you use Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on multiple websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing when this review was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Product
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 website owners immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them where to direct their efforts in order 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 getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized social campaigns.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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