Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, shares, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence 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 the 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 reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere 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 sites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. Research shows that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing your information, 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. 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 factors that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, spy on your competition, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users, and identify opportunities for engagement. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, products, topics, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to monitor activity on social media channels like blogging, forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms, discussion groups, video/photo sharing websites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include market research, marketing professionals, PR staff, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article where we explore several social media monitoring tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. Go here for more information:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple social tracking plugin for your website and growing your social media influence online.
Our Featured WordPress Plugin Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is to turn all the red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner can operate … 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 display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand 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 were able to notice 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, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in better search rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every other plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your admin area and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to convert all the red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Digg, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.
SocialMetricsPro 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 this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and use. Be up and running in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows updated information right on your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal consumption of server resources. The plugin can generate reports in seconds, consuming very little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro 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 category, publishing date, post authors, or post type.
- Export Data: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just turn red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials that customers have written about the Social Metrics Pro 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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”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
Product Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This option allows you to configure SocialMetricsPro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This option allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was correct at the time this content was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer 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 price here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account various social signals to help determine website 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 you instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and guides you how to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social campaigns or train your staff to manage your campaigns in-house.
For more details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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