Social recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook likes, comments, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their social media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of 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 assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘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 true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network on the planet. Research shows that an average post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, 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 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using Google+ every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the number of people sharing the posts, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a web page has amassed, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [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 monitor, measure and analyze your social campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, spot market opportunities, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, assess competitor activity, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, social signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various groups that include market research, marketing professionals, PR staff, professional sales reps, social engagement and community staff, and agencies. 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 providers have developed many tools that facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify what is being said online about their brands or products allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a detailed article about social media measurement tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns here:
(Are you monitoring your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we review a simple social media monitoring tool for WordPress and increasing your social media influence.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s task is to change all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that any website owner can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of over two thousand sites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, they were able to notice that their top 10 best performing sites saw an improvement of up to 360% more traffic, 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, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can dramatically affect your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every WordPress plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP admin user area and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to change all the red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social media activity from social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Digg directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro 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 on social media?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WP users with many features. Below we have listed a few of these:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Ready to start using in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reporting is very quickly, consuming little hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server memory used to gather and compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the data 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, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just change more reds into greens!)
Feedback From Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials plugin customers have written about SocialMetricsPro:
”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 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)
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Licensing Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license option allows you to run SocialMetricsPro on a single website. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This edition lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current pricing when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
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.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, 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. 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 marketing campaigns and shows you where and how to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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