Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
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 its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a reliable ‘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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community on the planet. Research shows that a single post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, 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, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- 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 URL has, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ a web page has amassed, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other 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 desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, spot new market opportunities, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on the competition, and avert impending crises. It can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, brands, topics, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, social media 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 marketing professionals, online reputation management (ORM) companies, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed many tools to facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands so they can react to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
Go here if you would like to learn more about social media measurement tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing campaigns:
(Are you looking for an effective tool to help you monitor social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet effective plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media exposure online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your job is simple … convert all the red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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 noticed 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, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, increased web traffic and increased revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In No Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every other WordPress plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your admin area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to turn more reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social activity across leading networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP admin area.
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 of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many unique features. Below we have listed a few:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays updated stats right on your WordPress dashboard, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-update functionality. You can update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when new plugin updates are released.
- Plugin uses minimal resources. The plugin generates reports fast, consuming very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server memory used to gather and compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And 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, publishing date, category, or by post type.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just turn reds into greens!)
Feedback From Customers
Below are just a few of the testimonials and comments plugin users have provided for the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
“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
***
”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Product Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This license lets you run SocialMetricsPro on a single website. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This option lets you use Social Metrics Pro on all the sites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the product seller when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price here:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account a range of social signals to help determine website ranking.
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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and shows you where 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 directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to track your social signals automatically.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
***
***