Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook shares, Twitter mentions and retweets, 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 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, 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 social media, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. 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 summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community in the world. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly 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 every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries great 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 each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your 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 shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a web page has accrued, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, products, or brand on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, avert disasters, spy on your competitors, and spot opportunities for engagement. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
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 a cross-section of people including market researchers, PR companies, marketing professionals, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various providers have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands or products so they can react to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media monitoring tools that you may want to check out. To learn more, go here:
(Are you looking for an effective tool to help you track your social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and growing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The user’s objective is to turn all the reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides 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 are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored 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 everything “green”. From these tests, 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social media marketing can result in better search engine rankings, increased traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator login and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s goal is to convert reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns need you to invest more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with a number of features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and implement. Ready to start using in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated stats from your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin uses very little resources. Reports are generated fast, consuming minimal hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or category.
- 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just change all red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments users have written about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
***
“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
A 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.
Product Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on one site only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on all the websites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro 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 the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and shows them how and where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
***
***