Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, 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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, 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 the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide 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 for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community in the world. 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 ton of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, and help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor trends, social activity, and conversations on social media channels like blogs, forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Medium, etc., discussion boards, 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 researchers, online reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing teams, social engagement and community staff, agencies, and sales teams. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your products or brand allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article listing many social media measurement tools that are worth knowing about. To learn more, go here:
(Can you track your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress websites and blogs for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media exposure.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the tool measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s job is to convert red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that anyone can operate … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of 3 months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “green”. According to the plugin developers, 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 marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, more web traffic and more revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick & Easy Installation
SocialMetricsPro installs just like any regular WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your administrator account and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to turn all reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social media activity from social networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Pinterest 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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WP users with a number of great features. Here are just a few of these:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Ready to start using in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows the latest information from your WordPress dashboard, add socially popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Low-resource consumption. The plugin generates social metrics reports in seconds, using little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to gather data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter your data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, category, publishing date, or by post authors.
- 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 very simple to use … just convert red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are some of the testimonials users have provided for the SocialMetricsPro 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
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”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
Product Tips
A step-by-step 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
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This edition enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This license option lets you configure Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software retails for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
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 you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and shows 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 directly from your WP dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to shorten your path to success with social marketing.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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