Social interactions like Facebook comments, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines now take into account social signals when determining website ranking.
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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals 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 Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social community on the planet. Research shows that an average 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 processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second 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 online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sharing the URL is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [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 grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or products on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, spot opportunities for engagement, and spy on your competitors. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, topics, businesses, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, social monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including PR staff, market researchers, marketing teams, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed tools and solutions that facilitate the active tracking of a broad range of social media channels, allowing you to track what consumers are saying about your brand allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
If you want to learn more about social media tracking tools and technologies that you may want to check out, see this article:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and growing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make improving your social media presence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s job is simple … change red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any website owner can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ websites 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”. 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and increased revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to turn more red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to track and monitor social activity across leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Digg, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many great features. Here are a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information from your WordPress dashboard, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal server resources use. The plugin generates reports fast, using little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, category, post type, or post authors.
- 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 really simple to use … just turn all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have submitted regarding Social Metrics Pro:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.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
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This license option enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This option enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on all the websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin sells for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to avoid wasting resources on over-optimized networks.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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