Social recommendations like Facebook shares, +1s on GooglePlus, 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 businesses 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 so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals 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 sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social 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 influential social media community in the world. It has been estimated that one great post can reach over 100,000 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 to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence 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
As Google’s own social site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social metrics, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, 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 undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, services, or company on social media, assess competitor activity and market share, measure the impact of campaigns, identify opportunities for engagement, and avert crises. It can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, 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, typically carried out by a cross-section of people including digital reputation management (ORM) specialists, market research, marketing teams, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different technology providers have developed tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to identify consumer behavior around your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a comprehensive article listing over 30 social media measurement tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing initiatives. Go here for more information:
(Are you searching for an effective tool that can help you measure your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media presence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social 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 concept – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is simple … change more 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. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ sites 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 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 positively can have a significant effect on your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator account and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s goal is to change more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns require investing more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social media activity from networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro 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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers web site owners with many unique features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in very little time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access the latest information right on your WP dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrades. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Uses minimal server resources. Metric reports are generated in seconds, consuming little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or post authors.
- Export Data: You can export filtered data and custom queries to 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 turn red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials and comments plugin customers have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”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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”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
Useful Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Plugin Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to set up SocialMetricsPro on a single domain. It includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This license option enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on all the websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was correct at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Plugin Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, 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 WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them where and how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to see measurable results.
For full details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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