Social recommendations like Facebook shares, Twitter retweets and mentions, 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 media 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 own web spam team 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 social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social metrics, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, 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 indirectly influence search engine rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [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 track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your products, brand, or company on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, assess competitor activity, spot new opportunities for engagement, and help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, topics, brands, or products.
As a tool for business intelligence, social 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 groups that include online reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing professionals, market research, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various providers have made available many affordable tools that facilitate the active tracking of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to track consumer behavior around your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article listing many social media monitoring tools that are worth knowing about. For more details, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively measure social signals?)
In this article, we discuss a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The user’s objective is to change more red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ 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”. 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 the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Track Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social media activity across leading social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Digg, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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 a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many features. Here are some of those features:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro shows the latest information from your WordPress dashboard, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal consumption of server resources. Social reports are compiled very quickly, consuming little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to gather data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or by category.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered, sorted 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 simple to use … just convert more red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are just some testimonials and comments plugin users have published about 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
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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Plugin Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on a single site. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on multiple web sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was current when this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
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.
In Conclusion
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 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 strategy and shows you where and how 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 WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to avoid wasting resources on over-optimized networks.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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