Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
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 the web spam team Matt Cutts 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 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 websites that provide real value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network on the planet. Research shows 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, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(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 every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each 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 Google+ each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social metrics, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people sharing your posts, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your site page has amassed, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social media campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, be alerted to disasters, spy on your competitors, and identify market opportunities. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, products, businesses, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to monitor social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including market researchers, marketing professionals, digital reputation management companies, professional sales reps, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology providers have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to track what consumers are saying about their brands allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. More information:
(Are you monitoring social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective social media monitoring tool for a WordPress-based online presence and growing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your job is simple … turn all reds into greens.
(A system that any website owner 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 are colored amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 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 the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing can significantly affect your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Be Up And Running In No Time
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to turn more reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social 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.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social activity from networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many great features to web site owners. Here are just some:
- Quick and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access updated information right on your WordPress dashboard, add socially popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using 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 receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting. The plugin generates social metrics reports in seconds, using minimal server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to gather and compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, publishing date, post authors, or by category.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just convert all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments that customers have submitted for SocialMetricsPro:
”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
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on multiple websites that you own. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was current at the time this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product seller when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Plugin Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines now take into account social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. 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 marketing strategy and shows them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to outperform your competitors on social media.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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