Social recommendations like Facebook shares, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than 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 full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post 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 processes 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 500 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site 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+ every week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, 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 Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, 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 social media-related signals that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, spot market opportunities, avert impending crises, measure the impact of campaigns, and spy on the competition. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, 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 PR companies, marketing teams, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed a range of tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products so they can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media tracking tools that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that can affect your business, etc, see what conversations are taking place online that could affect your business,etc. More info:
(Are you searching for an effective way to track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple social media monitoring plugin for your digital business presence and increasing your social media exposure.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your objective is to turn all red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that anyone can follow … turn all the 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 display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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”. 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can significantly impact your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Implement. Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs like any plugin. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know which social marketing campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro 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 on social media?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many features. Here are just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information right on your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. Update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal consumption of hosting resources. Reporting is fast, consuming minimal server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to 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 category, post type, publishing date, 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 really simple to use … just turn reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin customers have submitted for the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”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
Plugin Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license enables you to set up Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on all the sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for the SocialMetricsPro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was current when this review was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines are now taking into account various social signals to help determine website ranking.
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 media marketing campaigns and shows you where to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized social media marketing campaigns.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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