Social recommendations like Facebook shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account social signals when determining a website’s 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. Google’s own head of the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘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 websites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community in the world. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your website, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(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 every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers 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 media site 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 socially on GooglePlus every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, how influential the person sending a tweet is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can indirectly influence search rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant 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, measure and analyze social media marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, avert disasters, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot market opportunities, and spy on your competitors. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, topics, products, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, 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 groups that include market research, marketing professionals, PR staff, sales teams, social media marketing agencies, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed a range of tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
Go here to learn more about social media tracking tools that you may want to check out:
(Are you looking for an effective way to monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple plugin for WordPress-driven websites for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your task is simple … turn more red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares show up 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”. From these tests, 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing can result in better search engine rankings, increased traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro installs like any plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to turn all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and Digg.
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 of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WP users with many features. Here are some of these features:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to start using in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. View updated information right on your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrades. Update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal server resources use. Reporting is in seconds, using little hosting resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or by post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export data to 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 very simple to use … just change all the red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Users
Here are just some testimonials and feedback plugin customers have submitted regarding 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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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This lets you install SocialMetricsPro on one domain only. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This option allows you to configure SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing for Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price above was current when this content was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and guides you 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 WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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