Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook likes, 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 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 its 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 full ‘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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media 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 influential social media community in the world. Research shows that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the 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 influence website rankings more than other 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 half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social networking site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus each month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, the authority of the person sharing the URL, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a web page has, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search engine rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, spot potential opportunities for engagement, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on your competitors, and help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to track activity on social media 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 marketing teams, market research, PR agencies, agencies, professional sales reps, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately a number of providers have made available a range of tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to track what customers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about your products or brand so you can react to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore several social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. Go here for more details:
(Do you know how to effectively track your social signals?)
This article explores a simple social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and improving your social media presence online.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to convert all the red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few 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:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any WordPress plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s objective is to change red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know which social marketing campaigns require investing more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally monitor social media activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Digg, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media 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 this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many great features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just some:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Ready to go to work in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access the latest information from your WordPress admin bar, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update Social Metrics Pro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Utilizes minimal resources. Reporting is very quickly, using very little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post authors, post type, or by category.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just convert all the red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Customers
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have submitted for the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.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
Product Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This lets you run Social Metrics Pro on a single site. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This allows you to configure SocialMetricsPro on unlimited web sites that you own. Price includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account a range of social signals when determining website 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 users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and guides them how and where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro 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 this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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