Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook shares, comments, and likes, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence 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 its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals 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 develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses social 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.
(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 importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your 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, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic. These include desirable and negative 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 irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your 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 what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, identify new market opportunities, spy on your competition, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific products, businesses, topics, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, 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 PR companies, marketing professionals, market research, social engagement and community staff, agencies, and sales teams. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many providers have made available tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your brand allowing you to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article on social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor your social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and growing your social media influence.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media exposure online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the tool tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is simple … convert all the red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … 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 and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of over two thousand 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 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, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here are just some of the many benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like any plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to change all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to put more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Pinterest directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to 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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides site owners with many unique features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Fast and simple to install and implement. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. View updated information right on your WP dashboard, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal use of resources. Metric reports are generated fast, using very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by publishing date, post type, post authors, or by category.
- Export Data: 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just change reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials and feedback that plugin customers have provided 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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”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 (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Useful Tips
A practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on a single website. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This allows you to install Social Metrics Pro on all domains that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price above was correct at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Product Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account various 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 strategy and guides 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 Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social media marketing measurable.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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