Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook shares, comments, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking 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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media network in the world. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your site, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter orGoogle+.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single 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 amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus 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 on GooglePlus every year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential 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 Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search rankings and traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social signals 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 brand, products, or company on social media, spy on your competition, identify opportunities for engagement, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, brands, topics, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, being able 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 marketing professionals, market research, digital reputation managers, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed many affordable tools to facilitate the active tracking of a broad range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify what is being said online about their brands so they can react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article listing over 30 social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more details, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your goal is simple … convert red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of over two thousand websites 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can significantly can have a positive impact on your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use. Ready To Use In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to invest more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Select Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social activity across leading networks like GooglePlus, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Digg.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media 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 this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro offers a number of great features to WordPress users. Below we have listed a few:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Ready to use in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access updated information right on your WordPress dashboard, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal use of server resources. The plugin generates social metrics reports fast, consuming little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by publishing date, post type, category, or post authors.
- Export Data: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just convert more reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are just a few of the testimonials and comments plugin users have written about 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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”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on one website only. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase the SocialMetricsPro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and shows them how 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 WordPress dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to make social media marketing measurable.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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