Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook comments, likes, and shares, 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 website owners to build their social media presence 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 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 the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social 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 on GooglePlus every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, the number of people sharing the information, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or products on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, spot opportunities for engagement, and spy on your competition. It can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, businesses, brands, or products.
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, often carried out by various groups that include online reputation management companies, market researchers, marketing professionals, sales teams, social engagement and community staff, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed tools and solutions that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely manner.
Go here to learn more about social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about:
(Can you measure social signals effectively?)
In this article, we discuss a simple, yet effective social media monitoring plugin for your WordPress-based online presence and increasing your social media presence.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the system measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your objective is to convert more red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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 their metrics on “green”. From these tests, they noticed 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can positively impact your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Easy To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every other plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know which campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to centrally track and monitor social activity from social media networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Digg.
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?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers website owners with many great features. Below we have listed some of those:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access updated stats from your WP dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update the plugin 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 usage of resources. Reporting is in seconds, using very little hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to 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 post type, post authors, publishing date, or category.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot data 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just convert more reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials customers have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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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
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on a single website. Cost includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This license lets you configure Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the SocialMetricsPro product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this review was published. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
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.
Download The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s 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 guides you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social media marketing measurable.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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