Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook shares, +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 the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to social signals 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 develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media community on the planet. Research shows that an average 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 website, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your 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 search engine 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 every single 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 number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social networking site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing your information, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has accrued, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social marketing in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, spot market opportunities, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, spy on your competition, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, businesses, topics, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, social monitoring 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 professionals, online reputation managers, market research, agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, smaller businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track what consumers are saying about their products or brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media measurement tools that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that could affect your business, etc, see what conversations are taking place online that could affect your business,etc. For more details, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective social tracking plugin for your WordPress-based digital presence and improving your social media exposure.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social 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 – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is simple … change more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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 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 the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can significantly impact your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Be Up And Running In No Time
SocialMetricsPro installs like any other WP plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to convert all red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social media activity from social media networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer 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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many features to website owners. Below we have listed a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Ready to use in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated stats right on your WP dashboard, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal server resources usage. Social metrics reports are compiled very quickly, consuming minimal server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory consumed when gathering data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter your data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or publishing date.
- 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials customers have submitted for Social Metrics Pro:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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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 comes with a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens).
SocialMetricsPro Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This option allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on 1 site only. It includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This option allows you to set up Social Metrics Pro on all the sites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product sells for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
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, 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 you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to use social signals to get better search engine rankings.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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