Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses 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 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 the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media community on the planet. It has been estimated that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in 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 website rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest 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 tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, 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+ your site page has, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate 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 engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, spy on your competition, measure the impact of campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, and take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, businesses, topics, or products.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor social media channels like blogging, internet forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms, message boards, video/photo sharing websites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by a cross-section of groups that include online reputation management (ORM) companies, marketing professionals, market researchers, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community staff, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the active tracking of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your products or brand allowing you to react to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article on social media monitoring tools that are worth knowing about. You can learn more here:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple social monitoring tool for your digital business presence and increasing your social media presence.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s task is to change more red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin 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 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP admin section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to turn all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to centrally track and monitor social activity across leading social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress admin area.
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 of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WP users with many features. Below we have listed some of those features:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats right on your WP admin bar, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when new versions are released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reporting is fast, using very little hosting resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to gather and compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post authors, category, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export data to 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 change reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are just a few of the testimonials that customers have submitted for the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”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 Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This enables you to activate Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This license enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on all the web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product sells for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller 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 Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Product
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 how important social media is to their online success. 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 shows them where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing measurable.
For more information, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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