Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, shares, and comments, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
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 media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 sites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community in the world. Research shows that a single 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, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of 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 each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of 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 track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [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 performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, spy on the competition, and spot potential market opportunities. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, topics, businesses, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, social media monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including digital reputation managers, market research, marketing teams, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of service providers have created affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to track what is being said online about your brand or products so you can react to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and improving your social media presence.
Our Featured WordPress Plugin Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s goal is simple … turn red squares into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … 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 SocialMetricsPro 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 were able to notice 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can positively affect your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro installs like every other WordPress plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your administrator area and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to turn red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social marketing campaigns need more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity from networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides web site owners with many features. Below we have listed some:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to start using in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. View updated information right on your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click auto-upgrading functionality. Update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin works even on the smallest hosting configuration. The plugin can generate reports fast, consuming minimal server resources. Reports also display the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter your data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, category, post type, or publishing date.
- Export Data: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change all the red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials customers have written about 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 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
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This license lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This license allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on unlimited web sites that you own. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software retails for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking 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 immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing.
For more details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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