Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account a range of social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social 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 social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a full ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites 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 for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. Research shows that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next 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 the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, number 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 social media-related factors that can influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include desirable 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 of poor quality 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 monitor and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, avert impending crises, identify new market opportunities, measure the impact of campaigns, and spy on your competition. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, businesses, topics, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to monitor activity, volume and sentiments of social conversations, and trends on social media channels like blogs, internet forums, social networking platforms, micro-blogging platforms, message boards, video/photo sharing sites, and user-generated content 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 people including online reputation management (ORM) specialists, market researchers, marketing professionals, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed a range of tools to facilitate the monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to identify consumer behavior around your products or brand allowing you to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore several social media tracking tools that will help you identify new trends and opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that could affect your business,etc. Go here for more details:
(Are you measuring social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and growing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your goal is to turn more reds into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of over two thousand 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Very Easy To Install
Social Metrics Pro installs just like every plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to convert more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns need more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social media activity across leading social networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Pinterest directly from your WordPress dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media 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 Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with many great features. Below we have listed some of these:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Ready to use in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated stats right on your WordPress dashboard, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Social metrics reports are generated fast, using very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, publishing date, category, or post authors.
- Export Data: You can export filtered, sorted data and custom queries 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 convert all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are just some testimonials plugin customers have submitted regarding Social Metrics Pro:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
***
“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license lets you install Social Metrics Pro on 1 web site only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on all domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Product 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 tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you where and how 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 directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing measurable.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
***
***