Social interactions like Facebook likes, +1s on Google+, 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 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 social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. 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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media network in the world. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Google+ or Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site 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 Google+ every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a web page has, how influential the person sending a tweet is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, spread rate of adds and shares, 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 indirectly influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, identify potential market opportunities, avert impending crises, spy on your competition, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, topics, businesses, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to track social media 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 people including market research, marketing professionals, online reputation management (ORM) companies, social engagement and community staff, agencies, and sales teams. Typically, smaller businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately many providers have developed tools to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to track what consumers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about their brands or products so they can react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
To learn more about social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about, see this article:
(Are you measuring your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we discuss a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media presence.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media presence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the tool tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your job is to change reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that any website owner can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ sites 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 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing can significantly affect your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WordPress administrator area and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn all reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest directly from your WP admin area.
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 of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many unique features. Here are a few:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats right on your WP dashboard, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Social metrics reports are compiled in seconds, consuming minimal hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And 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 post type, category, post authors, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just convert more reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials that plugin users have submitted regarding the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
“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
***
“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This allows you to set up Social Metrics Pro on a single site. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the Social Metrics Pro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was correct when this content was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product developer when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social marketing results professionally.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
***
***