Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, comments, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a full ‘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 sites that provide real value 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 over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community in the world. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest 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 on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount 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 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 interacting socially on GooglePlus each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, the number of people sharing the URL, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, products, or company on social media, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, identify market opportunities, and take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor activity on social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including market research, marketing professionals, digital reputation management (ORM) companies, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands or products allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
If you want to learn more about social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about, refer to this article:
(Are you searching for an effective way to monitor your social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet effective social media tracking tool for a WordPress-based website and improving your social media presence.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the system tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s objective is simple … turn reds into greens.
(A system that any website owner can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ 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 were able to notice a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can positively can have a significant impact on your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Start Using In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every other WP plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to turn more red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns require investing more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social activity from networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro 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 actively tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many unique features to WP users. Below we have listed just a few:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats right on your WordPress admin bar, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Social metrics reports are generated very quickly, using little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post authors, post type, or publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have provided for SocialMetricsPro:
“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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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Plugin Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This edition lets you run SocialMetricsPro on a single domain. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License Edition – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was correct when this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Product Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Plugin
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 users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them how 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 WP admin area.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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