Social interactions like Facebook shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account social signals to help determine a website’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 own web spam team 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 full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, 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 websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media community in the world. Research shows that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, 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, research indicates that 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 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social media site naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on GooglePlus every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals 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 a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending a tweet is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your web page has accrued, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search traffic. These include positive and undesirable 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 irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or products on social media, identify potential market opportunities, spy on your competition, measure the impact of campaigns, and avert impending crises. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, brands, businesses, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social signal 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 online reputation managers, market research, marketing professionals, social engagement and community staff, social media marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, many 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 a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling companies to track what is being said online about their products or brands allowing them to react to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
Go here for a detailed article on social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing initiatives:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple social media tracking tool for WordPress and growing your social media influence online.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your job is to convert red squares into greens.
(A system that anyone can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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”. According to the plugin developers, 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing can significantly can have a dramatic impact on your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details go here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP administrator section and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to convert reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social activity across leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to 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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
Social Metrics Pro provides a number of great features to WP users. Below we have listed some:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information from your WordPress dashboard, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click auto-upgrade functionality. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Minimal use of server resources. Reporting is in seconds, using little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, category, or publishing date.
- Export Data: 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 convert more reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have written about 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
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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Product Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license option lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License Edition – This license option enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the SocialMetricsPro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin retails for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
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 you instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and shows you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to track your social signals automatically.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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