Social interactions like Facebook shares, likes, and comments, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals to help determine website ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of 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 assessing social media 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 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 websites that provide value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social media network on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like GooglePlus and Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ every year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(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 likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus a web page has, 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 social media-related signals that can influence search traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative 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 low quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, spy on your competitors, avert disasters, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and spot market opportunities. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific businesses, topics, brands, or products.
As a tool for business intelligence, social media signal monitoring 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 market research, online reputation management (ORM) agencies, marketing teams, professional sales reps, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of providers have created affordable tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand or products so you can respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a detailed article on social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. If you would like to learn more about this here:
(Can you track social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple plugin for WordPress users for tracking social media signals and growing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The user’s job is to convert red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can follow … turn 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 are colored amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ sites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, they noticed 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing can positively can have a positive effect on your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change all the red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WordPress users with many features. Here are just some:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows the latest stats from your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update SocialMetricsPro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when a new version is released.
- Consumes very little hosting resources. The plugin generates reports in seconds, using minimal server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server resources used to gather and compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data as 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 data to 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 simple to use … just turn all reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are just a few of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted regarding the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”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
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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
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on a single website. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This license enables you to set up SocialMetricsPro on multiple websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the plugin site 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 Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
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 campaigns and guides you how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social marketing campaigns or train your staff to manage your campaigns in-house.
To learn more, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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