Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, comments, and shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account a range of social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social 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 web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a perfect ‘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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network in the world. It has been estimated that an average post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus or Twitter.
(Number of 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 day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence 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 day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ 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 Google+ every week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a site page has amassed, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate 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 rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, spy on your competitors, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, identify opportunities for engagement, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. 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, social signal monitoring 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 groups that include PR companies, market research, marketing teams, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and agencies. Typically, smaller 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 a number of service providers have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to track what customers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about their brands or products allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in a timely manner.
We have created a detailed article listing a number of social media tracking tools that you may want to check out. More info:
(Can you track your social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and improving your social media presence.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help you improve your social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your task is to convert all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that anyone can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can significantly affect your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any WordPress plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your administrator login and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally track and monitor social activity across leading networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg, and LinkedIn directly from your WP admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social 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 constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides a number of features to WordPress users. Here are just some of those features:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information right on your WP admin bar, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click auto-upgrading functionality. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Plugin uses very little resources. Reporting is in seconds, using little hosting resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post authors, publishing date, or post type.
- Export Data: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just convert reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials customers have provided for 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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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Product Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This enables you to use SocialMetricsPro on a single website. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This option enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on all the domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was current at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the 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 Info
SocialMetricsPro 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 sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
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 WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them where and how to direct their efforts in order to improve their 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 WP dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social campaigns.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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