Social interactions like Facebook shares, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and 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 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 assessing social media signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 wants to rank higher in its search listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. Research shows that an average post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes social 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.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social networking site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search 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 shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative 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 irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social media campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, identify potential opportunities for engagement, assess competitor activity and market dominance, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and be alerted to disasters. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, topics, businesses, or brands.
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, often carried out by a cross-section of groups that include marketing professionals, online reputation specialists, market research, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different providers have developed tools and solutions that facilitate the tracking of a broad range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict what consumers are saying about their brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in a timely fashion.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media tracking tools that will help you manage, measure, and analyze your social media marketing initiatives. For more details, go here:
(Are you monitoring social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple plugin for WordPress-driven sites for tracking social signals and increasing your social media exposure.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make improving your social media presence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your goal is simple … convert more reds into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and 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 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can can have a significant impact on your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Installation Is Easy, Fast & Simple
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin area and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn all red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know which social campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to monitor social media activity across leading networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Digg directly from your WordPress dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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 of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many great features to WP users. Below we have listed just some:
- Quick and easy to install and implement. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats right on your WordPress dashboard, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal hosting resources use. The plugin can generate reports very quickly, using little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or post authors.
- Export Data: 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just convert reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials plugin customers have provided for Social Metrics Pro:
“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
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on one site only. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This edition enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing details of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product is being retailed for the pricing shown above. 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 your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account social signals when determining website ranking.
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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing campaigns and shows you where and 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 right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized social media marketing campaigns.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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