Social recommendations like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account various social signals to help determine website ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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. 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 so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community in the world. Research shows that a single post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 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 the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your posts is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search traffic. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, spot opportunities for engagement, spy on the competition, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, businesses, topics, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to track conversations and social 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 a cross-section of people including marketing professionals, PR companies, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, professional sales reps, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately various service providers have made available tools and solutions that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify and even predict what consumers are saying about their products or brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore many social media monitoring tools that are worth knowing about. See this page to learn more:
(Are you searching for an effective way to track social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social 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 displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s objective is to convert reds into greens.
(A system that anyone can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares are colored 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+ websites 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”. From these tests, 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, improving your social marketing can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Installation Is Easy & Quick
SocialMetricsPro installs like any other plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to turn reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social activity across leading networks like GooglePlus, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WP users with many unique features. Below we have listed some of these features:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Be up and running 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 stats right on your WordPress dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. You can 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 when a new version is released.
- Minimal consumption of server resources. Social metrics reports are generated very quickly, consuming very little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, publishing date, category, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered data and custom queries in 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 all reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin users have submitted for SocialMetricsPro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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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
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This edition lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on one site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This license lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on all domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Price details for the SocialMetricsPro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin sells for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
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 Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account various 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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and guides them where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing work for you.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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