Social recommendations like Facebook comments, Twitter retweets and mentions, 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 since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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 web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere 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 each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking 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 month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, 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 factors that can indirectly influence search traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, identify new market opportunities, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on the competition, and take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by embittered customers. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to track volume and sentiments of social conversations, trends, and social activity on social media channels like blogging, internet forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms, discussion boards, video sites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including PR companies, marketing professionals, market research, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and agencies. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing companies to identify consumer behavior around their brands allowing them to react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article where we explore a number of social media monitoring tools that you may want to check out. See this page to learn more:
(Do you know how to effectively measure your social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is simple … convert all red squares into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand sites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In No Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs like any WP plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin user section and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals so you know which social campaigns require investing more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity from networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many features to web site owners. Below we have listed just a few:
- Fast and simple to install and use. Be up and running in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. View updated stats from your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Plugin uses minimal resources. Social metrics reports are compiled in seconds, using little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 turn red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have submitted regarding 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
A practical, step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. 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, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This enables you to use Social Metrics Pro on one website only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This license allows you to install Social Metrics Pro on multiple sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information here:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines are now taking into account a range of social signals to help determine a website’s 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 users immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to make social media marketing campaigns work for you.
For full details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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