Social recommendations like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook comments, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining a site’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. Google’s own head of its 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 can change at a moment’s notice. Without a full ‘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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social 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 ton of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest 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 tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social media site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social metrics, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, how influential the person sharing the information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a site page has accrued, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or products on social media, be alerted to crises, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, identify new opportunities for engagement, and spy on the competition. It can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, social 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 groups that include marketing teams, market research, PR staff, professional sales reps, social engagement and community personnel, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various providers have developed tools and solutions to facilitate the active tracking of a broad spectrum of social media channels, allowing companies to track what is being said online about their brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article about social media measurement tools that you may want to check out. To learn more, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for tracking social signals and growing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the tool measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your goal is simple … convert reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “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 campaigns can result in better search rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to turn more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally track and monitor social activity across leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.
SocialMetricsPro 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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides site owners with many features. Here are some of those:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Ready to use in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. View the latest information from your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. You can update SocialMetricsPro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Uses very little resources. Reporting is in seconds, using minimal server resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search 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 category, publishing date, post type, or by post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export filtered, sorted data and custom queries 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just turn reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials plugin customers have submitted regarding the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”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 (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This option allows you to configure SocialMetricsPro on one site only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This license lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost of purchasing Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller 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 current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 website owners immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and shows them where and how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save money on outsourcing your social media campaigns.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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