Social interactions like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account a range of social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their brand on social media 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 own web spam team 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 perfect ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network on the planet. It has been estimated that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like GooglePlus and Twitter.
(Number of 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 each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted 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 site 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 starting to interact socially on GooglePlus each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social 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 likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, number and growth rate of +1s, 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 influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, identify market opportunities, and spy on your competitors. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, businesses, topics, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, social 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 digital reputation specialists, marketing professionals, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social media marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately many providers have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing companies to track consumer behavior around their brands allowing them to react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about here:
(Can you measure social signals effectively?)
In this article, we look at a simple, yet highly effective social monitoring tool for a WordPress-based site and improving your social media presence online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media presence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the tool tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your job is simple … change more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or 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 everything “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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing can result in better search rankings, more web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn more red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to apply more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to track and monitor social media activity from social networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro 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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides web site owners with many unique features. Below we have listed just some of these:
- Quick and simple to install and set up. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access the latest stats from your WP admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when new plugin updates are released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting configuration. The plugin generates reports in seconds, using very little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory consumed when gathering data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & 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 type, publishing date, category, or by post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 change red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Plugin Customers
Below are just some testimonials and feedback users 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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”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)
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Plugin Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product License Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license option lets you configure Social Metrics Pro on one website only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on unlimited domains that you own. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software seller when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, 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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and shows you how and where to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to monitor which social networks are working for your business.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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