Social interactions like Facebook shares, likes, and comments, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses 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 tend to change too quickly to fully map out. 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 true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network 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 site, 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 indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 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 amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking site, Google+ naturally carries great 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 Google+ each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, spot opportunities for engagement, measure the impact of campaigns, spy on your competition, and help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, brands, topics, or businesses.
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 various groups that include online reputation management (ORM) companies, market researchers, marketing professionals, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community staff, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different providers have created tools to facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products so they can react to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools that you may want to check out. More info:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple social monitoring plugin for WordPress and growing your social media influence.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you grow your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The user’s task is simple … change more red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any website owner can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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 their metrics on “green”. From these tests, 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can positively can have a dramatic impact on your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to convert red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally monitor social activity from networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP admin area.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many features to website owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Ready to use in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats right on your WordPress admin bar, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal hosting resources consumption. The plugin can generate social metrics reports fast, consuming little hosting resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to gather data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, publishing date, post authors, or by category.
- 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just turn all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are some of the testimonials that customers have submitted regarding the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
“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
***
“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Plugin Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This allows you to use Social Metrics Pro on 1 web site only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This license option enables you to set up Social Metrics Pro on unlimited web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the Social Metrics Pro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information:
Additional Product Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
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 the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to monitor which social networks are working for your business.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
***
***