Social recommendations like Facebook likes, Twitter mentions and retweets, 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 for several years now.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘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 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 results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network on the planet. Research shows that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, 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 largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online 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 every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
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 starting to interact socially on GooglePlus each week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing your URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social media campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by embittered customers, measure the impact of campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, and spy on the competition. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, topics, brands, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, social media signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various people including market research, PR companies, marketing teams, professional sales reps, social engagement and community staff, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of providers have made available tools that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify consumer behavior around your brand or products allowing you to react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
If you want to learn more about social media measurement tools and technologies that you may want to check out, refer to this article:
(Do you know how to effectively measure social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and growing your social media influence online.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help you improve your social media exposure online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your goal is to convert red squares into greens.
(A system that any website owner can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of 3 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 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 media marketing campaigns can dramatically impact your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Easy Installation
Social Metrics Pro installs like every plugin. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your admin user account and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to change all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns need you to invest more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally track and monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest directly from your WP dashboard.
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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro offers site owners with a number of great features. Below we have listed some of these:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. View updated stats from your WordPress dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click auto-upgrade functionality. Update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Consumes very little resources. Social metrics reports are compiled in seconds, using minimal server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory used to gather data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, category, publishing date, or by post authors.
- Export Data: 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 very simple to use … just convert reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials plugin users have written about the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.com
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful 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.
Plugin Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This lets you configure Social Metrics Pro on one site only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This enables you to activate Social Metrics Pro on unlimited sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for the Social Metrics Pro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing shown above was current when this content was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Plugin Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social media 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.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners instant feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to outperform your competitors on social media.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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