Social interactions like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook likes, shares, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than 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 perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting socially on GooglePlus every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine 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 comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search 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 site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, identify market opportunities, and assess competitor activity and market share. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to track social media channels like blogging, internet forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, etc., 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, often carried out by various people including marketing professionals, PR companies, market researchers, social marketing agencies, professional sales reps, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many providers have developed a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands so they can react to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
Go here if you would like to learn more about social media monitoring tools that are worth checking out and knowing about:
(Can you track social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media exposure online.
Our Featured WordPress Product Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the tool tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your task is simple … convert more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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”. 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, more web traffic and more revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Start Using In Minutes
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every other plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to change all the red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Digg, and Pinterest.
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 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 just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers site owners with a number of features. Here are just some of those:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. View updated stats from your WordPress dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click auto-upgrade functionality. Update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when new plugin updates are released.
- Low-resource consumption. The plugin generates social metrics reports fast, consuming minimal server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort and filter your data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, category, publishing date, or by post type.
- 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just change more red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials that customers have written about 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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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product License Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This option lets you install SocialMetricsPro on 1 website only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This allows you to configure SocialMetricsPro on multiple websites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the SocialMetricsPro software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software seller when you visit the website and there may be 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.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines now take into account social signals when determining website 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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and shows you where and how to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save money on outsourcing your social marketing.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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