Social recommendations like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account various social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than 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 social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community in the world. It has been estimated that an average post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ or Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social networking site 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 interacting on GooglePlus each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, how influential the person sharing your information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search rankings and traffic. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social media marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or services on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users, identify market opportunities, and spy on your competitors. It can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, products, businesses, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to monitor social activity on social media channels like blogs, forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms, discussion groups, 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, digital reputation management (ORM) companies, market research, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products allowing them to respond to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media monitoring tools that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that can affect your business,etc. Go here for more info:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective social tracking plugin for your WordPress-based online business and improving your social media presence online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media exposure 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 green or red indicator. The site owner’s goal is simple … turn all reds into greens.
(A system that any website owner can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 their metrics on “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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your admin account and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally monitor social activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro 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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with many features. Below we have listed some:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to start using in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. View the latest information from your WP dashboard, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. Update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Plugin uses very little server resources. The plugin can generate social metrics reports fast, consuming very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort 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 publishing date, post authors, category, or by post type.
- Export Data: 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just turn all the red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin customers have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
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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
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on a single web site. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This license option lets you use SocialMetricsPro on unlimited web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Product Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Plugin
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. 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 marketing strategy and shows you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your 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 WP admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to improve social visibility and see more of your keywords getting better rankings on search engines.
For more information, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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