Social recommendations like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, 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 website owners 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. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. 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 short, Google’s strategy is to “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 wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community on the planet. Research shows that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook when determining 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 second largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, amount and growth rate of +1s, 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 social media-related signals that can influence search traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or services on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, assess competitor activity, be alerted to crises, and identify potential opportunities for engagement. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, businesses, brands, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, social signal 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 market research, online reputation management companies, marketing teams, professional sales reps, social engagement and community staff, and agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and engage with online users in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore many social media monitoring tools that you may want to check out. To learn more, go here:
(Are you measuring your social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple social media monitoring plugin for your website and growing your social media influence online.
Announcing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you increase your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your objective is to convert all the red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and 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”. 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can result in better search engine rankings, more traffic and more revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Installation Is Easy & Simple
SocialMetricsPro installs just like every other plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s objective is to convert all red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know which campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social media activity from social networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP dashboard.
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 of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks the social media sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides website owners with many features. Here are just some:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows updated stats from your WP admin bar, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update SocialMetricsPro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Consumes minimal server resources. Metric reports are compiled fast, consuming little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or category.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export filtered data and custom queries to 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 simple to use … just convert all the red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are just a few of the testimonials and feedback that customers have provided for SocialMetricsPro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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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)
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a practical, step-by-step guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on a single web site. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This edition allows you to set up Social Metrics Pro on multiple domains that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of the SocialMetricsPro product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is selling for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software developer when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Plugin Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing campaigns and guides them how and where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to make social marketing measurable.
For more details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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