Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account a range of social signals to help determine website ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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. Google’s own head of the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. 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 real value 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 look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. Research shows that an average post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all 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 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media 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 actively using Google+ each week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your 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 likes, shares, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your web page has, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, be alerted to crises, identify market opportunities, and spy on your competition. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, products, brands, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to monitor activity on social media 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 PR companies, marketing professionals, market researchers, professional sales reps, social engagement and community personnel, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed affordable tools to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify what is being said online about your products or brand allowing you to respond to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article listing a number of social media monitoring tools and technologies that you may want to check out. More information:
(Are you looking for an effective way to track social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and growing your social media influence.
Our Recommended WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the system tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your goal is to turn red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with highest number of shares show up 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 everything “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 campaigns can dramatically can have a positive effect on your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator section and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change all the red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest directly from your WordPress admin area.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to 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 this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WordPress users with many unique features. Here are just some of these:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access the latest stats right on your WP admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click auto-updating functionality. You can update Social Metrics Pro with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting. Reporting is fast, consuming little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by publishing date, category, post authors, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just turn all the red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Customers
Below are some of the testimonials that users 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
***
”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
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on a single website. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on all the websites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Price details for the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account a range of social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
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 users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and shows them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their 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.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save money on outsourcing your social campaigns.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
***
***