Social interactions like Facebook shares, likes, and comments, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account various social signals to help determine 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. 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 can change at a moment’s notice. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals 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 naturally wants to display higher in its search listings.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community in the world. Research shows that one great post on Facebook 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 uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social 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 interacting on GooglePlus each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, like 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?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, the authority of the person sharing your URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. 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 of low quality by other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, spot potential opportunities for engagement, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on your competitors, and help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by embittered customers. It can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, 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 marketing teams, market researchers, PR staff, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and sales teams. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify what customers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about their brands so they can respond to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article listing several social media monitoring tools that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that affect your business,etc. Visit this page for more information:
(Are you measuring social signals effectively?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social signals and growing your social media influence.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your goal is to turn all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any website owner can operate … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ websites 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 the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can impact your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast Installation
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any other WP plugin. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to turn all the red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track The Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
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 Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many features to WP users. Here are just a few:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats from your WP admin bar, display social content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click auto-update functionality. You can update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Consumes minimal resources. The plugin generates social metrics reports fast, consuming very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, publishing date, post type, 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials From Plugin Users
Here are some of the testimonials that customers have provided for Social Metrics Pro:
”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
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Product 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, full refund guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This edition lets you use Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This allows you to activate SocialMetricsPro on unlimited sites that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current price at the time this review was published. This may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking 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 media marketing strategy and shows you where 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 right from your WP admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to shave years off your social media marketing learning curve.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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