Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, shares, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines are now taking into account 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, instead of 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 so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is 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 to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of 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 day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social networking 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 socially on Google+ every month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could 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 likes, shares, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, number and growth rate 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 traffic and 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 develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, identify new market opportunities, assess competitor activity and market dominance, be alerted to disasters, and measure the impact of campaigns. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific brands, topics, businesses, or products.
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 people including PR companies, marketing teams, market researchers, sales teams, social engagement and community personnel, and agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many service providers have developed tools that facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond proactively to conversations and interact with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article where we explore many social media measurement tools that you may want to check out. More information:
(Are you looking for an effective tool that can help you monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we discuss a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media 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 premise – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your task is simple … change all red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored 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 the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can can have a positive impact on your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In No Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs like every WordPress plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to change all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Digg, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides website owners with many features. Here are just some of those features:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated stats from your WordPress dashboard, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click updates. You can update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Utilizes very little resources. Metric reports are compiled in seconds, using little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources used to gather and compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just turn more red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback users have written about 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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”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
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on one website only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License Edition – This license option lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on all websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase the Social Metrics Pro product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current price at the time this review was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
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 instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and shows you how and where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to avoid wasting resources on over-optimized social campaigns.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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