Social recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, likes, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
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 assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘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 sites that provide true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community 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 business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million 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 volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, 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 (high profile users), how many followers on GooglePlus your site page has amassed, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, brand, or products on social media, be alerted to disasters, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, identify opportunities for engagement, and spy on your competitors. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, social media monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including market researchers, digital reputation specialists, marketing teams, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed affordable tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a broad range of social media channels, enabling you to track consumer behavior around your products or brand allowing you to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article listing many social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about. Go here for more details:
(Are you monitoring social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and increasing your social media influence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your task is simple … change red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand websites over a period of 3 months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “green”. From these tests, they noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 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 dramatically impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Use In No Time.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to turn all red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns require more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social activity across leading networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns 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 this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many features to WP users. Below we have listed just some of those:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to use in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access the latest stats from your WordPress admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. Update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Social reports are compiled very quickly, consuming little server resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to gather and compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, category, post authors, or by publishing date.
- 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin customers have provided for the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.com
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This lets you use SocialMetricsPro on a single web site. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on multiple websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of the SocialMetricsPro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and 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 website owners immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them how and where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to monitor which network are working for your business.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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