Social interactions and recommendations like Twitter retweets and mentions, Facebook comments, shares, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking 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, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network on the planet. It has been estimated 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 Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter andGoogle+.
(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 each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social media site 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 GooglePlus each month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your site page has, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop 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 to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, be alerted to impending crises, spy on your competitors, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and identify market opportunities. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
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, often carried out by a cross-section of groups that include marketing professionals, online reputation management companies, market research, sales teams, agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed many tools that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify what is being said online about their products or brands allowing them to react to conversations and engage with online users in a timely manner.
We have created a detailed article where we explore several social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. To learn more, go here:
(Are you looking for an effective way to monitor social signals?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple social media tracking tool for WordPress and increasing your social media exposure online.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users grow their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s job is simple … change more reds into greens.
(A system that any website owner can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares show up 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 sites over a period of 3 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in better search engine rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast And Easy Installation
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to change more reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns require investing more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro 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 is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers site owners with many features. Below we have listed some:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays updated information from your WP dashboard, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update Social Metrics Pro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reporting is very quickly, consuming very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or by post authors.
- 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 really simple to use … just turn red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials customers have submitted for Social Metrics Pro:
”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 step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This edition enables you to set up SocialMetricsPro on a single website. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License Edition – This lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on unlimited domains that you own. 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 pricing when this review was written. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Product
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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and shows you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to see measurable results.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
***
***