Social recommendations like Facebook comments, Twitter mentions and retweets, etc. are called social signals.
With the rising importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines now take into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social media presence 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 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 full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social media network in the world. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses social 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 GooglePlus or Twitter.
(Number of 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 has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of 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 day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person retweeting your posts is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or products on social media, be alerted to crises, measure the impact of campaigns, identify new market opportunities, and assess competitor activity. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, products, topics, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to track social media channels like blogs, internet forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms, message boards, video/photo sharing websites, and user-generated content 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 marketing teams, PR companies, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different service providers have created affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand or products allowing you to respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore several social media monitoring tools and technologies that you may want to check out. See this page to learn more:
(Do you know how to effectively measure social signals?)
This article explores a simple, yet highly effective WordPress plugin for tracking social media signals and improving your social media exposure online.
Our Featured WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you improve your social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your objective is simple … change more red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro 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. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ websites 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 noticed 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 result in higher search rankings, more traffic and more revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure. Ready To Start Using In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to change all the reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social activity across leading networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns 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 constantly tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many unique features. Here are just a few:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access updated information right on your WP admin bar, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updating. You can update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification whenever new versions are released.
- Plugin suits even the smallest hosting. Social metrics reports are compiled very quickly, using little hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter data however 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 post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered data and custom queries in 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just change red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials that users have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This edition allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on a single web site. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License Edition – This option allows you to use SocialMetricsPro on all the web sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for the Social Metrics Pro plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the product retails for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin 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 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 elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them how and where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to reduce your social media marketing learning curve.
For more information, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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