Social recommendations like Facebook comments, Twitter mentions and retweets, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account various social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social 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 the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘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 display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media community in the world. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites.
(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 day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting socially on Google+ each month. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social 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 like Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [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 develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, products, or company on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, identify market opportunities, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, and spy on your competitors. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, topics, brands, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to monitor social media channels like blogging, internet forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Medium, etc., message boards, video/photo sharing sites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include marketing professionals, online reputation management (ORM) companies, market research, agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and sales teams. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different providers have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify consumer behavior around their brands or products so they can react to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
If you want to learn more about social media tracking tools that you may want to check out, refer to this article:
(Are you tracking social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social media signals and increasing your social media presence.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media 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 premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your task is simple … turn more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ sites 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”. From these tests, they were able to notice a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 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 media marketing campaigns can significantly affect your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Installation Is Easy & Fast
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any WP plugin. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s goal is to turn all reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns require investing more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro provides a powerful dashboard to centrally track and monitor social media activity across leading social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest directly from your WP dashboard.
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?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many great features. Here are just some:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in very little time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated stats right on your WP admin bar, display social content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. Update SocialMetricsPro in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications when new versions are released.
- Utilizes very little hosting resources. Metric reports are compiled very quickly, using little hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post authors, category, or by post type.
- Export Data: 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are some of the testimonials that plugin customers have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”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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”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
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on 1 site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This license option lets you configure SocialMetricsPro on all websites that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer 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 Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account a range of social signals to help determine website ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro 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 guides you how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social marketing measurable.
For more details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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