Social recommendations like Facebook shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence 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 perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “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 rank higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus and Twitter.
(Number of 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 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 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 Google+ every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Google and Bing track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your URL has, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate 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 signals that can indirectly influence search engine traffic. These include desirable and negative 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 website 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 social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by disgruntled customers, assess competitor activity and market share, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and identify opportunities for engagement. It can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, businesses, topics, or products.
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, typically carried out by various people including digital reputation management (ORM) specialists, marketing teams, market researchers, professional sales reps, social engagement and community personnel, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed affordable tools to facilitate the tracking of a broad spectrum of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their products or brands so they can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing a number of social media monitoring tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. Go here for more information:
(Are you looking for an effective way to track your social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple social monitoring plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence online.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media exposure in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your goal is simple … turn all reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any website owner can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ sites 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 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can result in better search engine rankings, more traffic and an increase in revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Quick & Easy Installation
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any WP plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator section and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to change all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally track and monitor social media activity from social networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP admin area.
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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WordPress users with many unique features. Below we have listed just some:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Ready to use in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. View the latest information right on your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update the plugin 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.
- Plugin uses minimal hosting resources. The plugin can generate social metrics reports fast, using little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory consumed when gathering the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export data to 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 very simple to use … just turn all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments that users have submitted for SocialMetricsPro:
”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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”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on 1 domain only. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License Edition – This enables you to run SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin 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 Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increased importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account social signals when determining a website’s ranking.
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 instant feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and shows them where and how to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to monitor which network are working for your business.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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