Social recommendations like Facebook likes, Twitter mentions and retweets, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing are now taking into account various social signals to help determine a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners 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 web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community in the world. Research shows that one great post 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 power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites, like GooglePlus or Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ every year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social metrics, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing 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 your web page has, the authority of the person sharing your posts, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your site page has accrued, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 factors that can influence search traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, spy on your competitors, identify new opportunities for engagement, and take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, businesses, brands, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social monitoring 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 digital reputation managers, marketing teams, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different technology companies have developed many affordable tools that facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling you to track what is being said online about your brand allowing you to react to conversations and engage with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more details:
(Are you looking for an effective tool to help you monitor your social signals?)
This article explores a simple social media tracking plugin for WordPress and growing your social media influence online.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro 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 – the plugin tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is simple … turn red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ websites 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”. 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, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in better search engine rankings, more web traffic and more revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time.
Social Metrics Pro installs like any other WordPress plugin. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Track Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally monitor social activity from social media networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Digg.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media 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?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro provides web site owners with many great features. Below we have listed a few of these:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. View the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. Update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Low server resource consumption. The plugin can generate social metrics reports very quickly, using very little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, publishing date, post authors, or category.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just turn all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are some of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have written about SocialMetricsPro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This lets you activate Social Metrics Pro on one domain only. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This option enables you to install SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current when this review was published. This may not be the actual price set by the product author when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Product
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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you where and how to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to monitor which social networks are working for your business.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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