Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
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. 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 social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. Without a reliable ‘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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media network in the world. It has been estimated that an average 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 the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ or Twitter.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site 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 GooglePlus each week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of 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. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only grow 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 marketing to help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, be alerted to disasters, measure the impact of campaigns, identify market opportunities, and spy on your competition. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, brands, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, 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 groups that include marketing professionals, market researchers, online reputation management (ORM) companies, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify consumer behavior around your brand or products allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have created a comprehensive article listing many social media measurement tools and technologies that will help you identify new trends and opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that can affect your business,etc. For more information, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective social monitoring tool for WordPress and increasing your social media influence online.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to turn red squares into greens.
(A system that anyone can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up 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 a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can dramatically impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s goal is to turn reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity across leading networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Digg, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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 social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many features to web site owners. Here are some:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View updated information right on your WP dashboard, display social content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click updating. Update Social Metrics Pro in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal use of resources. Metric reports are generated very quickly, consuming very little hosting resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just convert all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are just some testimonials and comments plugin users have published about the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”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
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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This option allows you to configure Social Metrics Pro on 1 web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This option lets you install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost of purchasing the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals to help determine website ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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