Social interactions like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook comments, shares, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media 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 social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘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 to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social media community on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social media site naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using Google+ every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including the following:
- 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 web page has, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your web page has amassed, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate 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 influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spy on your competitors, spot potential opportunities for engagement, and take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by embittered customers. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, brands, topics, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to track activity, trends, and online conversations on social media channels like blogging, forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, etc., message boards, video/photo sharing websites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by a cross-section of people including marketing teams, market research, online reputation management (ORM) companies, social marketing agencies, sales teams, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to track what consumers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about their products or brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article listing over 30 social media tracking tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. To learn more, visit this page:
(Are you looking for an effective tool that can help you monitor social signals?)
In this article, we explore a simple social monitoring plugin for your WordPress-based digital presence and increasing your social media exposure online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is to convert red squares into greens.
(A system that any user can follow … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares show up 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 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, focusing on improving your social media marketing can significantly can have a dramatic impact on your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Ready To Start Using In Very Little Time
SocialMetricsPro installs like any plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to turn more red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity from social networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Digg directly from your WordPress admin area.
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 of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks the sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers web site owners with a number of features. Here are just a few of these:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access updated information right on your WP admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrading. Update SocialMetricsPro in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal use of resources. The plugin generates reports fast, consuming minimal server resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search 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 post authors, post type, category, or publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just change more red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments that plugin customers have submitted for 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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”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
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step 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.
Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Software Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license option allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on one website only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This enables you to set up SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software retails for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software 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 Plugin Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Recommend
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account various 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 instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and shows you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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