Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook shares, etc. are called social signals.
With the rise of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines now take into account social signals when determining website ranking.
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. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s own web spam team 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 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 websites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network in the world. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter andGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social metrics, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a web page has, 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. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can influence search engine rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to 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 can improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or products on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot opportunities for engagement, avert crises, and assess competitor activity. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to monitor social media channels like blogs, forums, news sites, micro-blogging platforms, discussion groups, video/photo sharing sites, and user-generated content is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various people including marketing professionals, digital reputation specialists, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social media marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, smaller businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various providers have made available affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to track what customers, competitors, critics, and supporters are saying about their products or brands so they can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media measurement tools and technologies that you may want to check out. For more details, go here:
(Can you monitor social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective social monitoring tool for your website and improving your social media exposure online.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your objective is to convert more reds into greens.
(A system that anyone can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with the highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 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 can significantly impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Be Up And Running In Very Little Time
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to convert more red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to track and monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP admin area.
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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides website owners with many great features. Below we have listed some of those:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to start using in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access updated information from your WP admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. You can update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reporting is in seconds, using very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post authors, publishing date, or by post type.
- 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just convert red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials that 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
Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product Licensing Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license option enables you to activate Social Metrics Pro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This edition allows you to set up Social Metrics Pro on unlimited domains that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost to purchase Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was current at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the software author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account a range of social signals to help determine a site’s 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 guides you where and 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 WordPress admin area.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social media marketing measurable.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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