Social recommendations like +1s on Google+, 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 for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social media 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 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 summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value 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 and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. Research shows that an average 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 to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
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 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your site has, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential 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, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other 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 of poor quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, be alerted to disasters, identify market opportunities, assess competitor activity and market share, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, businesses, products, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to monitor social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including market research, marketing professionals, online reputation management companies, agencies, professional sales reps, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, smaller businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology providers have developed a range of tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify what is being said online about 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 tracking tools and technologies that are worth checking out and knowing about. Go here to learn more:
(Are you searching for an effective tool to help you monitor your social signals?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet effective WordPress plugin for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media presence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help you improve your social media presence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your task is to turn all reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can operate … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with the highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and 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 a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing can result in better search engine rankings, increased traffic and an increase in revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Ready To Use In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to change more reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns need you to invest more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to centrally monitor social media activity across leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress admin area.
Social Metrics Pro 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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks the social media sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WordPress users with a number of features. Here are some of these features:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Ready to start using in no time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updating. Update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Uses minimal hosting resources. Reporting is very quickly, using little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by publishing date, post authors, category, or post type.
- 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just change all the reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that users have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”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
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, full refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This license allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on one website only. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on all the websites that you own. It includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current when this article was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Product
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and guides you where 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 SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social marketing.
For complete details, visit the plugin website: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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