Social recommendations like Facebook likes, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to 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 more importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the most influential social community in the world. Research shows that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest 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 emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social media site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media 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 Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets your web page has, how influential the person sending a tweet is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile 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 Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search engine traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social media marketing campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, identify opportunities for engagement, spy on your competitors, be alerted to disasters, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
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, often carried out by a cross-section of people including market researchers, PR staff, marketing teams, sales teams, social engagement and community personnel, and social marketing agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various providers have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing companies to identify consumer behavior around their brands so they can respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a detailed article on social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. For more info, see this article:
(Do you know how to effectively measure your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress sites for monitoring social media signals and improving your social media presence online.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media presence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the system tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The user’s objective is to change all the reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any website owner can follow … 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 are colored amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand 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”. From these tests, they noticed 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing can significantly impact your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast Installation
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your admin account and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s goal is to convert reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social activity from networks like GooglePlus, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro 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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides WP users with a number of features. Here are just some:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access the latest stats from your WP admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click auto-update functionality. Update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when a new version is released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reports are generated fast, consuming little hosting resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, publishing date, 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 Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is very simple to use … just convert red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and comments customers have submitted regarding Social Metrics Pro:
“Social Metrics Pro is the essential plugin we use to monitor how our content performs on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s simple, neat and works precisely as you would expect it. When we work with our clients such as T-Mobile, the .Me domain name registry and others, Social Metrics Pro is the plugin we use to create reports as well as keep track on each bit of content to optimize it for future performance.” Ivan Brezak Brkan, Editor of Netokracija.com, TechCrunch EU Contributor
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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
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license lets you use SocialMetricsPro on one site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This edition lets you install SocialMetricsPro on unlimited domains that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing for the SocialMetricsPro product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the plugin sells for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the software developer when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Product Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account various social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
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 users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media campaigns.
For full details, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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