Social interactions like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining a website’s 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 more importance to the social sphere 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 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 look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community in the world. It has been estimated that a single post 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 Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining 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 monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 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 amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking site, GooglePlus 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 socially on GooglePlus every week. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social metrics, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social 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:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search engine traffic. These include desirable and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant 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 monitor and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, spy on your competitors, spot new market opportunities, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, products, businesses, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, 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 people including marketing teams, online reputation specialists, market research, sales teams, social engagement and community personnel, and agencies. 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 various technology companies have developed tools that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to track consumer behavior around your brand allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools and technologies that you may want to check out. More information:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media presence online.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s goal is simple … convert all red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that anyone can follow … 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 and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand sites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “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 the plugin developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can dramatically can have a significant effect on your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Learn more here:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Ready To Go To Work In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP administrator area and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s job is to turn all red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns require investing more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social activity across leading networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Digg, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides web site owners with many features. Below we have listed just a few:
- Quick and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats right on your WP dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click updates. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive email notifications when new versions are released.
- Plugin uses minimal resources. Social metrics reports are compiled fast, using little hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server memory used to gather and compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort and filter information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post type, category, publishing date, or by post authors.
- 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is simple to use … just change all the red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Users
Below are just some testimonials plugin users have submitted for 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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”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
Social Metrics Pro comes with 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).
Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Product License Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This license lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on one site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on all web sites that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing above was current at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines now take into account a range of social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and shows them how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to monitor which social media networks are working for your business.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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