Social interactions like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, +1s on Google+, 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 website owners to build their social 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 can change at a moment’s notice. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community on the planet. Research shows that one great 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 Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google processes social 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.
(Number of 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 each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, authority of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, be alerted to impending crises, spy on your competition, and spot opportunities for engagement. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, topics, products, or brands.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to monitor social activity, social conversations, and trends on social media channels like blogging, forums, social networking sites, micro-blogging platforms, message boards, video sites, 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 various people including PR companies, marketing teams, market research, social engagement and community staff, sales teams, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately various technology providers have developed tools to facilitate the tracking of a broad spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what consumers, competitors, critics, and supporters are saying about your brand so you can respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore several social media tracking tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. For more information, go here:
(Are you tracking your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet highly effective social media tracking tool for WordPress and increasing your social media presence online.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your objective is to convert more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with the highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can significantly affect your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details go here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WordPress Dashboard on your site:
Fast And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to change all red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social activity across leading networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and Digg.
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 of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
SocialMetricsPro offers a number of features to WP users. Below we have listed some of those features:
- Quick and easy to install and implement. Ready to go to work in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access the latest information right on your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrades. You can update the plugin in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reporting is fast, using very little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change all reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback customers have provided for the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”Social Metrics is the easiest way to see at a glance which posts have performed well on social networks.” Kevin Muldoon, Founder of WPMods.com
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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
SocialMetricsPro comes with a practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Licensing Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on one web site only. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on unlimited web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was current at the time this article was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Plugin Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
As mentioned earlier, 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. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and guides them how and where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to see measurable results.
For more details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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