Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook comments, shares, and likes, +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 for several years now.
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 the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much 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 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 like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social community in the world. It has been estimated that one great post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest 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 value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
Google’s own social networking site naturally carries great 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+ each month. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- 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 sharing your posts, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a URL has, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 signals that can indirectly influence search traffic and rankings. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, spot opportunities for engagement, and spy on your competition. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific businesses, products, brands, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social media monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by a cross-section of groups that include market researchers, marketing teams, online reputation management companies, sales teams, social engagement and community personnel, and agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately different providers have created many tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand so you can respond to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article listing a number of social media measurement tools that you may want to check out. Go here to learn more:
(Are you searching for an effective way to monitor social signals?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet highly effective social tracking plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users grow their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. Your objective is to turn red squares into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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”. According to the plugin developers, 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, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can dramatically affect your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast And Easy To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Social Metrics Pro installs just like any plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to convert more reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require investing more effort and which campaigns need to be better optimized.
Track 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, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest directly from your WP admin area.
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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides site owners with many unique features. Here are some:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Access the latest information right on your WordPress dashboard, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal server resources use. The plugin can generate reports fast, consuming very little hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort and filter the information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, category, post authors, or post type.
- Export Data To Excel: 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!)
Feedback From Product Customers
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback users have published about the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
“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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”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
Social Metrics Pro – Useful Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license option lets you use SocialMetricsPro on 1 site only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This option enables you to set up SocialMetricsPro on multiple web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, Google has been elevating the importance given to 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 WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and shows them where and how to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing or train your staff to manage your campaigns inhouse.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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