Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook shares, comments, and likes, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence 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 assessing social media signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘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 sites that provide true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, you should not be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus or Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer 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 day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social networking 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 actively using GooglePlus every week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites that provide important social signals, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a site has, how influential the person sharing the information is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ a URL has accrued, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social media campaigns 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, spy on the competition, avert impending crises, identify market opportunities, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, businesses, brands, or topics.
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, often carried out by various groups that include digital reputation management (ORM) specialists, marketing professionals, market research, social engagement and community personnel, sales teams, and agencies. Typically, smaller businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various technology companies have developed a range of affordable and even free tools to facilitate the tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track what consumers, competitors, critics, and supporters are saying about their products or brands so they can respond to conversations and engage with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore many social media tracking tools and technologies that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that can affect your business, etc, see what conversations are taking place online that could affect your business,etc. More info:
(Are you measuring social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple social tracking plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence.
Announcing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin that is designed to help you increase your social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your goal is to convert all the reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ 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 were able to notice that their top 10 best performing sites saw an improvement of up to 360% more traffic, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can result in better search rankings, more web traffic and increased revenue!)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Here 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:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to change all the reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social campaigns need more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social activity across leading social networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Digg, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
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 SocialMetricsPro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many unique features to web site owners. Below we have listed just a few:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. SocialMetricsPro shows the latest stats from your WordPress admin bar, display socially popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click auto-upgrading functionality. You can update SocialMetricsPro in a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification whenever a new version is released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reporting is fast, consuming minimal hosting resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort and filter data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or by publishing date.
- 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 turn all the red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials that plugin users have published about the Social Metrics Pro 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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”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
Product Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete refund guarantee.
Software Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license lets you use Social Metrics Pro on a single website. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Edition – This edition allows you to run SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing details of SocialMetricsPro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing when this review was published. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Plugin Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account various social signals when determining website 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 strategy and guides them where and how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress admin area.
Get this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to make social marketing work for you.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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