Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook comments, etc. are called social signals.
With the increased importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines now take into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team 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 more importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, 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 Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. Research shows that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one seems to be 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 processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(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 has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, comments, and likes you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow you, amount and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search engine traffic. These include desirable 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 other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze social media performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, be alerted to impending crises, spot new market opportunities, spy on your competitors, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific businesses, brands, topics, or products.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to monitor volume and sentiments of online conversations and activity on social media channels like blogging, internet forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms, discussion boards, video sites, and user-generated content is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include market researchers, marketing teams, online reputation management (ORM) agencies, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and agencies. Typically, many small businesses don’t have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology companies have developed affordable tools that facilitate the monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, allowing you to identify and even predict what is being said online about your brand or products allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore over 30 social media monitoring tools that are worth knowing about. For more details, go here:
(Are you searching for an effective way to measure your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple social tracking plugin for a WordPress-based digital business presence and increasing your social media exposure.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to convert all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any website owner can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ websites 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, focusing on improving your social marketing can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and more revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Ready To Use In No Time
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress admin user account and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to turn red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Choose Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social activity across leading social networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to 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 on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro provides site owners with a number of features. Here are a few:
- Quick and easy to install and use. Ready to use in minutes.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. SocialMetricsPro displays updated stats right on your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Minimal usage of hosting resources. The plugin can generate reports very quickly, consuming very little hosting resources. Reports also display the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort, search and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or by category.
- 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 very simple to use … just turn all red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are some of the testimonials and comments that plugin customers have submitted for the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.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
Product Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This license option lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on a single site. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This license allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on all web sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price here:
Additional Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing have started taking into account a range of social signals when determining 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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing strategy and shows you where and how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to monitor which social networks are working for your business.
For full details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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