Social interactions like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
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 to “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 listings.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community in the world. It has been estimated that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems to have the most influence on website rankings of all social media sites, like Google+ and Twitter.
(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 every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries great 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 Google+ each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a site page has, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search engine rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social marketing performance in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied customers, identify market opportunities, and assess competitor activity. It can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, social media signal 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 people including marketing professionals, online reputation management companies, market research, social marketing agencies, sales teams, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay a media monitoring service to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately many service providers have made available affordable tools that facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict consumer behavior around their brands or products allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article about social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about here:
(Are you measuring your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we review a simple social media tracking plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. Your task is simple … change more reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any user can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of 3 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, more traffic and increased revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like any other WordPress plugin. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your job is to change reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP dashboard.
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 are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro provides WordPress users with many unique features. Here are some:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows the latest information from your WP admin bar, add socially popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-update functionality. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal use of hosting resources. Social reports are compiled fast, using minimal server resources. Reports also include the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server memory consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by publishing date, category, post type, or post authors.
- Export Data: You can export filtered, sorted data and custom queries to 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 very simple to use … just change reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are a couple of the testimonials and comments plugin users have published about SocialMetricsPro:
”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
***
”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
Useful Tips
A practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This option enables you to run SocialMetricsPro on a single website. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on all websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase the Social Metrics Pro plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Currently, the product is selling for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install This Product
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing campaigns and guides them where and how to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to monitor which social networks are working for your business.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
***
***