Social interactions like Facebook comments, shares, and likes, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
With the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account various social signals when determining website ranking.
Note: Google encourages businesses 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 social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. 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 true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. Research shows that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a ton of sales on your site, don’t 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 influence website rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second biggest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
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 starting to interact socially on Google+ each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social signals, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, shares, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending a tweet is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your web page has accrued, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on StumbleUpon, 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 rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, products, or company on social media, identify market opportunities, spy on the competition, measure the impact of campaigns, and help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, topics, products, or businesses.
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, typically carried out by various groups that include PR companies, marketing professionals, market researchers, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community staff, and professional sales reps. Typically, smaller businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately various service providers have developed affordable tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, allowing you to identify consumer behavior around your products or brand allowing you to react to conversations and engage with consumers in a timely manner.
We have written a detailed article on social media monitoring tools that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that can affect your business, etc, see what online conversations are taking place that affect your business,etc. For more details:
(Are you searching for an effective tool to help you track your social signals?)
This article explores a simple social media monitoring tool for WordPress and improving your social media presence online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your job is to change red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can operate … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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 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, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Learn more here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Ready To Use In Minutes
Social Metrics Pro is very easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your administrator section and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s objective is to turn all reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Select Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to centrally monitor social activity from networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon 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 of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many features. Here are just a few of these:
- Fast and easy to install and use. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with built-in and external widgets. View the latest stats right on your WP admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrading. You can update the plugin in a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Low server resource consumption. The plugin generates social metrics reports in seconds, consuming little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server resources used to gather and compile the data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by publishing date, post type, category, or post authors.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered data and custom queries 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 really simple to use … just convert all the reds into greens!)
Feedback From Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback users have submitted regarding SocialMetricsPro:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
SocialMetricsPro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on 1 site only. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This allows you to run Social Metrics Pro on all the domains that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the plugin is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product author when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing here:
Additional Product Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account a range of social signals to help determine a site’s 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 WordPress users immediate feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them how to direct their efforts in order 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 this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save money on outsourcing your social media marketing campaigns or train your staff to manage your campaigns inhouse.
For more details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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