Social interactions like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook 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 website owners to build their social media 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 the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. 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 websites that provide value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media community in the world. Research shows 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 importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems to have the most influence on search engine rankings of all social media sites.
(Number of 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 each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great emphasis on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social media 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+ every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track a number of 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 authority of the person sharing your URL, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 factors that can influence search engine traffic. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [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 develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, spot market opportunities, assess competitor activity and market share, and take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to track social media channels like blogging, forums, social networking platforms, micro-blogging platforms, discussion boards, video sites, and user-generated content (UGC) is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by a cross-section of groups that include marketing teams, market research, PR staff, agencies, social engagement and community staff, and sales teams. Typically, smaller businesses do not have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of technology providers have developed tools that facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify consumer behavior around their brands so they can react to conversations and engage with online users in a timely manner.
We have written a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media tracking tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. Go here to learn more:
(Are you monitoring your social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and increasing your social media influence.
Let’s Review …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s objective is simple … convert reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any website owner can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro 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”. 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can affect your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Be Up And Running In No Time
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your task is to convert more reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which social marketing campaigns need you to invest more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
SocialMetricsPro 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 can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors the social sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro offers WordPress users with a number of features. Here are some:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in very little time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. View updated information right on your WP dashboard, add popular content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrading. Update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when new versions are released.
- Plugin uses very little resources. The plugin can generate social metrics reports in seconds, using very little hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources consumed when gathering data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter information however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, post type, post authors, or by publishing date.
- 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 turn reds into greens!)
Feedback From Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that plugin users have submitted regarding SocialMetricsPro:
”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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”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
Plugin Tips
SocialMetricsPro includes a practical guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, full money-back guarantee.
Plugin Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license option enables you to activate SocialMetricsPro on a single site. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This lets you run Social Metrics Pro on multiple sites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin retails for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin seller 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 current price here:
Additional Plugin Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the growth of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google have started taking into account social signals when determining website 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 instant feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and guides you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to track your social signals automatically.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin
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