Social interactions like +1s on Google+, Facebook likes, shares, and comments, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their brand on social media 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 the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. 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 websites 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 Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media network on the planet. Research shows that one great post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly 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 every single day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
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 Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using Google+ every year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine 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, comments, and likes a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person tweeting is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people are following you, spread rate of adds and shares, 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 influence search engine rankings. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [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 develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track and analyze your social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your brand, company, or services on social media, spy on your competitors, avert disasters, identify opportunities for engagement, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide vital data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific products, brands, topics, or businesses.
As a tool for business intelligence, social 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 marketing professionals, online reputation specialists, market researchers, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different providers have made available affordable tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to identify and even predict what is being said online about their brands allowing them to react to conversations and engage with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article about social media monitoring tools that are worth knowing about. If you are interested in learning more about this here:
(Do you know how to effectively measure social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective social media monitoring plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media presence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to change reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … just turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin 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 noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can affect your search rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Below are just some of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Installation Is Easy, Fast & Simple
Social Metrics Pro installs like any plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your admin section and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s goal is to turn more reds into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to invest more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Track The Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon.
SocialMetricsPro 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 of my posts are the most popular?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many features to site owners. Here are just some of these features:
- Quick and easy to install and set up. Ready to go to work in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality with external and built-in widgets. Access updated stats right on your WordPress admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click upgrades. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Plugin even works on the smallest hosting configuration. Social reports are generated fast, using minimal server resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter 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, category, or publishing date.
- Export Data: You can export filtered data and custom queries to 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 turn all the red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are a few of the testimonials that customers have submitted regarding the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”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
***
”If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve.” Goes one of the most important sayings in business. And this is particularly true for tracking of your social mentions I found. There were two things that helped me a great deal to increase sharing after installing Social Metrics: First, I was able to see that some of my articles would perform much better on networks I wasn’t particularly using, such as StumbleUpon for example. Secondly, I could filter out the best performing content more easily and analyse what makes my readers share. Since then I have focused strongly on producing and replicating those posts that performed best.” Leo Widrich, Co-Founder of Buffer
Useful Tips
A step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Cost
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license lets you set up SocialMetricsPro on 1 web site only. Cost includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This option allows you to activate Social Metrics Pro on unlimited web sites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing for the Social Metrics Pro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software is selling for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
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 The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines now take into account social signals to help determine a website’s ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. 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 shows you where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social media marketing measurable.
For complete details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
***
***