Social interactions like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, Twitter retweets and mentions, 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 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 the web spam team Matt Cutts 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 too much importance to social signals 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 tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network on the planet. It has been estimated that an average post on Facebook 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 website rankings of all social media sites, like GooglePlus and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social networking site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that provide important social metrics, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that can affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Search engines like Bing and Google track various social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sharing the URL, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ your web page has amassed, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on StumbleUpon, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic and rankings. These include desirable and negative factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [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 social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, identify market opportunities, and spy on the competition. Additionally, monitoring social media can also provide vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific businesses, brands, products, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, social media 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 groups that include PR staff, market research, marketing teams, professional sales reps, social media marketing agencies, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay a social media monitoring service to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately many technology companies have developed affordable tools to facilitate the monitoring of a variety of social media channels, enabling companies to identify what consumers are saying about their brands or products allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing many social media measurement tools that you may want to check out. Go here to learn more:
(Do you know how to effectively track your social signals?)
This article discusses a simple, yet highly effective social media tracking plugin for WordPress and improving your social media exposure online.
Our Recommended WordPress Plugin …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media exposure in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is to convert reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with the highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro on a network of over two thousand sites 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”. According to the plugin developers, they noticed 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can dramatically can have a positive effect on your search rankings, traffic and revenue!)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Here are just some of the many benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is really easy to install. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WP admin account and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s goal is to turn more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and which need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you monitor social media activity from networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Digg directly from your WP dashboard.
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 this information can be accessed with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
SocialMetricsPro offers many features to website owners. Here are some of these features:
- Fast and easy to install and implement. Be up and running in no time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays updated information right on your WP admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- One-click upgrades. Update SocialMetricsPro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification when a new version is released.
- Minimal usage of server resources. Reporting is fast, using minimal hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort 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, category, or publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just turn reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments plugin users have submitted for Social Metrics Pro:
”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
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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 (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Useful Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Software Pricing
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This lets you activate SocialMetricsPro on a single domain. Price includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This license lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on multiple websites that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The price of the SocialMetricsPro software can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the software retails for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the software author when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Download This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the rising importance of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines like Google and Bing now take into account a range of social signals when determining 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 you immediate feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you how and where to improve your 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 admin area.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to outperform your competitors on social media.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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