Social interactions and recommendations like Facebook likes, comments, and shares, Twitter mentions and retweets, 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, rather than 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 social media, as social trends and relationships can change at a moment’s notice. 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 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 websites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media community on the planet. It has been estimated that an average post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook when determining 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 monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Google and Bing include:
- 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, how influential the person sharing your URL is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many followers on Google+ a site page has amassed, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can indirectly influence search engine traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as links from authority sites (backlinks) (not as influential as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to 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)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, spy on your competitors, and identify market opportunities. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, businesses, products, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, the ability to track social media channels like blogs, 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, typically carried out by a cross-section of groups that include digital reputation specialists, market researchers, marketing professionals, social marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of service providers have made available a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to track what customers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about your products or brand allowing you to respond to conversations and interact with consumers in a timely manner.
We have created a comprehensive article listing many social media measurement tools that you may want to check out. Go here for more information:
(Do you know how to effectively track social signals?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet highly effective social media tracking plugin for WordPress and increasing your social media presence.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social analytics plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media exposure in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro measures and tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to change reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner can operate … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand 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”. 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, more web traffic and more revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below are just some of the benefits of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to convert more red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to put more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you centrally track and monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP admin area.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many features to WP users. Below we have listed a few:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. 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. Access the latest stats right on your WP admin bar, add social content to your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click auto-update functionality. You can update SocialMetricsPro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email when new versions are released.
- Minimal hosting resources consumption. The plugin can generate social metrics reports fast, using very little server resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server memory used to gather and compile data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to 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 type, post authors, publishing date, or by category.
- Export Data: You can export data 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 simple to use … just change all the red squares into greens!)
Testimonials
Here are just a few of the testimonials plugin customers 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
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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Plugin Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Product Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This license enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on a single website. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Licensing – This license option enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the Social Metrics Pro product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the plugin author when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, with the rise of social sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines now take into account social signals to help determine 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 users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them where to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
Get SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to make social media marketing campaigns work for you.
For more information, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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