Social recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, 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, 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 so many things change quickly on social media. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to social signals over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is to “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 naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signals – Which Social Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social network in the world. It has been estimated that a single post can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your online business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other 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 every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social media site 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 Google+ every year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, shares, and comments a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sharing the URL is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential 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 Digg, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can influence search 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 other users [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor, measure and analyze social media 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 your company’s overall visibility on social media, be alerted to disasters, spot market opportunities, assess competitor activity, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers are thinking about specific brands, topics, products, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor volume and sentiments of social conversations and social activity on social media 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 online reputation management companies, marketing professionals, market research, social engagement and community staff, social marketing agencies, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses do not have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of providers have developed tools that facilitate the active tracking of a variety of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your brand or products allowing you to respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a detailed article listing several social media measurement tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. For more details, go here:
(Can you measure your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we review a simple, yet effective social media monitoring tool for your WordPress-based digital presence and increasing your social media influence online.
Our Featured WordPress Product Is …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – the plugin tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The user’s objective is simple … convert more reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares display green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of three 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, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can dramatically impact your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Ready To Use In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro installs like every plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WordPress administrator login and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to change all red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you centrally monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Digg, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WP admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer 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 SocialMetricsPro, all of this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro offers site owners with many great features. Here are just a few of these:
- Quick and simple to install and configure. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. View updated information from your WP admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click auto-upgrade functionality. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email whenever new plugin updates are released.
- Minimal server resources use. Reporting is very quickly, using little hosting resources. Report generation also includes the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server resources consumed when gathering data.
Additional features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort, search and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, publishing date, post type, or by category.
- Export Data: 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 the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(SocialMetricsPro is really simple to use … just change all red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials users have provided for 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
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”I give Social Metrics a big thumbs up and I recommend it to anyone who’s serious about tracking their social sharing analytics.” James Johnson, Senior Editor at The Inquisitr
Useful Tips
Social Metrics Pro comes with a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
The software is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Edition – This edition enables you to configure SocialMetricsPro on 1 domain only. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This edition enables you to use SocialMetricsPro on all websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Pricing details of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price shown above was current when this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the product seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
We Highly Recommend This
As mentioned earlier, social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 instant feedback on the success of your social marketing strategy and guides you where to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WordPress admin area.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to outperform your competitors on social media.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
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