Social recommendations like Facebook shares, likes, and comments, +1s on GooglePlus, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
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 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 a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide real value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search listings.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. Research shows that an average post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one seems to be buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss Facebook as an important part of your business strategy, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every single 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 number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent every day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social media site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are starting to interact socially on Google+ each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other sites worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
(A number of social sites provide important signals that can affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines like Bing and Google include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. how many tweets and retweets a URL has, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people are following you, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Digg, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious factors that can indirectly influence search traffic. These include desirable and negative 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 important to not only develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your services, brand, or company on social media, spot new market opportunities, spy on your competition, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific products, topics, brands, or businesses.
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 various groups that include online reputation specialists, marketing teams, market research, social media marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and sales teams. Typically, many small businesses don’t have the budget to pay a social media monitoring service to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of providers have created affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the tracking of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to track what is being said online about your brand or products allowing you to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article about social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. Go here to learn more about this:
(Can you measure your social signals effectively?)
This article discusses a simple, yet effective plugin for WordPress-powered websites and blogs for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media influence.
Let’s Review …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to make growing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The user’s goal is simple … change all reds into greens.
(A standard operating procedure that any website owner can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts with highest number of shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity display 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 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 they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to SocialMetricsPro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can dramatically impact your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
For more details go here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WP Dashboard on your site:
Easy Installation
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s task is to change all reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon.
SocialMetricsPro 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 of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro provides many unique features to web site owners. Here are some of those:
- Fast and easy to install and configure. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays the latest information right on your WordPress admin bar, add popular content to your sidebar or anywhere on your site using widgets.
- 1-click auto-updating functionality. You can update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when a new version is released.
- Low server resource consumption. Social reports are generated in seconds, consuming minimal hosting resources. The tool also includes the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort, search and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, category, publishing date, or by post type.
- 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.
(SocialMetricsPro is simple to use … just change more red squares into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials and comments users have provided for the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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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
SocialMetricsPro – Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide containing useful advice on how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Product Support
The plugin is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, complete refund guarantee.
Plugin Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This option lets you set up SocialMetricsPro on a single website. Includes free lifetime upgrades and support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License – This lets you use Social Metrics Pro on multiple domains that you own. Cost includes free lifetime updates and support. Price = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing when this content was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the product seller when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Product Information
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Product
As mentioned earlier, Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
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 marketing strategy and shows you how and where to improve your results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP admin area.
We recommend SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
For more details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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