Social interactions like Facebook likes, shares, and comments, Twitter retweets and mentions, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and 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, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘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 value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signals – Which Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to when measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post on Facebook 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 Facebook as an important part of your online 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 Google+ and Twitter.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next largest social media site in the world, with over 600 million tweets sent out every single day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the volume of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth getting to know, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(A number of social sites provide important signals to search engines that can affect your rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Pay Attention To?
Social signals tracked by search engines include:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook likes, comments, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person retweeting your information is, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many people follow 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 social media-related signals that can indirectly influence search engine traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate (CTR) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social signals in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, products, or brand on social media, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by online users, identify new market opportunities, spy on the competition, and measure the impact of campaigns. It can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, social monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including marketing professionals, PR staff, market researchers, professional sales reps, social marketing agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, many small businesses don’t have the budget to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately a number of technology providers have developed a range of tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad range of social media channels, allowing you to identify what is being said online about your brand so you can respond proactively to conversations and engage with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media monitoring tools and technologies that you may want to check out. To learn more, go here:
(Do you know how to effectively monitor social signals?)
In this article, we discuss a simple social media monitoring tool for your WordPress-based online presence and increasing your social media influence.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to make increasing your social media influence online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the tool tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s job is to turn red squares into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a system that any user can operate … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that get shared the most show up green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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 their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, they were able to notice 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 the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro installs like any regular WP plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP admin area and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s job is to turn more red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns need more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Select Only Signals From The Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro allows you to track and monitor social media activity from social media networks like GooglePlus, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all of this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors the social media sites that you care most about!)
SocialMetricsPro Features
SocialMetricsPro offers WP users with many features. Here are a few:
- Fast and easy to install and set up. Be up and running in minutes.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. Social Metrics Pro shows the latest stats from your WordPress admin bar, add socially popular content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updating. You can update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive email notifications whenever new versions are released.
- Utilizes minimal resources. The plugin can generate social metrics reports very quickly, using minimal server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time it took to retrieve information and the server resources used to gather data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort 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 type, category, post authors, or publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: 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.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just change red squares into greens!)
Testimonials From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback users have published about Social Metrics Pro:
”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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“Social Metrics Takes WordPress Stats to the Next Level.” Lorraine Ball, Creative Director, Roundpeg
Plugin Tips
A practical guide on how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Product Support
SocialMetricsPro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, full refund guarantee.
Product License Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to configure Social Metrics Pro on a single web site. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site License – This edition enables you to run Social Metrics Pro on multiple websites that you own. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: Current pricing for Social Metrics Pro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the software author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Plugin Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
The Bottom Line
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 media marketing strategy and guides 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 directly from your WordPress admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want 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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