Social recommendations like Facebook shares, comments, and likes, 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 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 the 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 full ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to the social sphere 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 websites that provide true value develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social media sites that search engines look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media community on the planet. It has been estimated that a single post can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google processes social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, research indicates that Facebook seems to have the most influence on search rankings of all 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 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide value to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
As Google’s own social site, Google+ naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each year. Source: Internet Live Stats)
In addition to the big three social media giants listed above, there are a number of other sites that provide important social metrics, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(Social media sites provide important signals to search engines that could affect your rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones 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 a person has, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the number of people sharing your posts, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus a web page has, spread rate of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can influence search engine 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 of low quality by visitors [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only find ways to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to monitor and analyze your social marketing in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your company’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, help you take preventative measures if you detect negative comments or feedback by dissatisfied users, identify opportunities for engagement, and spy on your competition. It can also provide you with valuable data about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific topics, products, brands, or businesses.
As a business intelligence tool, the ability to track social media channels like blogging, forums, social networking platforms, micro-blogging platforms, discussion boards, video sites, and user-generated content 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 people including digital reputation specialists, marketing teams, market researchers, sales teams, social marketing agencies, and social engagement and community personnel. Typically, many small businesses do not have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately a number of service providers have made available a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track consumer behavior around their brands or products allowing them to respond to conversations and engage with consumers in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article on social media tracking tools that will help you keep track of online trends, monitor competitor activity, see what conversations are taking place online that affect your business, etc, see what online conversations are taking place that can affect your business,etc here:
(Are you monitoring social signals effectively?)
In this article, we explore a simple, yet effective social tracking tool for a WordPress-based digital presence and increasing your social media influence online.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
Description
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make improving your social media presence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple premise – the tool measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. Your goal is simple … turn all reds into greens.
(A system that any website owner can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts that receive the most shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity display amber or red.
The plugin developers tested Social Metrics Pro 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”. From these tests, 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 SocialMetricsPro developers, improving your social marketing campaigns can result in better search rankings, increased traffic and increased revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Social Metrics Pro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Start Using In Minutes.
Social Metrics Pro is quite easy to install. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to change more red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social marketing campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Select Only Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to monitor social media activity across leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Digg directly from your WP admin area.
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 of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly tracks the social sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many features to website owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Access the latest stats from your WordPress admin bar, display social content on your sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. Update the plugin with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update it manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Low server resource consumption. Reports are generated very quickly, consuming very little server resources. The tool also displays the amount of time spent retrieving the information and the server resources used to gather the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort, search and filter the data as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study posts related to certain topics, and even filter the results by post authors, post type, publishing date, or by category.
- 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 turn red squares into greens!)
User Feedback
Here are just a few of the testimonials plugin customers have written 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
Social Metrics Pro Plugin – Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide on how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
The software is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a risk-free, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Plugin Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to use SocialMetricsPro on one site only. Pricing includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This edition lets you use Social Metrics Pro on multiple websites that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The price of the SocialMetricsPro product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is selling for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller when you visit the plugin website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Our Recommendation
As mentioned earlier, Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives you immediate feedback on the success of your social media marketing campaigns and shows you how and where to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is an ideal tool 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 would like to make social media marketing work for you.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics For WordPress
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