Social interactions like Facebook comments, shares, and likes, Twitter mentions and retweets, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
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 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 summary, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to display higher in its search results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social community in the world. Research shows that a single post 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 the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses 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 engine 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 600 million tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google Plus
As Google’s own social networking site, Google+ naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting on Google+ each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three social sites listed above, there are a number of other social sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(Social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments you have, growth rate of shares and likes, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person sending a tweet, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, amount and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. growth rate of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Digg, 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 rankings and traffic. These include desirable and undesirable 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 business owner, it’s not only important to develop your social media presence, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social media in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your business results)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to gain insights into your brand’s online visibility on social media, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, spot potential market opportunities, help you take preventative measures against the spread of negative comments or feedback by online users, and assess competitor activity and market dominance. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific products, brands, businesses, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, social media signal monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, often carried out by various groups that include market research, digital reputation specialists, marketing teams, social engagement and community personnel, professional sales reps, and agencies. Typically, many small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the media.
Fortunately different service providers have developed affordable tools and solutions to facilitate the active tracking of a wide range of social media channels, enabling companies to track what is being said online about their brands or products allowing them to react to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have created a comprehensive article where we explore a number of social media tracking tools that are worth knowing about. More info:
(Can you monitor your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we review a simple plugin for WordPress users for tracking social signals and growing your social media influence.
Introducing …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics WordPress Plugin
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social media analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to make increasing your social media influence uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and displays either a green or red indicator. The site owner’s objective is to turn all reds into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with highest number of shares show up 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 sites 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 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 their revenue increased by 310%.
(According to the plugin developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing can impact your search engine rankings, traffic and revenue!)
More info:
Benefits Of Using Social Metrics Pro
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, +1s, Pins and more directly from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Installation Is Easy
Social Metrics Pro installs like every WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to turn all reds into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know which campaigns need you to invest more effort and which social marketing campaigns need to be better optimized.
Choose Only Social Signals You Care About
Social Metrics Pro lets you track and monitor social media activity from networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Digg, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress admin area.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media 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 this information is available on-demand, with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Features
SocialMetricsPro offers site owners with many features. Below we have listed some:
- Fast and simple to install and configure. Ready to use in very little time.
- SocialMetricsPro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using built-in and external widgets. View the latest information right on your WP admin bar, display social content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updates. Update SocialMetricsPro in one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to receive an email notification when new plugin updates are released.
- Plugin works the smallest hosting. The plugin generates social metrics reports in seconds, using little server resources. Reports also display the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server resources used to compile data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching And Filtering Features: SocialMetricsPro lets you sort 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 category, post authors, publishing date, or post type.
- 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 turn more reds into greens!)
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”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 is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation
Useful Tips
A step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to set up Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multi-Site Licensing – This edition lets you set up Social Metrics Pro on all the websites that you own. It includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Note: The cost to purchase Social Metrics Pro depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was correct when this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Product Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Get This Plugin
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google are now taking into account a range of social signals when determining a site’s ranking.
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 strategy and shows you how to direct your efforts in order to improve your results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to save time and resources by focusing on under-optimized social media campaigns.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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