Social interactions like Facebook comments, likes, and shares, +1s on Google+, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and 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 media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more 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 sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most dominant social network on the planet. Research shows that a single post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your site, don’t be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook when determining 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 largest 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 amount of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent every single day. Source: Internet Live Stats)
Google+
As Google’s own social media site, GooglePlus naturally carries great authority online, even if it is still a fledgling online community compared to sites like Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are interacting on GooglePlus every year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 social sites listed above, there are a number of other sites that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg.
(A number of 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 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, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your site page has accrued, amount of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, upvotes on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious signals that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as important as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s not only important to grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to monitor and analyze social marketing in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media to help improve your results online)
Tracking social media activity allows you to find insights into your company’s overall visibility on social media, be alerted to disasters, assess competitor activity and mind share, identify opportunities for engagement, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide you with vital data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific brands, businesses, products, or topics.
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, often carried out by various people including market research, marketing professionals, online reputation management (ORM) companies, professional sales reps, social marketing agencies, and social engagement and community staff. Typically, small businesses do not can’t afford to pay social 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 tracking of a broad range of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media monitoring tools that are worth knowing about here:
(Can you track social signals effectively?)
In this article, you will learn about a simple, yet effective social monitoring tool for a WordPress-based web presence and improving your social media exposure.
Introducing …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics plugin for WordPress that is designed to help users increase their social media influence online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple concept – Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is simple … turn all the red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn all the reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts that receive the most shares show up green. Posts with low social media activity are colored amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of over two thousand 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 were able to notice 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 Social Metrics Pro developers, focusing on improving your social media marketing campaigns can result in higher search rankings, more traffic and more revenue!)
More info:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Likes, Tweets, Pins, +1s and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Simple To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time.
SocialMetricsPro is quite easy to install. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the site owner’s objective is to convert red squares into greens. SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to apply more effort and where to optimize.
Track The Social Signals You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Digg, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress admin area.
SocialMetricsPro lets you easily answer questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which posts 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 just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively tracks the sites that you care most about!)
Features
Social Metrics Pro offers many features to website owners. Here are just a few of these:
- Quick and simple to install and use. Ready to use in very little time.
- Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality with external and built-in widgets. View the latest stats right on your WordPress admin bar, display popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- 1-click updating. Update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever a new version is released.
- Plugin uses very little hosting resources. Social reports are generated fast, consuming very little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time used to retrieve information and the server memory consumed when gathering data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search & Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter your 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, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export filtered, sorted data and custom queries 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 simple to use … just change all red squares into greens!)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials and feedback that plugin customers have published about the SocialMetricsPro plugin:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.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
SocialMetricsPro Plugin – Useful Tips
A practical, step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your campaigns and improve your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free lifetime updates and support, backed by a no-risk, 60-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Cost
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This license option allows you to configure SocialMetricsPro on a single site. Includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This edition allows you to install SocialMetricsPro on multiple domains that you own. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: The cost of purchasing SocialMetricsPro can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price:
Additional Product Information
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. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and guides them where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is an ideal tool for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to learn how to use social signals to improve your search rankings.
For full details, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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