Social interactions like Facebook shares, +1s on GooglePlus, 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 media presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of 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 signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere 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 true value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google wants to rank higher in its search engine results.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to when measuring social signals include:
With over 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social media network on the planet. Research shows that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving a massive amount of sales on your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses social data and information from Facebook to help determine your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the next biggest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter has a significant amount of influence on the cybersphere and places great emphasis on the authority of tweets posted to followers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million 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 Twitter and Facebook.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus each year. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social sites worth paying attention to, like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.
(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 like Google and Bing track a number of social signals, including the following:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares you have, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on GooglePlus your site page has amassed, number and authority of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number 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 engine rankings. These include positive and negative factors, such as backlinks from authority sites (not as relevant as they once were, but still a factor) [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of low quality by site reviewers [negative].
As a business owner, it’s important to not only grow your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze your social media in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media can improve your results online)
Monitoring social media activity allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your company, services, or brand on social media, be alerted to crises, spy on your competitors, spot potential market opportunities, and measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. It can also provide valuable data about emerging trends and what consumers and clients are thinking about specific brands, businesses, products, or topics.
As a tool for business intelligence, being able to track social activity on social media channels like blogging, internet forums, wikis, micro-blogging platforms, discussion boards, video/photo sharing websites, 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 management companies, market researchers, marketing professionals, professional sales reps, social engagement and community personnel, and social media marketing agencies. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately many technology providers have developed affordable tools and solutions that facilitate the active monitoring of a wide spectrum of social media channels, enabling you to identify and even predict what consumers, competitors, supporters, and critics are saying about your products or brand allowing you to react to conversations and engage with online users in a timely fashion.
We have written a comprehensive article on social media monitoring tools that are worth checking out and knowing about. Learn more here:
(Do you know how to effectively measure your social signals?)
In this article, we explore a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media presence.
Presenting …
SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics WordPress Plugin
Description Of Plugin
Social Metrics Pro is an easy-to-use social media analytics plugin that is designed to help users improve their social media exposure online in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks how each signal is performing and returns either a red or green indicator. Your task is simple … change all reds into greens.
(SocialMetricsPro provides a standard operating procedure that anyone can follow … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics. Posts with highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The developers of SocialMetricsPro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ sites over a period of 3 months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping everything “green”. From these tests, 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, improving your social media marketing can result in higher search rankings, increased web traffic and an increase in revenue!)
Go here to learn more:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Fast Installation
SocialMetricsPro installs like every plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Very Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, your objective is to change more reds into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals the way Google sees it so you know which campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Only Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro allows you to track and monitor social media activity from social networks like Twitter, GooglePlus, Facebook, Pinterest, Digg, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Social Metrics Pro lets you easily answer 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?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(Social Metrics Pro constantly monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Product Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many unique features to WordPress users. Below we have listed a few of these:
- Fast and simple to install and set up. Be up and running in very little time.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using external and built-in widgets. Access updated stats right on your WP dashboard, display popular content on your sidebar or anywhere on your site using point-and-click widgets.
- One-click upgrading. Update the plugin with a single click via the WordPress Updates page, or update the manually manually. You can also choose to be notified via email whenever new versions are released.
- Uses very little resources. Reporting is in seconds, consuming minimal hosting resources. The tool also displays the amount of time used to retrieve the information and the server memory consumed when gathering and compiling the data.
Additional features include:
- Sorting, Searching & Filtering Features: Social Metrics Pro allows you to sort and filter the data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by category, publishing date, post type, or post authors.
- Export Data: 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 convert all reds into greens!)
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials that plugin users have published about the Social Metrics Pro 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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”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
Plugin Tips
A step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your social media strategy (i.e. how to turn reds into greens) is also included.
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
The plugin is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% money-back guarantee.
Product Pricing
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License Edition – This lets you configure Social Metrics Pro on 1 domain only. Pricing includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $27.00 (one-time).
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This license option allows you to set up SocialMetricsPro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price when this content was written. This may not be the actual price set by the product author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
SocialMetricsPro 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 elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore the importance of social media. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives users immediate feedback on the success of their social marketing strategy and guides them where to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP dashboard.
We recommend getting this plugin if you own or manage WordPress sites and want to measure your social marketing results professionally.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Media Analytics Plugin
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