Sharing is an innate part of the human psyche. We just love to share anything that catches our fancy.
A cute cat video? Let’s share it with our Facebook friends!
A celebrity posting a very witty status update on Twitter? Retweet it!
The Internet and social networking websites made the entire sharing process a whole lot easier and faster. So with this thought in mind, it’s easy to figure out the definition of the term “social signals.” Basically, these are the signals that are sent out whenever a user makes an interaction on a webpage using social networking platforms.
These include Facebook likes, comments and shares; Twitter retweets and mentions; Google +1s; Pinterest pins; upvotes on Digg and Reddit. And the list goes on.
The various types of ”Social Signals”
Are Social Signals Important?
Absolutely. If you are looking for a hotel to stay in, who would you trust more: a random review made by some person on an obscure website, or a personal recommendation from a friend and/or family member? Most of us would probably put a premium on the opinions of people we are familiar with. The trust that we give them extends to the opinions that they give us. Essentially, social signals work on this concept; they’re like online word-of-mouth advertising.
Social signals are like product reviews, but are more trustworthy.
What Social Signals Mean To Online Marketers
Remember the Google algorithm updates (Panda in February 2011 and Penguin in April 2012)? After the changes brought about by these updates, most specifically the downranking of websites that relied too much on outdated SEO techniques like backlinking, social signals came into prominence as another method to increase a website’s performance in Google search rankings.
Google’s Panda and Penguin update.
And here’s another great fact for marketers: the positive correlation between social signals and search engine rankings has already been proven by numerous experiments and studies made by independent Internet experts.
Social signals will help you prove your credibility in a particular field, thereby turning you into an authority figure who has the capacity to influence a vast audience. It is also a surefire way to generate exposure and drive traffic to your website.
Social Signals can turn you into an authority figure.
If you’re looking to take your marketing efforts to a whole new level, then social signals are definitely the way to go.
Go back to Social Media Marketing for Web 3.0 series.
About Daniel Tan
