A really simple way to let others spread the word about your blog, and to integrate your blog into Facebook is with a Share button. With a Share button, anyone, including yourself, can instantly share your blog posts on their Face book profile page, news feed, and wall. Once they’re sharing, your content has the opportunity to be seen, “Liked”, commented on, and re-shared by all of their friends. And now all of those people are not only aware of you, but also have the chance to go straight to your blog and engage with it for themselves. By using a Share button, your blog can gain an audience, and possibly go viral.
So how do you get a share button? If you’re using WordPress, there are a lot of plugins out there that will easily do the job for you. Here are two plugins that I’ve used and like. Both of these can be found and installed using the Plugins menu in your WordPress Dashboard.
Facebook Share (New) Button by Appointy.com
Despite it’s strange name, this plugin is really easy to use. It gives you the option of automatically placing the Share button at the beginning and/or end of all your posts. On top of that, it’s also got some analytic tools built into it that allow you to see how many times something has been shared, or how many times something has been “liked” on Facebook. This can be a tremendous tool in tracking which posts, categories, and topics on your blog are popular, and can help you determine what you want to blog about.
The one drawback I’ve seen to this plugin is that if you have your posts displayed as teasers, the button renders itself as the word “Share” in the post excerpt. This can be a little sloppy in appearance if you display the button at the beginning of all your posts because all of your posts will look like they start with the word “Share” in their post excerpts. An easy work around to this bug is to either avoid displaying your posts as teasers, or only insert the button at the end of your posts.
Simple Facebook Share Button by Erick Hitter/Disparate.info
This plugin is very similar to the Facebook Share (New) Button plugin, and doesn’t seem to have the same problems with post teasers. While giving you a few more options in compatibility, and having a slightly different set of display options, the Simple Facebook Share Button doesn’t offer any built in analytic tools.
Personally, the built in analytic tools of the Facebook Share (New) Button are valuable enough to me that I’m willing to deal with it’s button display quirk. But that may not be the case for everyone, and the visual options of the Simple Facebook Share Button may be just what you’re looking for.
Are there any plugins you like using for integrating your WordPress blog into the social media world?
Related Posts:
Tutorial: Installing WordPress Plugins
Tutorial: Creating A Fanpage Widget for Your WordPress Blog.
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