Integrating Social Sharing Buttons in WordPress Themes
Posted on 20th June 2023
As a WordPress theme developer, you’re probably already aware of the importance of social media. What you may not be aware of is how easy it is to integrate social sharing buttons into your WordPress themes.
In this article, we’ll show you how to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress themes. We’ll also share some tips on how to make sure your buttons are effective and look great.
Why Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your WordPress Theme?
As we mentioned, social media is important. It’s a great way to promote your content and reach a larger audience.
When you add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme, you make it easy for your visitors to share your content with their friends and followers. This can lead to more traffic and exposure for your website.
How to Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your WordPress Theme
There are a few different ways you can add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme. We’ll show you two of the most popular methods.
Method 1: Use a Plugin
One easy way to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme is to use a plugin. There are a number of great plugins available that will let you add social sharing buttons to your website with just a few clicks.
Some of our favorite plugins for adding social sharing buttons are:
Method 2: Add the Buttons Manually
If you don’t want to use a plugin, you can also add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme manually. This method requires a bit more work, but it’s not difficult.
To add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme manually, you’ll need to:
- Choose the social media platforms you want to add buttons for
- Create social sharing buttons for each platform
- Add the buttons to your website
Tips for Adding Social Sharing Buttons to Your WordPress Theme
Now that you know how to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme, let’s take a look at a few tips to help you get the most out of your buttons.
1. Use Buttons That Match Your Theme
When you’re choosing social sharing buttons for your WordPress theme, it’s important to choose buttons that match the overall design of your website.
Your buttons should be the same color as your website’s branding, and they should match the style of your other buttons. If your website has a modern design, your social sharing buttons should have a modern look. If your website has a more traditional design, your social sharing buttons should reflect that.
2. Use Plugins to Make Adding Buttons Easy
As we mentioned earlier, there are a number of great plugins that make it easy to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme. If you’re not comfortable adding the buttons manually, we recommend using a plugin.
3. Make Sure Your Buttons Are Effective
When you’re adding social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme, it’s important to make sure your buttons are effective. Here are a few tips to help you do that:
- Make sure your buttons are visible. Don’t hide them at the bottom of your website where people will miss them.
- Make sure your buttons are easy to use. Avoid using too many options or confusing interface.
- Make sure your buttons are mobile-friendly. More and more people are using their phones to browse the web, so your buttons need to work on mobile devices.
4. Test Your Buttons Before You Launch
Before you launch your WordPress theme with social sharing buttons, it’s important to test your buttons to make sure they’re working correctly.
There’s nothing worse than launching your theme and realizing your social sharing buttons don’t work. So take the time to test them before you go live.
Conclusion
Adding social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme is a great way to promote your content and reach a larger audience. In this article, we’ve shown you how to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme. We’ve also shared some tips on how to make sure your buttons are effective and look great.
Do you have any questions about how to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme? Let us know in the comments section below!
While some WordPress themes come with social sharing buttons included, others do not. If your theme does not include social sharing buttons, there are a few ways to add them.
One way to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme is to use a plugin. There are a few social sharing plugins available for WordPress, such as AddThis and ShareThis. These plugins allow you to add social sharing buttons to your site without having to edit your theme files.
Another way to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme is to edit your theme files. If you are comfortable editing code, you can add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme by adding the code to your theme’s template files.
If you are not comfortable editing code, you can also add social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme by using a widget. Widgets are a great way to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress site without having to edit your theme files.
Adding social sharing buttons to your WordPress theme is a great way to increase traffic to your site. By making it easy for your visitors to share your content, you can increase the reach of your site and attract new readers.
There are two ways to approach social sharing buttons. The first way is to use a plugin, which is the easier method. The second way is to code the buttons into your theme, which gives you more control but requires more coding knowledge.
If you decide to use a plugin, we recommend using one of the following:
ShareThis
AddThis
Shareaholic
These plugins will give you a variety of options for how your social sharing buttons are displayed, and they’re all easy to use.
If you decide to code the buttons into your theme, you’ll need to create a function to output the buttons. Here’s an example:
function my_social_sharing_buttons() {
global $post;
$url = get_permalink( $post->ID );
$title = get_the_title( $post->ID );
$img = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id( $post->ID ), ‘full’ );
$sharing_button = ‘
$sharing_button .= ‘ . '/images/facebook.png)
‘;
$sharing_button .= ‘ . '/images/twitter.png)
‘;
$sharing_button .= ‘ . '/images/googleplus.png)
‘;
$sharing_button .= ‘ . '/images/linkedin.png)
‘;
$sharing_button .= ‘
‘;
return $sharing_button;
}
This function will output the social sharing buttons as HTML. You can then call this function wherever you want the buttons to appear in your theme.
If you’re not a coder, we recommend using a plugin to add social sharing buttons to your WordPress site.
