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7 Best Social Networking Plugins for Wordpress

Guest post by: Donna Gunter

Article Overview: I get completely overwhelmed by all of the plugin options that will enhance Wordpress's functionality. I prefer simple plugins that aren't flashy so that my blog can do its primary job -- serve as a platform for educating my target market about authentic online promotional strategies. Here are my 7 best social networking plugins for Wordpress:

7 Best Social Networking Plugins for Wordpress

As I get more and more familiar with Wordpress, I become completely overwhelmed by all of the options out there that will enhance this program's functionality -- there are thousands of Wordpress plugins. When I go into overwhelm, I begin looking online for lists of the best of whatever it is that I'm seeking. If I find a great recommendation, or see something recommended on multiple lists, that's the option that I will try.

My latest search has been for social networking plugins for Wordpress. As usual, I found hundreds of Wordpress plugins offering a variety of options for social networking. I managed to narrow the options down to seven. Here are my 7 best social networking plugins for Wordpress:

1. Follow Me. (link to wordpress/extend/plugins/follow-me) The Follow Me plugin allow Wordpress bloggers to stick the widget on the side of their web site. This widget widget allows you to display links to all your social media profiles in one, easy-to-access button or window. You can also add your Google buzz profile along with an RSS icon. I like it because it's visible, yet unobtrusive, and it can be customized to display whatever social media profiles you desire.

2. Sexy Bookmarks. (link to wordpress/extend/plugins/sexybookmarks) Although I was initially turned off by the name, I like how this plugin offers a variety of options to share a post at the bottom of a page. You can customize which places you want it to show for sharing, and choose from a variety of sayings, like "Share the knowledge" instead of the "Sharing is sexy" that I'd seen on so many sites.

3. Smart YouTube. (link to wordpress/extend/plugins/smart-youtube) While there are a number of ways to share YouTube videos in a blog post, I chose this one for its simplicity as well as customization features from size to border color to how the video is displayed. And, best of all, you simply grab the URL of the video from YouTube and add a V or VH to the URL and the video appears in your post.

4. Twitterfeed. (link to twitterfeed.com) This isn't a Wordpress plugin but a separate service that makes it easier for your blog posts to appear on your various social networking platforms. All you have to do is add your RSS feed and link to the social networking platforms where you want your blog posts displayed, and you're done. Under advanced settings, you can set how often it checks for updates, and what prefix you want to attach to your blog posts when they appear in your status updates.

5. TweetMeme. (link to wordpress/extend/plugins/tweetmeme) Tweetmeme creates a button that lets blog readers easily retweet your blog posts to their followers. I like that you can change the default setting from "RT @tweetmeme …" along with your post title and URL, to list your Twitter username, changing the tweet to "RT @YourTwitterIDHere … (via @tweetmeme)." This lets people see both your post and your Twitter ID. You can also customize the position and size of the button.

6. Facebook Social Plugins. ( link to wordpress/extend/plugins/facebook-social-plugins) Rather than changing the CSS files of your blog theme, I wanted a plug-in solution that would make it

easy to add the Facebook "Like" button to every post. With Facebook Social Plugins, adding the social plugins to your plugin as simple as a few clicks. You can determine where you want the "Like" button to appear and how it appears.

7. Twitter Profile Widget. ( link to twitter/about/resources/widgets/widget_profile) This isn't a Wordpress plugin, either, but I wanted to include it because it makes it simple to include your Twitter stream on your Wordpress blog. You can customize how you want your Tweets to appear, the color of the stream box, and whether or not the Tweets recycle. Once you have completed your customization, you simply copy the code into a text widget on your blog, and your Twitter stream appears.

Out of the thousands of social networking plugins and options available for Wordpress, choose a few just to get you started. Limit the number of plugins that you choose, as you don't want your readers to be distracted with cool plugin features and decide to explore those rather than read the content of your posts. I prefer simple plugins that aren't flashy so that my blog can do its primary job -- serve as a platform for educating my target market about authentic online promotional strategies.

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Article Tags: Donna Gunter, Facebook plugin, Get More Clients Online, OnlineBizUcom, social media plugins, social networking plugins, Twitter plugin, Wordpress plugins



Related Forum Posts
Re: How can a social networking site make serious money? - Hi There, It is quite interesting, that some Social Networking do produce an income. I think testimonials are always a benefit to share. See one below: This Social Network has changed my life! Every night is a Friday night and everyday is a Saturday!! Because of it, I have been able to leave the workforce 10 years early.It has given me back my life. Many of us would like to retire early. I am sure there are many more. The point is of focusing with great determination. The ongoing challenge is to stay focussed and not be sidetracked into a newer scheme or so. Also I have read, during this financial turmoil, more people turn to Social Networking for various reasons.
Marketing 2012 - I am interested in what works for you in 2012, Social Networking, Search Engine traffic, Blogs, Articles, Forums, what? This is a quote from a 2009 Topic "Twitter, Social Networking, What is your Method? From my experience, social networking traffic (Twitter included) also converts at a far lower rate than search engine traffic. Evan Is this still true, or do you use something that gives us better returns and conversions
Re: Marketing 2012 - [quote="drdony":2y0daolc]I am interested in what works for you in 2012, Social Networking, Search Engine traffic, Blogs, Articles, Forums, what? This is a quote from a 2009 Topic "Twitter, Social Networking, What is your Method? From my experience, social networking traffic (Twitter included) also converts at a far lower rate than search engine traffic. Evan Is this still true, or do you use something that gives us better returns and conversions[/quote:2y0daolc] Great question Don! I'll create a video reply!
Hey Thanks! - That's one cool blog - even made a comment for you! I appreciate that my blog (above) looks a bit basic - and that's just as far as I've gotten right now! First stage - make it work. Next up is working out how to customize it. I like to understand the bare bones of things first time round - then the next one is so much easier! I love blogging. In fact on another website, I have blogged for over 4 years, in one form or another. What I love about Wordpress and now I'm getting the hang of it, Fantastico, is that I can have unlimited ones as well as update remotely. The previous blog was PC based and a bit irritating for that. I also love that you can set your own ping directories with Wordpress too - a whole range of Plugins are waiting for me. I have also just bought (I know, I know...), WordpressAdsenseSystem by Gobala Krishnan at the website of that name, if anyone is interested. I truly love the immediacy of writing blogs (as well as articles), using day-to-day metaphors and experiences, and I now want to get a way forward to generate some income from it. Then there's the whole Web 2.0 thing that is a whole subculture I'd never considered until like this week...
Re: Tactics for Blog Traffic - some more tips to drive traffic to blog or to promote a blog. Squidoo Lens Creation Hub Pages Creation Social Bookmarking (Digg, Delicious, Stumble, Reddit etc.) Be helpful in forums Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn etc.) syndication blog commenting (other blogs) Guest post


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