3 Of My Favorite Things When It Comes to Facebook and WordPress

Let’s have some fun today and answer some nailbiting questions regarding how to incorporate Facebook functionality into your WordPress website.

Come with me under the hood of VirtualHiredHand.com; these are the plugins I’ve been using for a while. They all help create buzz on Facebook for your website and blog post.

According to Google Analytics 50% of the traffic to our website comes from referring sites. Facebook is the number one referring site at 32.4%. The plugins below help bring Facebook traffic to your website and blog post.

These are my favorite plugins when it comes to Facebook and WordPress.

1. Facebook Like Button

   There’s great excitement when you see someone has clicked like on your page or post. Do you login to Facebook so you can see from those likes who are friends? I’m blown away by the power of like button which is why it’s one of my favorites.

   Are you currently using the Facebook like button on your website? If so, then you understand exactly what I mean by it’s power. If you don’t here are a few benefits for having it on your site:

   1. Affirms Your Content – Let’s you know people like what you have to say or what you have to offer. It’s a great motivator to continue doing what you’re doing. We all have the need to be affirmed.

   2. Creates Buzz – Informs Facebook friends what you like on someone else’s website. This means each time someone clicks like, it post to their Facebook wall for all to see, read, share, comment, and like as well.

   3. Builds Credibility – Visitors to your website know that someone on Facebook likes what you have to say or offer which builds credibility. If other people liked it, they may take a closer look.

   Plugin of choice: FBLike Button by Dean Peters

2. Facebook Like Thumbnail

   The interesting thing about the like button is seeing which image is posted along with your link. You may see the Facebook or Twitter logo come up or some other non-related image. On your own blog post click like and then head over to Facebook and see which image shows up. 9 times out of 10 it’s not showing what you intend.

   This can easily be fixed using another one of my favorite plugins: Facebook Like Thumbnail. It is the solution to the random image selected by the Facebook like button.

   It pulls an image from your post to use as the thumbnail. You can also provide a default image in the event your page or post does not have an image.

3. Facebook Social Media Plugin: Like Box

   You definitely want to inculde your social media links on your website making it easy for people to connect with you right then. Most recently I went to an autobody shop and on their sign-in form at the bottom it said “follow us on Twitter and Facebook.”

   I would have started following on Twitter right from their lobby, however they didn’t provide the exact Twitter ID. Sure I could have searched it but it wasn’t that pressing. Make it easy for people to connect with you.

   This is why I use the Facebook Social Plugin: Like Box. I use the Like Box to promote my Facebook page and show that others are liking it as well. You have several options to choose from regarding whether you’d like to show your stream, header, faces, and you can also customize the width and color.

You may also want to incorporate Facebook Comments on your website. This is another one of my favorites and there are several ways it can be implemented on your website. You can check out the details on this in a previous post Face It People Want To Talk.

Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite things when it comes to Facebook and WordPress.