5 Best WordPress Social Media Plugins

Are you looking for the best WordPress social media plugin for your website?

Social media plugins allow you to better integrate your website with popular social networking platforms, make sharing your content with your visitors easy, and build your online presence. With so many options available, it’s a bit daunting to choose.

So, we analyzed some of the popular WordPress social media plugins, taking the following points into consideration: feature sets, ease of use and price.

We will list out the 5 best social media plugins for WordPress in this blog so you can enhance social sharing possibilities by using WordPress software.

Why Use a WordPress Social Media Plugin?

Using a WordPress social media plugin is one of the easiest ways to increase your online presence and engagement. When installed, these plugins add social sharing buttons, follow buttons, and other social media features directly to your website.

Every time someone visits your site, they can easily share your content on their social media platforms, increasing your reach and visibility.

By integrating social media buttons, a social media plugin simplifies the sharing process for users, leading to:

• Increased Traffic: More shares mean more visitors to your site from various social networks.
• Enhanced Engagement: Social media interactions help build a community around your brand.
• Improved SEO: Social signals can positively impact your search engine rankings.
• Boosted Social Proof: Displaying share counts and follower numbers can build credibility and trust with new visitors.

Factors to Look for in a Social Media Plugin for WordPress

When you choose a social media plugin for your WordPress site, you need to make sure that the plugin has the following features.

• Multiple Platform Support: Ensure it supports all major social media platforms you use.
• Customization Options: Ability to customize button styles, placement, and labels to match your website design.
• Performance: Faster loading times and efficiency in using the plugin.
• Compatibility: Works seamlessly with other plugins on your site.
• Scalability: Capable of handling a large number of shares and traffic.
• Features like Share Counts: Display the number of shares to enhance social proof.
• Responsive Design: Ensure the share buttons display well on all devices.
• Analytics Integration: Detailed analytics to measure the effectiveness of social sharing.
• Reliable Support: Customer support, documentation, and regular updates.
• GDPR Compliance: Features to ensure data protection and privacy.
• Affordability: Related to your budget, considering free and premium variants.

This checklist shall guide you in picking the appropriate social media plugin for a website, depending on needs and preferences.

5 Best WordPress Social Media Plugins

The 5 best social media plugins for WordPress are:

• Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons
• Smash Balloon
• Shared Counts
• Hubbub Lite
• Shareaholic

Here is the overview of the best social media plugins for WooCommerce

S.No	Plugins	Best For	Price
1.	Social Media Share Buttons	Extensive Customization & Design Options	Free + Paid	View more
2.	Smash Balloon	High-Quality Visual Integration	Paid	View more
3.	Shared Counts	Privacy and Performance	Free	View more
4.	Hubbub Lite	User-Friendly Setup	Free + Paid	View more
5.	Shareaholic	Easy Intergration	Free	View more

1. Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons

Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons is a widely used, best free social media share plugin for WordPress by Inisev. It is designed to add social sharing capabilities to WordPress sites.

This best social media plugin for WordPress supports over 200 social media platforms, enabling users to integrate social media icons for RSS, Email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. Users can also upload custom share icons of their choice.

Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons provides 16 different designs and several actions for each social media icon. You can choose animations to make icons more interactive and set counts to display the number of shares. Additionally, the plugin allows pop-ups asking visitors to follow or share content.

Pros of Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons:

• Free of charge.
• Consist of 16 different designs for social media icons.
• Customizable actions for each icon for defining how it should perform.
• Animation options like mouse-over effects and automatic shuffling to enhance user interaction.
• Display share counts to encourage sharing.
• Easy-to-follow step-by-step setup instructions.
• Responsive customer support.
• GDPR compliance.
• Premium features available for more customization.

Cons of Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons:

• Some advanced features require the premium version.
• Initial setup might be overwhelming for beginners due to numerous options.

Pricing: Free option available. The premium plan starts at $29.

Why we chose Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons: This plugin is ideal for users looking to enhance their website’s social sharing functionality with customizable and interactive social media icons. For beginners, the detailed setup guide makes it easy to get started.

2. Smash Balloon

If you are targeting the best social media feed plugin for wordpress that gives you a descriptive display of social media feeds, then Smash Balloon is a consideration.

First, Smash Balloon supports quite a number of social media platforms—among them Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This way, you are able to directly post content from all these sources on your WordPress site, thus keeping it live and relevant.

Second, it has in-built styling and layout options that are extensive. Matching your social media feeds to your website design can be very easy for a seamless, professional look.

Other than this, Smash Balloon has feeds with responsive design features. This means your social media feeds will look great on all devices.

Pros of Smash Balloon:

• It supports all kinds of social media platforms.
• It has extensive customization options.
• User-friendly interface that’s easy to set up.
• Positive reviews and high ratings from users.
• Regular updates for new features and compatibility.
• GDPR compliance options to ensure data protection.
• Excellent customer support for resolving issues quickly.

Cons of Smash Balloon:

• Some advanced features require the premium version.
• Initial setup can be overwhelming for beginners due to numerous customization options.

Pricing: No free version. The premium version’s plans are different for each social media platform which comes as separate bundles.

Why we chose Smash Balloon: Smash Balloon offers a wide base of functionalities for the integration of social media feeds. User-friendly in itself, especially with its detailed customization options, this shall be good for both the beginner and the advanced user.

3. Shared Counts

Shared Counts is the best plugin for wordpress social media for adding share buttons to your site. It supports every major service, from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to Pinterest and even Yummly, and it has an included share count display for how often content has been shared.

It supports several ways to customize how buttons are displayed and styled, in turn letting them seamlessly blend with the design of your website.

You can integrate these buttons using shortcodes or automatic placement. Shared Counts ensures your share counts are preserved during HTTP to HTTPS upgrades and does not use any tracking scripts, ensuring user privacy.

Pros of Shared Counts:

• Supports multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Yummly.
• Displays social share counts.
• Easy integration with automatic or shortcode placement options.
• No tracking scripts, ensuring user privacy.
• HTTP to HTTPS share count recovery.
• Developer-friendly with extensive hooks and filters.
• Minimal impact on site performance.
• Comprehensive documentation and support.

Cons of Shared Counts:

• Initial setup might require some time to configure all options.

Pricing: It is a Free plugin.

Why we chose Shared Counts: Shared Counts provides a straightforward and privacy-conscious way to add social media share buttons to WordPress sites. The combination of wide platform support, customization options, and minimal performance impact makes it a solid choice for website owners.

Overall, Shared Counts is a reliable and user-friendly plugin for integrating social media sharing features on WordPress sites.

4. Hubbub

Hubbub is a user-friendly wordpress social media feed plugin that embeds social sharing buttons on a website. It caters to the main social platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

You have the option to place share buttons in various locations about your content and alter button labels as you like. The plugin also displays share counts and uses retina-ready SVG icons for a crisp, clear display.

For more features, the Pro version includes support for additional social networks and tools like pop-up share buttons and Google Analytics UTM tracking.

Pros of Hubbub Lite:

• Multiple placement options for share buttons.
• Floating sidebar feature enhances button visibility.
• Displays social share counts for increased engagement.
• Editable button labels to suit your website’s design.
• Retina-ready SVG icons for clear and sharp display.
• The Pro version adds more social networks and features.
• Integrates with Google Analytics for tracking social shares.
• Includes pop-up share buttons to prompt user engagement.
• Supports link shortening with Bitly for easier sharing.

Cons of Hubbub Lite:

• Limited to four social networks in the Lite version.
• Initial setup may be confusing for beginners.

Pricing: Free version is available. Pro version starts at $49/year.

Why we chose Hubbub Lite: Though not the most famous option on the market, Hubbub Lite is still an excellent offering for beefing up simple social sharing features on your WordPress site. The interface is easy to use and, with a ton of placement options, you really can’t go wrong. Of course, if you need more than that, you will find those advanced functions in the Pro edition.

5. Shareaholic

Shareaholic WordPress plugin to share posts on social media automatically. It includes social sharing buttons directly on your website, displays recommended related content, and tracks all of it in your analytics.

The major social media platforms are represented with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. You’ll see how to change where the share buttons could show up on your site. You will also see floating social sharing options, share count recovery, and tools for GDPR compliance.

Shareaholic provides in-depth content analytics, supports tremendous numbers of languages, and is thus a perfect tool for increasing audience engagement and sharing across social channels.

Pros of Shareaholic:

• Consist of social sharing, related posts/content, and analytics.
• Supports a wide range of social media platforms.
• Customizable button placement and design.
• Floating share buttons for increased visibility.
• Share count recovery to maintain social proof.
• GDPR compliance features.
• Detailed content analytics.
• Multi-language support for broader accessibility.

Cons of Shareaholic:

• Potential performance impact if too many features are enabled at once.

Pricing: It is a free plugin.

Why we chose Shareaholic: At large, Shareaholic is a powerful and feature-rich plugin that enhances social media integration. With its related content, and analytics it solves all requirements of the website owner.

Best Practices to Effectively Use a Social Media Plugin for WordPress

Now that you’ve seen the right WordPress social media plugin to use on your website, it’s time to use it effectively for bigger results. Here are some practical ways to get maximum results using your social media plugin for WordPress:

• Strategic Placement: Put social media buttons upwards or downwards in your post or floating beside content to bring it more into the eyes of visitors and enlarge the possibility of sharing.
• Optimize for Mobile: Ensure that your social media buttons are responsive and working great on all kinds of devices. Most of the visitors will visit your site using their mobile.
• Use Clear CTAs: Create compelling calls-to-action to facilitate sharing of your content. CTAs such as “Share this Post” or “Spread the Word” will garner more engagement.
• Display Share Counts: When showing the count of shares, it can provide social proof and influence others to share it as well.
• Test and Analyze: Carry out A/B testing to determine the optimum placement, style, and wording of your share buttons. Analyze the results to further improve your strategy.

Try these easy yet powerful practices for building up your social media presence and engagement on your WordPress site.

Conclusion

Your visitors don’t have time to navigate through all your content. Using the best WordPress social media plugins helps you promote your most valuable content and encourage more shares by your audience.

These plugins also simplify your visitors’ experience, increasing their engagement and loyalty. If you want to boost your site’s traffic and enhance user interaction, implementing these social media plugins is the strategy for you.

If you’re looking for additional plugins to enhance your marketing strategy, take a look at the Best WordPress Cache Plugins, Best WordPress Migration Plugins, Best WordPress Contact Form Plugins and Best WordPress Security Plugins.