I have been using WordPress for several years for my website as well as some of my client’s websites. I like WordPress‘ ease of use, dynamic themes and long list of functions provide by plugins. I also like that I can update content from my iPad and Android phone using the WordPress App for iPad and Android. As almost everyone knows Facebook is the 800lb monster of Social Media. Its the place you want your business on to attract new clients, communicate with your existing clients and grow your business. The two platforms combined can give your business a dynamic jolt in reaching your goals and here are a few ways on how to accomplish it.
We used WordPress to build our websites RDZ Media Group and RDZ Media Group Mobile. Both websites serve different purposes but they both share many of the same functionality through Plugins. Plugins are like apps for WordPress. Plugins are small pieces of code that perform specific functions and there are several plugins that make integrating your WordPress website with a Facebook a breeze.
If you’re using WordPress you can search for plugins by typing in a name in the search Plugins area of WordPress. I typed in Facebook and got 34 pages of Facebook plugins with everything from Post to Facebook to creating Facebook pages from your WordPress website. That’s how popular Facebook is to the WordPress community. What we focused on accomplishing on our websites is to ensure that everyone knows about our Facebook Fan Page and to make our content shareable on Facebook. The latter is more important because of the changes that Facebook recently made to the “Share” function.
The 1st plugin we use is the FaceBook Share (New) plugin. This plugin creates the “Share” button on every webpage and
Blog post on your WordPress site. (See the image on the right or this Blog post). There are several easy to configure options like where to place the button on your site. You can choose top, bottom or both. You can choose to have the button show on the right or left side of your pages/posts. You can choose to show the number of people who have shared your page.
The next plugin we use is Facebook Tab Manager. This plugin is great if you have a Facebook Fan Page as it creates tabs for your Facebook Fan Page from within WordPress. One of the best changes that Facebook made was to change the way their Fan Pages worked. Now its easier to create great looking Fan Pages and this WordPress plugin makes it easier. The plugin lets you create new pages and link your existing pages to Facebook allowing you to share more of your content on Facebook. There is plenty of documentation on how to use this plugin as well as a support forum.
Our next plugin is Facebook Dashboard Widget. This plugin s not necessary but it is cool as it allows me to view my Facebook feed and add comments. I can also see friend requests, messages and invitations from my WordPress dashboard.
Although this method is not a plugin it is worth mentioning. When you build a Facebook Fan Page, Facebook offer several ways to display your Facebook page on other websites. We chose the one you see on the far right and we added the code to a HTML widget in the widget area and then added the HTML widget to the sidebar you see at the right. (BTW Please like our Fan Page).
Another good plugin for Facebook is Facebook Open Graph Meta. This plugin has a lot of power and a learning curve. To use this plugin you will need to create a Facebook App. The plugin provides good instructions on how to create the Facebook App and install the code in Open Graph. Once you’ve done all of this work you get to see who share and likes your content.
About the Facebook “Share” button. Facebook took a page from Twitter and the reTweet function by allowing you to see who shares your content on Facebook. Now when you add content from your website or make comments on your page subscribers, friend and fans can get your content on their Facebook wall and you get to see who shared your content. I posted a screen shot from my Facebook page after I shared a webpage from our Mobile site on “Mobile Compliance.” The post was shared and I thanked the person for sharing just like we thank people for reTweeting our Tweets.
This is an important addition because it speaks to what Social Media is all about. It allows you to continue conversations with people who like your content enough to share it on their wall. That’s strong Word of Mouth that builds relationships that leads to brand trust and loyal consumers.
There are other plugins that allow you to share your content on Twitter like Tweetmeme and there are plugins for Google and LinkedIn. However, it all starts with unleashing the dynamic power of using WordPress for your website.