Tips to Socialize Your WordPress Site

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When it comes to WordPress social media, there is a lot to think about. Are you bring in social posts into your website, are you posting to social media or are you using social media for easier social logins or protected content?

Social Media Optimization in WordPress

One of the most important things when thinking about social media is to make sure your WordPress site is optimized for social media. Setting up automatic inclusion of open graph metadata is at the top of this list.

Open Graph is a technology first introduced by Facebook in 2010 that allows integration between Facebook and its user data and a website. By integrating Open Graph meta tags into your page’s content, you can identify which elements of your page you want to show when someone share’s your page.
https://www.computerhope.com/

Basically, in simple terms, Open Graph makes it so that your featured image, title and more automatically get pulled in when you paste in a URL. Setting up Open Graph by hand can be a little tricky but many plugins help with the process and make it just as magical. If you have an SEO plugin running on your site, check if they have an area for social media and to enable Open Graph tags. Two popular options Yoast SEO and SmartCrawl both have areas for WordPress Social Media optimization.

Once you have Open Graph setup you will be ready to share your posts in style.

Social Media Settings for WordPress Posts and Pages

Open Graph allows for specific meta or information to be taken from your website or individual posts and pages. With likely the same SEO plugin you can add individual information to each post and page. Find the settings for your plugin and you can upload a custom title and description as well as a shared image for Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook debugger or Twitter card validator tools will show you how your post will appear when shared.

The Facebook Debugger shows how a shared post will appear and defines the description, title, and more.

The Twitter card validator shows how a tweet will appear with your link added.

Learn more about Open Graph and mastering social media on Facebook and Twitter with Neil Patel’s post.

Adding Social Sharing Buttons to WordPress

Adding social sharing buttons to your blog posts is a great and easy way to promote your website on social media by encouraging others to share your content. There are many, many, many, social sharing buttons out there. Being the plugin maniac I am, I have used many. My favorite include Social Warfare (paid), Social Pug (now Grow, by Mediavine) (free & paid), and Social Snap (free & paid). I am in love with Tasty Pins for the special things that need to be done for Pinterest.

Social Sharing buttons from Social Pug are clean and refined and float nicely on all pages.

For more tips, check out WP Beginners’ full guide on how to add social share buttons in WordPress.

Automated Social Sharing in WordPress

Social media is great and powerful but it can be really time-consuming. Automating the process so that posts are shared on a regular basis is a great way to take the tedious task out of the mix. There are several tools that can automate social media from your WordPress site.

JetPack – JetPack a great plugin for WordPress with a lot of tools (including SEO) allows you to automatically share your posts when you publish a post to Facebook and Twitter. It’s free to start out and then there are upgraded plans.
IFTTT – IFTTT is simply magic and is useful for a lot of things. IFTTT (If This Then That) allows you to create automation with tons of apps. Use it to connect your WordPress site to Social Media.

Bonus: Social Media Sizes Cheatsheet

Facebook Image Sizes

Facebook has specific recommendations for images to be used in different areas. They often change so check the official developer handbook before creating.

Cover image: 820 x 312 pixels
Profile image: A square image of at least 180 x 180 pixels
Shared Image: 1200 x 630 pixels (if sharing a link your Open Graph image will be this size.
Group cover image: 1640 x 856 pixels.

Instagram Image Sizes

Upload images from the Instagram app and it will automatically take care of the images sizes. Otherwise, follow these guidelines on this visually dynamic platform.

Profile image: 110 x 110 pixels
Image thumbnail: 161 x 161 pixels
Shared photos: 1080 x 1080 pixels
Shared videos: 1080 pixels wide

Twitter Image Sizes

Add images on your Twitter feed and profile for a more engaging view.

Header image: 1500 x 500 pixels
Profile image: 400 x 400 pixels
In-stream image: 440 x 220 pixels

Pinterest Image Sizes

Pinterest is a visual search engine! Use images to engage your audience.

Profile image: 165 x 165 pixels
Profile cover: The board of your choice will automatically create an engaging cover.
Board cover image: 222 x 150 pixels
Pinned image preview: 236 pixels wide with an aspect ratio of 2:3 to 1:3.5.

YouTube Image Sizes

YouTube is a popular social media platform and search engine. Use your profile and cover image to tell your story to your viewers.

YouTube Channel cover image: 2560 x 1440 pixels
Channel icon: 800 x 800 pixels
Video thumbnail: 1280 x 720 pixels

Cousett

Known as THE Techie Mamma, I am a boy(x2) mom, and love technology. As a former Educational Technology academic turned Mompreneur, and super passionate educator, I am on a mission to empower Mompreneurs to build, and grow their business to live the Mompreneur Life they want.