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Social media has, without a doubt, revolutionized the way internet users share information online. When I first started blogging, it was common for readers to subscribe to blogs using RSS. Nowadays, however, it’s more common for people to subscribe to a website’s Twitter or Facebook page to be notified of new content.
Social media has become such an integral part of the internet that, for the majority of websites, it’s their second highest source of traffic!
As a website owner, you can take advantages of these changes by making it as easy as possible for people to share your content — which means including social media buttons on your website.
Let’s take a look at ten of the very best plugins (including free and premium options) for displaying social media sharing bars and buttons on WordPress posts and pages…
A Quick Word About Using Social Media WordPress Plugins
Whenever you activate a new WordPress plugin, you generally increase the total size of your website pages and therefore increase page loading times.
The significance of this increase can of course be reduced by optimising your website with a WordPress caching plugin and using a content delivery network to distribute static copies of your website around the world.
You should however be aware that social media WordPress plugins can be particularly detrimental to website performance.
My advice is to test the speed of your website initially using benchmarking services, such as GTmetrix and Pingdom’s Website Speed Test, and then run the tests again after you have installed any social media plugin.
Displaying the number of Twitter shares of Facebook likes a page showcases the popularity of an article; but be aware that displaying the official social media share count of a page increases page loading times. Certain social media buttons and icon styles can further slow down a page, so play around with the plugin settings in order to get a good balance between style and performance.
1. Monarch – Part of Elegant Themes Membership
Launched in 2014, Monarch quickly became one of the most popular social media WordPress plugins on the market. And it’s easy to see why.
Monarch is a user-friendly solution that allows you to display gorgeous social media sharing buttons. Sharing buttons can be displayed above and below content, as a floating sidebar, as an automatic pop-up, embedded into images and videos, and in a fly-in box that slides onto the page.
Over 20 social media networks are supported and there are many customisation options that let you define when the pop-up or fly-in sharing boxes are displayed. For example, you can display sharing buttons after a user has left a comment on an article, purchased an item from your store, or after they have scrolled to a certain point of the page.
This particular plugin is actually the one being used on this very site to display the circular sharing buttons you’ll notice above and below the articles (such as this one you’re reading now).
Monarch is included as part of Elegant Themes membership. Their membership retails at $87 per year or a one-off fee of $249. Signing up will not only let you download Monarch, but give you access to 87 premium WordPress themes, their email opt-in plugin Bloom and their page builder plugin Divi. It is fantastic value for money.
2. Easy Social Share Buttons – $20
Easy Social Share Buttons has continually been refined since it was first launched in 2013. This has helped it retain the title of the best selling social media plugin on CodeCanyon; where it retails for an affordable $20.
The plugin supports over 50 social media networks and allows you to display sharing buttons automatically in over 30 positions. Many of the positions, such as pop-ups, fly-ins, and floating bars, can be triggered by events such as time spent on page, purchasing an item, or percent of the page that has been scrolled.
The plugin has been “Performance Approved” by the caching WordPress plugin WP Rocket (review); which highlights how well regarded it is for being optimised and not affecting website performance.
The versatility of Easy Social Share Buttons, and the number of beautiful buttons that are available to users, makes it an easy solution to recommend.
3. Social Warfare – FREE / $29
The Social Warfare WordPress plugin from Warfare Plugins lets you automatically or manually insert big and bold social media sharing buttons in your content.
Six social media networks are supported in the free version: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon. Sharing buttons can be displayed above the content area, below the content area, or both.
The plugin includes a popular posts WordPress widget that lists articles with thumbnails according to the number of times they have been shared on social media services.
The pro version of Social Warfare adds support for several more social media networks, a pin button for images, and the ability to customise how your content is displayed using the Open Graph protocol.
A pro license costs $29 for a single website, $89 for up to five websites, $139 for up to ten websites, and $349 for an unlimited number of websites.
4. Jetpack – FREE
If you are looking for a simple social media sharing solution, you may want to check out the sharing module within Automattic’s Jetpack plugin. With over 5 million active installations, you may have the plugin activated already.
The sharing module allows you to display simple sharing buttons for most popular social media networks. You can choose to display icons with text, icons only, text only, or display the official sharing buttons. I would advise against selecting official social media sharing buttons as it will slow your pages down significantly.
Jetpack has few customisation options, however it integrates under your content seamlessly and looks good under articles (in my opinion).
Additionally,if you display sharing links via text only, Jetpack adds no additional weight to your page.
Official Website | Plugin Download Page
5. Social Pug – FREE / $29
Social Pug is a great looking social media solution that lets you display round, rectangular, or circle buttons.
The free version of the plugin supports five social media networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. These buttons can be displayed above and below your content area and as a floating sidebar on the left or right-hand side of your page.
Upgrading to the pro version of Social Pug adds 11 more sharing networks and options such as email and print. It also lets you customise what is shared by readers and the “Click to Tweet” feature helps you create quotable and shareable content.
The pro version also adds an option to display sharing buttons via a pop-up; which can be triggered by a number of different events. There is also a sticky social media bar for mobile users and support for Google Analytics and Bitly.
A license for the pro version retails at $29 for one website, $59 for up to five websites, and $129 for an unlimited number of websites.
Plugin Download Page | Official Website
6. Swifty Bar – FREE
If you want something a little different, you may want to consider Swifty Bar.
The plugin displays a bar at the bottom of pages. The bar shows the post category, the post title, the post author, and the estimated time to read the article. This estimation is based on how many words per minute you believe visitors will read (the value can be adjusted in the settings area).
On the right side of the bar are social media sharing buttons for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. There are also post navigation buttons at the end that let visitors quickly jump to other articles; which should help encourage visitors stay on your website longer.
The blue line at the top of the Swifty Bar shows the progress that the visitor has made on the page. This helps them see how much of the article they have read.
Swifty Bar looks good on mobile devices too and in the settings area you can change the text that is used in the bar and enable and disable the social media networks that are offered to visitors.
If you are looking for a lightweight solution that gives visitors many options, I recommend checking it out.
7. Ultimate Social – $20
Available from CodeCanyon for $20, Ultimate Social, formerly known as Ultimate Social Deux, is a stylish social media solution that features eight different button styles and colour customisation options.
Social media sharing buttons can be displayed above and below content. Alternatively, you can float sharing buttons at the left-hand side of the page or at the top of the page.
You can also integrate buttons using shortcodes or WordPress widgets. A mobile bar can be displayed on mobile devices too.
With support for over 25 social media networks, a ton of styling configuration options, and integration with Google Analytics, Ultimate Social is one you should check out.
8. Kiwi Social Share – FREE / $29
Kiwi Social Share is an interesting social media solution that lets you display sharing buttons above and below content and as a floating bar at the left-hand side, right-hand side, or bottom of your page.
The free version of the plugin supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, and Flint.
There are a few different button shapes available, however it is not the most customisable social media solution available from a design point of view. The plugin does have Google Analytics support and features custom metaboxes, click to tweet, tweet selected text, and a shortcode manager.
Kiwi Social Share actually delivers most of its features in the free version of the plugin, however the pro version does allow you to enable sharing features for different post types. It also adds support for Reddit, Email, Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype and Mix. Perhaps more importantly, it adds more button colours and customisation options for buttons; something which is quite limited in the free version.
A single license for Kiwi Social Share Pro costs $29. Their extended license at $79 extends usage up to three websites and grants access to all Macho Themes WordPress designs. The full membership license at $99 removes website usage restrictions.
Plugin Download Page | Official Website
9. Social Sharing by Danny – FREE
If you want something lightweight and simple, have a look at Social Sharing by Danny. The plugin can display basic social media sharing buttons at the end of posts, pages, and media.
It supports Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. The icon size can be set at 16×16 pixels, 32×32 pixels, or 64×64 pixels. Icon CSS and Javascript can be loaded and you can define your Twitter username; but options are few and far between.
Social Sharing by Danny is the perfect choice for anyone who wants a simple social media sharing solution that does not slow down their pages.
10. Simple Social Buttons – FREE / $19
The final social media sharing solution in our top ten list is Simple Social Buttons.
The plugin has support for over a dozen social media networks. Buttons can be displayed above and below content and as as a floating bar at the side of the page.
Several button icon designs are available and you can select whether buttons are displayed in categories, archives, tag pages, and search result pages. You can also filter using post types.
The premium version of Simple Social Buttons adds functionality for displaying sharing buttons in pop-ups, in media, and in fly-in boxes. Colour customisation options are also made available.
A license for Social Share Buttons Pro costs $19 for one website and $99 for up to ten websites. The developer license retails at $199 and allows you to use the plugin on as many websites as you wish.
Plugin Download Page | Official Website
Honourable Mentions
There are thousands of social media sharing plugins available for WordPress. Many of these plugins were eliminated from our list because they are outdated or no longer supported, whilst others were removed when we tested them and found errors.
As you would expect, when you curate a list of the best ten, many good solutions unfortunately do not make the final cut for one reason or another. For example, in many instances this is because the functionality being offered was similar to another solution in our top ten.
In a previous version of this article we included Shareaholic, AddThis, and MashShare. They are all versatile social media solutions and I encourage you to check them out.
Some additional plugins to check out (if — for whatever reason — none of the above suit your exact needs):
Final Thoughts
When it comes to social media sharing, everyone has different views on what’s good and what’s not. For this reason, I’d encourage you to test out a few of the options listed above, and, in the case of premium solutions, review the demos of each one thoroughly.
Shop around and pay attention to the locations within posts and pages that the plugin lets you display sharing buttons, the styles that are available, and the social media sharing networks that are included. Ideally, you want to choose a solution that supports your preferred social media networks, integrates well with the design of your website, and does not negatively affect your website performance.
For many years, I switched between Jetpack and Social Sharing by Danny on my own blog. I love the simplicity and minimalism of these plugins and the fact they do not add much load time to website pages.
Over the last few years I have switched between Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress and Elegant Theme’s Monarch plugin; however I am always open to the idea of changing my social media sharing button setup when better solutions come along and you should be too.
Using any of these? Which would you say is the best? Any you dislike? Any favorites?
