There are actually quite a few social media tools and plugins out there. They can all be used for different things. The one you choose may depend on what you are trying to accomplish, as well as what type of look and ease of use you are looking for.

Why is Social Media Important for Websites?

Websites and social media are both fantastic ways to get the word out about a small business. They are also both needed to build a solid online experience. When used together in tandem the right way, they can really be a powerful marketing tool to drive traffic to a website, build a customer base, and increase sales.

See, social media actually works to complement a website, and a website works to complement social media. They are a must-have combo for any small business marketing strategy.

The website should actually be the main focus and the heart of your online business strategy. Social media should work as the marketing tool portion of everything. We live in a digital age and the two go hand-in-hand. Using them together properly will lead to success in the modern, online era we live in.

Let’s take a look at the social media widget for WordPress we are going to use today.

Candy Social Widget

Candy Social Widget is a social media WordPress plugin that will allow you to easily add colorful and stylish social media icons to any widget area on your website. They can be added in the header, footer, sidebar, and any other widget area that your current theme provides.

Once you install and activate the plugin, you will be able to use drag-and-drop to customize the Candy social media widget exactly how you want. The plugin offers a very large number of social profile icons to chose from. However, you only need to add the ones you want that are relevant to your site.

You will also have the ability to choose from square, round, or rounded styles, as this is one of the more highly customizable social media plugins available today. Candy Social widget is lightweight and will not slow your site.

It uses a font icon set that was created using Fontello, so all the social icons will load very quickly and display perfectly clean and clear on your WordPress website. With 25 social media channel icons (with more coming) offered, you will be able to connect all your profiles in one place.

Some of the main channels included are:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Twitter
• WordPress Sharing
• Email
• Yelp
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Buffer

As you can see, the Candy Social Media Widget for WordPress offers everything you need to properly display all relevant social channels to your audience and help you share and build.

Let’s take a look at how to use it all

How to Use the Candy Social Widget

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

In order to start building and designing your social media profiles and put them on your site, you first need to install and activate the Candy Social Widget plugin. You can do this by clicking over to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply use the available search field to search the plugin by name. When you see it pop up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Go to the Widgets Page of Your Site

Now that the plugin is installed and activated, you want to access the main Widgets page of your website. This is where you will find the Candy Social Widget, which has been automatically added since you activated the plugin.

To get there, please click on Appearance > Widgets, located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

Note: There is not a Settings page for the Candy Social Media widget. Instead, a widget is added and you create everything from within the widget box to display how you want on your site.

Step 3: Drag and Drop the Candy Social Widget

At this point, you should be on the Widgets page of your site. Find the Candy Social widget and drag and drop it into the area you want to display it in.

You can also simply click on the widget box and a dropdown of available site widget areas will display. Click on the area you want the widget to be put in and then click on the “Add Widget” button.

Note: Depending on your theme, the dropdown box with available site widget areas will differ.

Step 4: Configure the Widget Settings

Now that you have the Candy Social Widget in the place you want to display icons, it is time to go ahead and configure the available settings how you want them. 

Remember, there is no Settings page for the plugin, everything is done within the widget box.

Go ahead and add a title and description for the social media widget if you would like. You can then select your icon dimensions and size. Last but not least, select the icon shape you want displayed, as well as the link target (open in the same window or open in a separate window).

Step 5: Add Social Profiles

If you look at the bottom of the widget box, you will notice that there is an “Add Profiles” button. This is how you add all the social media profiles that you want to be displayed on your site.

Go ahead and click on that button. You will notice a dropdown menu appears along with a URL box.

Click on the dropdown and select the social profile you want to be displayed. Once you pick the profile, go ahead and add the relevant URL to the field so that when someone clicks on that icon, they will be taken to the correct link.

You can click on the “Add Profile” button again and add another social profile. Do this as many times as you want until all your social media profiles are displayed. You can then drag and drop them in the order you would like them to show to visitors.

Step 6: Go Look at Your Social Icons

Click on the “Save” button inside the widget box and then go take a look at how the social media icons display on your site.

If you feel you need to make any changes, then jump back to the widget box and adjust anything you need. 

That’s it! You are now using the Candy Social Widget plugin to display all the social profiles you want on your WordPress website.

Final Thoughts 

It is very important to add social media profiles to your website. Like I stated above, when a site and social media profiles work together, they can be the most powerful marketing tool a business has in the online world we live in.

I hope this article was able to show you how easy it is to add a social profile to your site using the Candy Social Widget. The plugin is simple, smooth, and easy to use.

What other social media plugins have you used in the past? Do you have a favorite one that you have stuck with over the years?

The post How to Show Social Profiles with Candy Social Widget in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Boost Your Social Media Reach With Social Share Buttons

The easier you make it to share your content, the easier it is to convince visitors to do the sharing. Grow by Mediavine (previously Social Pug) creates social sharing buttons and provides flexible button placement.

We’ll talk more about the benefits of social sharing in a minute, but first, let’s dive into the plugin.

If your social share buttons must be GDRP compliant, check out How to Add GDPR Compliant Share Buttons to WordPress.

1. Installing the Grow by Mediavine Plugin

Log in to your WordPress admin panel.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Plugins” link and click the “Add New” link.

In the “Search plugins…” box, enter, “Grow by Mediavine.”

When you find the plugin, click the “Install Now” button.

Now the plugin is installed, but it has to be activated before you can use it.

Click the “Activate” button.

That completes installation and activation. Now let’s move on to getting the Grow social plugin up and running on your website.

2. Initial Configuration of Grow by Mediavine

We’re using the free version of Grow, so we’ll only be covering the options available in the free version. More advanced and expanded functionality is available to users of the paid version.

When you activate the plugin, share buttons appear on your site immediately, without any further activation or configuration.

It places three share buttons (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest) both in a sidebar and at the top of your posts.

The share buttons are only displayed in the posts themselves, not in lists of posts, categories, or authors. So if your WordPress homepage is a list of your latest posts, no share buttons will be displayed.

However, when a visitor clicks into a post to read it, the buttons will appear.

The share buttons do not appear on pages by default. But we’ll show you how to add the buttons to your pages.

3. How to Select Which Social Share Buttons to Display

Our sharing button options are limited in the free version of the plugin. But there are a couple more that we can add. Let’s take a look.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Grow” link and click the “Floating Sidebar” link.

This is where we’ll configure the sidebar link options, starting with which buttons to display.

Click the “Select Networks” button.

The available options are displayed in the “Social Networks” section.

Check which buttons you’d like to display and uncheck any you’d like to remove.

Click the “Apply Selection” button.

Next, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the “Save Changes” button and click it.

Then, if we go to the site, we can see that our changes have been made. There are now two additional buttons in the sidebar.

You may have noticed that the buttons in the body of the post are still the same. They are configured separately.

To change the buttons in the body of the posts, mouse over the “Grow” link and click “Inline Content.”

The settings there are the same as those we just went over for the sidebar links.

4. How to Change the Location of the Social Share Buttons

Now that we’ve seen how to add and remove buttons, let’s take a look at the location of the buttons.

Removing the Grow by Mediavine Social Share Buttons

What if we want to remove the buttons from the sidebar? How can we do that?

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Grow” link and click the “Toolkit” link.

In the “Social Share Tools” section, you’ll see boxes for “Floating Sidebar” and “Inline Content.”

Click the toggle switch at the bottom of the “Floating Sidebar” box.

Now the sidebar links are gone.

To remove the share buttons from the body of the content, toggle the switch on the “Inline Content” box.

Moving the Grow by Mediavine Social Share Buttons

Let’s say we want to keep the buttons in the content body, but move them to a new location. Maybe we don’t want them to be so prominent at the top of the post.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Grow” link and click the “Inline Content” link.

Scroll down to the “Display Settings” section.

In the “Buttons position” drop-down, choose “Below Content.”

Scroll down and click the “Save Changes” button.

Now our buttons have moved below the content.

5. How to Change the Appearance of the Social Share Buttons

By default, the sidebar buttons are suitably small and unobtrusive.

But what about those buttons in the content? They’re pretty large and distracting. Let’s tame them a bit.

We’ll continue working in the “Display Settings” section of the “Configure Content Sharing Buttons” page. As you can see, there are a number of options here.

• Button shape – options are “Rectangular,” “Rounded,” and “Circle.”
• Show icon animation – options are on or off. This controls the mouseover animation in the buttons.
• Buttons position – options are “Above Content,” “Below Content,” and “Above and Below.”
• Number of columns – options are “Width Auto,” and then “1 Column” through “6 Column.”
• Share text – text field where you can enter a line to appear above the sharing links. Leave it blank to disable the button text. Note that this text appears on mobile displays, but by default, the share buttons do not. So the default plugin settings leave you with “Sharing is caring!” text on mobile but no share buttons.
• Show button labels – options are on or off. If this is off, only the social site icons will be visible in the buttons. If it’s on, the name of the site will also appear in the button along with the icon (space permitting).
• Button spacing – options are on or off. As the name suggests, turning this off removes the space between the buttons.
• Show on mobile – options are on or off. This defaults to off, but as mentioned above, the “Share text” will appear on mobile displays regardless.
• Mobile screen width (pixels) – this is essentially a specific breakpoint for the button display on mobile. I wouldn’t recommend entering a value here as the defaults appear to work fine.

Okay, so to make our share buttons smaller, we’ll change “Button shape” to “Circle.”

I’ll also set the “Number of columns” to “Width Auto” and remove the “Share text.”

After I scroll down and click the “Save Changes” button, you can see our changes on the site.

5. Social Share Buttons Share Counts

Now let’s move on to the “Buttons Share Counts” section of the “Configure Content Sharing Buttons” page. This is where we’ll find the settings to display the number of times a piece of content has been shared.

By default, “Show total share count” is on (as you see on our pages), and “Show share count” is off.

Whether you choose to display share counts is up to you, of course. But for a new or less active site, I would recommend that you not show share counts.

The reason for this is human nature. Many of us are less likely to share an article that has low share counts. When we don’t know the share count, we can make whatever assumption we’d like, meaning we’re more likely to share.

On a popular or highly trafficked site, the share numbers can be beneficial. But until you get there (if you aren’t already), consider leaving the share counts off.

6. Adding Social Share Buttons to Pages

So far, our social share buttons have been appearing on our posts. But can we also make them appear on pages?

The answer is yes, and you’ve probably already seen the setting since it’s just below the “Buttons Share Counts” section.

It’s called “Post Type Display Settings,” and it’s the last item in both the “Floating Sidebar” and “Inline Content” settings.

It’s pretty simple to use. As you might expect, you check the “Page” box and click the “Save Changes” button. Once you do that, the share buttons appear on your pages.

To add our sidebar links to pages, we’d do the same thing. Check the “Page” box and click the “Save Changes” button, only we’ll do it in the “Floating Sidebar” section.

Then the sidebar share buttons appear on your pages.

What Happens if You Uninstall the Grow by Mediavine Plugin

If you uninstall the plugin, pages and posts that used the plugin will be affected. The social share buttons will no longer be displayed.

Grow More Social With Grow by Mediavine

We didn’t cover everything Grow can do, but we touched on all the controls you need to get started. And again, the paid version of the plugin has more to offer as far as sharing destinations.

You might be thinking that the WordPress Jetpack plugin also creates share buttons, and it provides more destination options. That’s true when it comes to the free version of Grow. The drawback in Jetpack is the button appearance and placement are not as customizable as they are with Grow.

So which one is better for you depends on whether you want to trade customizability for more share destination options.

However you implement them, the best thing about social sharing buttons (for you, the site owner) is that they’re passive. You don’t have to spend time promoting your posts on social media; your readers do it for you.

Of course, your own promotion is still valuable. But there’s strength (and legitimacy) in numbers.

Do you use social sharing buttons on your WordPress site? Do you display share counts?

Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

The post How to Boost Social Sharing with Grow by Mediavine in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

This helps ensure that visitors get the genuine Twitch experience and have access to all of their emotes. And keep in mind you do not have to display your own streams, so you can help market others as well.

Today, I will show how to embed a Twitch stream using the Twitch TV Easy Embed plugin.

Why Embed A Twitch Stream in WordPress?

You may wonder why exactly you would want a Twitch stream on your website, but the answer is pretty simple.

It helps people find your stream easier. Twitch is a huge platform with thousands of streams going on and only the biggest streamers appear on the front page. That makes it difficult to stand out when you are just getting started.

Adding a Twitch embed to your website allows you to add your website traffic to your stream or at the very least alert your visitors that your stream exists.

If your website is focused on gaming, then displaying streams of your channel can help add to the authenticity of your website. Streaming is extremely popular with gamers, thus, it can really help out your website if that is your focus.

Not Just for Gamers

Twitch is the largest live streaming platform around, but one thing people are mistaken about is that’s only for gamers. That is simply false.

You can stream just about anything on Twitch, as long as it follows the guidelines of the platform. However, you may want to consider gaming streams.

Video games represent the largest entertainment industry on the planet. As a result, there is a very high chance that your audience is interested in them. Thus, it could help you attract new visitors to the stream.

Installing Twitch TV Easy Embed

The Twitch TV Easy Embed allows to not only embed a stream but also embed a Twitch chat (premium feature). This helps it stand out from other WordPress Twitch plugins that allow you to embed streams. This is a big deal because interacting with the chat is the entire point of live streaming.

Otherwise, you might as well make a standard YouTube video. The plugin allows you to not only display your broadcasts but any stream on Twitch. You can even provide your visitors with the option to select which stream they watch.

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Twitch TV Easy Embed in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Twitch TV Easy Embed plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Note: There are 3 similarly named plugins. You want to make sure the one you install is Twitch TV Easy Embed (Player). Each of these offers a different layout. You can see what each of them looks like later on in the tutorial.

Setting Up

Luckily, the plugin is really easy to set up. All you will need to do is insert some information to determine what stream will appear and paste a shortcode where you want it to show. It should only take a few minutes to set up.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings and select the Easy Embed for Twitch TV (PLAYER) option.

At the top of the page, you will see what each plugin by the creator does. If you recall, there are 3 similarly named plugins. Each one has a different layout, so you may want to check them out if they suit your needs.

Underneath this, you will see a loading stream preview. Until you actually change and save the settings, you will not be able to see anything, so skip this for now.

If you scroll down, you will see the Main Settings section. Here you can set up what streams will show up. You can set the games, language, channel, and team to find a specific stream.

If you are only interested in displaying your own live stream, simply enter your channel name and that will be the only one that appears.

You will also see a limit text box. This will limit the number of streams a visitor can choose from. You are only allowed up to 5 for the free version, but that is more than enough if you plan on only showing off your channel.

You can also check the “Show Offline Channel?” box to show channels that are currently offline.

Click on the “Save Changes” button when you are done.

How to Embed the Twitch Stream

With the settings changed and saved, you can scroll back up to the stream preview. This is an interactive preview that you can view. If things don’t look right, like your channel not appearing, check your settings.

Above the stream preview, you will find a shortcode that you can place on any post, page, or text widget. The shortcode does not change based on your settings, thus it should be:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ][getTwitchPlayer][/ht_message]

Now go to where you want the stream to appear and paste the shortcode. Save the changes in that area and view it on your website.

Note: You can use either a text or a shortcode block. Both will have the same effect.

Congratulations on adding your twitch stream on your WordPress website. You can change the settings at any time, but keep in mind that once you save the changes, the Twitch player will also be updated. So make sure to double-check any changes.

Good Collaborations Potential

This plugin offers great collaboration potential because you can display multiple channels. For example, you can display other channels on your website to help them grow in exchange for them appearing on your stream in one form or another.

This is especially effective if your website gets a lot of traffic, because that means the streamer is more likely to gain viewers or even followers.

Alternatively, you could promote other channels for a small fee to help add another revenue stream. After all, getting access to a website’s traffic can be very beneficial.

Live Streaming Is Really Popular

Live streaming has really taken over video content in the last few years. Regardless if it’s on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook, live streaming is one of the best ways to interact with your community on a daily basis.

However, it is important to not underestimate the difficulty of live streaming. Remember, you are live and any mistakes you make will live on forever. Thus, you need to practice and avoid slip-ups, profanity, and paying attention to the chat while doing other activities.

If you spend a lot of time on Twitch, you should also consider adding a live stream notification to your website. This lets visitors know when you are live.

What streams are you displaying on your website? How often do you live stream?

The post How to Add the Twitch TV Easy Embed (Player) to WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

And, if you already have one, you should already know how important it is to promote a YouTube channel in WordPress. Today, I will demonstrate how to add a YouTube subscribe button in WordPress using the YouTube Subscribe plugin.

Why Add a Subscribe Button for YouTube in WordPress?

Well, first I would like to propose a counter-argument.

Why would you not want a subscription button in WordPress?

There really is no disadvantage in adding one. Its purpose is easy to understand; it helps you build up your subscribers, alerts your visitors about the channel, and helps your brand grow faster than normal.

And with the changes to YouTube monetization requirements, getting those first thousand subscribers has never been more important. Thus, you can significantly speed up the process by utilizing the traffic from your website.

Installing YouTube Subscribe

The YouTube Subscribe plugin is very simple, but effective. It allows you to add your channel ID and allows you to place a YouTube subscribe button anywhere on your website. The button does come with some customization options, but ultimately, it will look like a YouTube subscribe button.

That’s it, there really isn’t anything special or complicated in setting it up, so let’s get right into it.

Note: When a visitor clicks on the button, they will be taken off of your website and be brought to your channel’s page on YouTube. If they click on a button when they are already subscribed, they will be asked if they want to unsubscribe.

Click on Plugins and select the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for YouTube Subscribe in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the YouTube Subscribe plugin. Click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Setting Up

As I said, the plugin is extremely easy to set up. You will need to find your YouTube channel ID to use it. If you already have it, feel free to skip ahead.

To locate the channel ID on YouTube, log into Youtube, and click on settings. Click on the Advanced Settings option and you will see your user and channel ID. Simply copy the channel ID for later use.

Alternatively, if you click on a specific channel, the channel ID can be found in the URL. It will be the string of text and numbers. Or if the channel is eligible, you can use your custom channel ID.

Once you have your channel ID, you are ready to continue.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings and select the SM YouTube Subscribe option.

You can add a title for the subscribe button or leave it blank. I personally recommend leaving it blank, but you might find a reason to add a title. Just remember that the title will appear in Header 3, so it is very noticeable.

Paste your channel ID into the YouTube Channel ID text box.

There are three options underneath this. They are Show Full Layout, Show Dark Theme, and Subscriber Count Hide. These all affect the appearance of the button and I suggest plying with them once you place your button on your website. Because you can not actually see what these options do at the moment.

Here is what each one does:

Show Full Layout: This will add your YouTube channel’s image and name next to the subscribe button.

Show Dark Theme: The background of the button will be in dark mode. Only use this if your website is also in dark mode. Otherwise, it will stand out in a bad way.

Subscriber Count Hide: This option simply hides the number of subscribers you have.

All of these options can be used in conjunction with one another, so there is some customization to consider.

Click on the “Save Changes” button when you are done.

Adding The Subscribe Button in WordPress

All that is left to do is add the subscribe button to your website. The plugin utilizes a shortcode that you can place anywhere a shortcode can be placed. This means any post, page, or text widget is free game.

The shortcode is located at the bottom of the plugin’s Settings page.

Paste the shortcode into any post or page using a text or shortcode block. Either block will have the same results.

If you planned to use it in your sidebar, you can add it in two ways. The first is to simply paste the shortcode into a text widget. The second is to use the pre-built YouTube Subscribe widget. Once again, the result is the same regardless of which one you use.

Here is what the final product should look like:

Important: In this image, you should notice that the one on the left is not clickable. This is because it is my own channel and I cannot subscribe to it. The one on the right is what it looks like if someone is not subscribed.

Alternatively, you can log out of the YouTube account you are on and log into a different one. This will allow you to see the view from a visitor’s point of view as well.

If someone has already subscribed, the button will now look like this:

Congratulations on adding a WordPress subscribe button for your YouTube channel.

Add Other Subscribe/Follow Buttons

Growing your social media presence is a must for any website. You can give your YouTube subscribe button company by adding similar buttons for other platforms.

For example, you can add a Twitter follow button if you regularly post on the platform. There are actually quite a lot of plugins that specialize in adding a variety of share buttons for your various social media profiles.

One I can recommend is the AddToAny Share Buttons plugin, which supports just about every single social media platform available. It adds stylish buttons that look great and they can be found on most websites.

Further Integrate Your YouTube Channel

As the internet continues to age, video content continues to over-perform.

A big reason for this is the rise of mobile devices around the world. A staggering 75% of all video plays are on a mobile device. And many studies have already backed the idea that mobile users are more likely to watch a video than read text.

Thus, if you want to prepare for the future, you are going to need video content. And when it comes to this, YouTube is truly unmatched. As a result, it only makes sense to further integrate your channel and WordPress.

Here are some ways you can do that:

• Add Playlists
• Add YouTube Livestream Notifications
• Display Your Latest Videos

And much more. Adding video content also helps you rank better on search engines like Google (they own YouTube). You may have even noticed that videos appear at the top of search results.

Video content is the way of the future and the present, so make the most out of it.

Where did you add your subscribe button in WordPress? Are you planning to promote any channels that are not your own?

The post How to Use YouTube Subscribe in WordPress to Promote Your Channel appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Live streaming gets more popular every year with more and more content creators entering the streaming environment. And when it comes to live streaming, no platform is bigger than Twitch. Sharing when you are streaming is a great way to build a following.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use the Stream Status for Twitch plugin to do just that.

How to Use Live Streaming

Live streaming is an extremely popular form of entertainment. In 2017, 355 billion minutes were spent watching live streams and that number is sure to have risen. And the platform brings in about 15 million daily users.

However, a huge misconception has risen over the years in regard to live streaming; that it’s only for gamers. While gaming is certainly the most popular type of live stream, you can just have a friendly chat with your visitors.

For example, a great way to make streaming work for any type of website is to collect questions via social media or common questions in the comment section. You can then host a live Q&A session with your viewers.

You will also find fitness gurus, chefs, painters, and even writers going live on Twitch with a decent number of followers.

Advantage of Live Streaming

Live streaming has many advantages associated.

With the most prominent being building your brand recognition. The more places your brand appears, the more likely people are to recognize your brand. Every major corporation spends millions each year making sure the logo is recognizable.

Live streaming is also an effective way to market your website for next to nothing. All you will need is a camera (your smartphone may be enough) and a computer. These are things every business should have.

You can also give your website an SEO boost if you properly embed live streaming links. Media content like videos and live streams is something that Google really likes. By making sure your website has some, you can boost your rankings.

Installing Stream Status for Twitch

Stream Status for Twitch is a WordPress twitch plugin that allows you to add a live stream status for your Twitch account. It allows you to display if your stream is live, offline, or a custom message. The notification uses Twitch’s own style and logo by default.

However, you do have the option to change the color of it at any time.

Note: You do not actually need to enter your own Twitch channel. You can set the plugin to display anyone’s channel. This is great if you have a fan page or love to share a particular streamer.

To begin, click on Plugins and select the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Stream Status for Twitch in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Stream Status for Twitch plugin and click on the “Install Now” button. Then, activate the plugin for use.

Setting Up Stream Status

While the setup of this plugin is really simple, finding the settings is not quite as easy. There is no settings section or page for this plugin. Instead, the way to set it up is actually in the Theme Customize section of WordPress.

Finding the Settings

There are two ways to get there.

The first is the very direct way of clicking on Appearance and selecting the Customize option.

Click on the Stream Status for Twitch Plugin option.

The second is to simply click on the Settings option under the plugins name.

Both of these will take you to the same location.

Main Settings

Click on the Main Settings option.

Here, you can enter your Twitch channel name, choose to hide the display when offline, choose if Twitch will open in a new window or the same one, customize what the live message will say, and customize what the offline status will say.

Fill in all of the information and make sure the Twitch name is correct.

Positioning

You can click on the Positioning option to customize where the notification will appear. You can choose if it will be on the top or bottom of the screen and if it will be on the right or left side. The spacing from the screen can also be customized to the exact pixel.

Note: As long as you added your channel name in the Main settings, you should be able to see the notification position. You will not be able to see what the notification looks like if you did not enter a Twitch channel name.

Customization

The Customization section is about customizing the colors the notification uses. By default, it uses normal Twitch colors, which are great. However, if you feel you want to change them, you can do it here.

You can change the color of the background, status text, hover status text, Twitch icon, and background Twitch icon.

You can also add rounded corners to the notification.

Note: Once again, you can only see the changes you make if a Twitch channel name was entered in the Main Settings section.

Misc

The Misc section allows you to hide the notification on certain devices by entering some numbers.

If you want the notification to only appear on a desktop, enter 0 in the first box and 500 in the second.

If you want the notification to only appear on mobile devices, enter 500 in the first box and 5000 in the second.

Alternatively, you can leave them blank to appear on all devices.

View It On Your Website

You will also see two other options, but they are not settings. They are simply promoting other plugins and themes you may find useful.

When you are done customizing the plugin, save the changes you made and view it on your website.

Very Important Note: If you do not see the notification appear on your website, something in your theme might be blocking it. I tested it in the Twenty-Twenty theme and it would not appear, but when I switched to Posideon, it worked without an issue.

The plugin also works with the ColorMag theme, which leads me to believe something in Twenty-Twenty is breaking the code.

Congratulations on adding your Twitch status to WordPress. This will help you alert visitors when you are live if they do not follow you on Twitch.

Live Streaming Tips

If you are planning to focus on live streaming, make sure to do so regularly. Creating a schedule and sticking to it is very important due to the high number of streamers available. The last thing you want is to randomly go online and not draw in an audience.

It is also important to always have an agenda or gameplan. For example, if you are going live to do a Q&A, make sure you have material to work with. Relying exclusively on your chat for questions, might not always be the best strategy.

Consider gaming streams. Even if it is unrelated to your business, gaming is the most popular form of entertainment out there. That means it’s very likely for your following to have an interest in it. At the very least, just having the gameplay behind you while talking about another topic can help draw in an audience.

Especially if you pick a popular game like Fortnite.

How often do you plan to stream for? What kind of content will you be streaming?

The post How to Use the Stream Status for Twitch Plugin for WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Let’s take a look at the Nextend social plugin and see what all it offers. Then, I will go over the setup with you so that you can get the plugin working on your WordPress website.

Nextend Social Login and Register

Nextend Social Login and Register is a very lightweight and easy to use plugin. It stands out because it is professional and smooth and gives more registration and login options to a user.

The plugin is pretty direct and easy to understand. Once installed, it gives your website users and visitors the ability to register and log into your site using their social profiles. This is ideal because it won’t force them to spend valuable time filling out the default registration form that WordPress provides.

Your users will not have to wait for validation emails, or keep track of their usernames and passwords anymore either. The Nextend Social plugin takes care of all of this.

The plugin integrates very easily with the default registration form in WordPress. Any of your existing site users can add or remove their social accounts from their profile page.

Users can attach as many social profiles as they want. The most popular are Facebook, Google, and Twitter. As long as these social profiles are set and configured by you (site owner) then all current and future users have access to use them for registration and login.

Functionality and Features

The plugin is packed with functionality and features. Some of the main ones include:

• One-click registration and login using Facebook, Google, and Twitter
• Current users can connect accounts
• Define a custom redirect URL
• Display social profile pictures as avatars
• Login widget and shortcode
• Customize your designs to match your site
• Easy installation and setup
• Clean and user-friendly AI

Basically, the Nextend plugin gives you all the tools and functionality you need to easily allow social profile registration and login by your site users.

Let’s take a look at how to get the plugin installed and activated and then we will go through the setup and configuration together.

Note: This plugin does have a pro version. It extends functionality and gives access to other social profile logins. However, the setup below is based on the free version, as it provides you with everything you need, including a free Facebook login option.

Install and Activate Plugin

Before you can offer the ability of social profile login to your site users, you first have to install and activate the Nextend Social Login plugin. You can do this by going to the Plugins page within your WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply search the plugin by name and install and activate it from there.

Once the plugin is installed and activated, you need to access the main setup and configuration page. To do this click on Settings > Nextend Social Login.

You will find this on the left side menu area of your dashboard once the plugin is activated.

This will bump you to the main setup page where you can configure the plugin how you want and allow users social profile login and registration options.

Configure Nextend Social Access for WordPress

At this point, you should be on the main settings page for the plugin. You will see two main tabs. These include:

• Providers
• Global Settings

Before you choose and set up the social profile providers you will allow, click on the “Global Settings” tab real quick, and let’s configure that.

Global Settings

The Global Settings tab has a number of sub-settings in it. We are only going to focus on the first three, as the rest are only available if you have the pro version of the plugin.

General

These are simply all of the general settings options under the global tab. Go ahead and configure these how you want.

Privacy

Then, set up the privacy settings on how you see fit for your website.

Login

These are the global settings for the login page. Set this up how you want it for your particular website.

The rest of the tabs are for the pro version, so just leave those for now.

Providers

Go ahead and click on the “Providers” tab now that your global settings are in place and saved. You will see that a lot of the available social login providers are displayed.

As we see, Facebook, Google, and Twitter are all provided in this free version. They simply have to be configured.

We are not going to configure all of them in the tutorial, but let’s click on the Facebook one and do that one together real quick.

Click on the Facebook box on the “Getting Started” button to open it up.

Note: You can click on any of them and simply follow the configuration instructions to activate that social platform.

WordPress Facebook Connect

Once in the Facebook connect area, you will see five tab links. These include:

• Getting Started
• Settings
• Buttons
• Sync Data
• Usage

Getting Started

If you do not have an SSL and are not running the HTTPS protocol, then you have to remedy that before moving forward.

It’s probably a good idea to install an SSL anyway simply because Google prefers HTTPS protocol. Not to mention that it makes your site appear safer in the eyes of visitors as well as that of the Chrome browser.

Settings

This is where you will set up your app id and app secret. Just click on the link and follow the instruction to get it.

Buttons

Configure your buttons under this tab link.

Sync Data

This feature is only available when using the pro version of the Nextend plugin.

Usage

Here, you will find shortcodes and links for the plugin.

That’s it! Simply save all your settings and now the Facebook social registration and login option is made available for your users.

You can go through the other available social login options and set them all up.

Why Allow Social Login Access to WordPress?

If you allow a website login or registration via something like a WordPress Facebook Connect, then you are giving your visitors easier options to sign in. Allowing them to bypass the WordPress registration and login page saves them time and gives them easy access through their social media profiles.

When using the Nextend Social plugin, you give your site users several different login options using different social media platforms. This allows you to get the relevant info needed from the user, while allowing them a fast and efficient way to log in.

No need for anyone to fill out a registration form or anything else, as proper data is automatically pulled from the user’s social profile of choice.

Final Thoughts

Giving your site users the ability to register and login to your WordPress site using their social profiles is not difficult. You simply have to find the right tool to accomplish it.

Sure, you can write and build your own code, but the Nextend plugin does all of this seamlessly for you. Just install it on your site, configure it using the instructions above, and you will open up a great way for users to register on the website.

Remember, social profiles are huge these days, and most everyone has them. This is another great way you can allow them to be used.

Have you tried the Nextend Social Login plugin already? Have you found that you are getting more site registrations because of the ease of use?

The post How to Use Nextend Social Login to Access WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

There is! It’s a WordPress plugin called Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler, and I’m going to show you how it works.

Blog2Social will post to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Medium, Reddit, Pinterest, Tumblr, as well as seven or eight other networks. It will automatically generate hashtags based on the tags on your posts, and you can even re-post old blog posts.

Does it sound like it’s worth a try? I think it does. Let’s install it and set it up.

Installing the Blog2Social Plugin

Log in to your WordPress admin panel.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Plugins” link and click the “Add New” link.

In the “Search plugins…” box, enter, “Blog2Social.”

When you find the plugin, click the “Install Now” button.

Now the plugin is installed, but it has to be activated before you can use it.

Click the “Activate” button.

That’s all there is to it. Now let’s put the plugin to work.

Configuring Blog2Social

Before you can do any social media auto-posting, you have to connect the plugin to your social accounts.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Blog2Social” link and click the “Networks” link.

The Networks page lists the 15 (at the time I’m writing this) social networks the plugin can post to.

We’ll connect to Twitter, but the steps for most other networks will be similar.

Click the “+ Profile” button in the Twitter section.

A new browser window will open.

If you’re not logged in to the social network, the new browser window will contain a login. I’m already logged in to Twitter, so we were taken directly to the permissions screen.

Read the app permissions so you know what kind of access the plugin will have to your social account. You always read the terms, right? Admittedly, I don’t always read them either. But when it comes to application access, I do. Better safe than sorry.

Click the “Authorize app” button.

Now the list on the plugin’s Networks page shows that we’re connected to Twitter.

Repeat the process for every social network you’d like to connect the plugin with.

From Your Blog to Social Media With a Single Click

Now let’s look at a quick and easy way to post existing articles to your social media accounts.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Blog2Social” link and click the “Site & Blog Content” link.

The Share Website & Blog Content page will open to a list of all your posts and pages. We’ll use the “all post types” filter to show only posts.

Click the “all post types” drop-down and choose “Post.”

Now click the “Share on Social Media” button for the post you want to share.

The social media post will open on the next page. Here you can edit the post, change the image, etc.

At the bottom of the post page are “Save as Draft” and “Share” buttons. Saving a draft could be useful to create a list of posts that you’ll send out at a given time. But we’re going to go straight to “Share.”

And now, if we pop over to Twitter, there’s our post.

While we were sending the Tweet, you likely noticed the scheduling option. Scheduling is only available in the paid “SMART” version of the plugin, so we won’t cover it here.

There are many other cool features available in the paid version. The plugin offers a 30-day free trial of the SMART features that you may want to take advantage of.

How to See the List of Posts the Plugin Has Sent

If you go back to the Share Website & Blog Content page, you’ll see a “Shared Posts” link.

Clicking that link takes you to a list of posts the plugin has shared.

What Happens if You Uninstall the Blog2Social Plugin

Uninstalling the plugin does not have a negative impact on any pages or posts. However, you will lose the list of posts that the plugin has made as well as your social network connections.

Note that the app authorizations that you’ve set up on your social media accounts will have to be deleted. Uninstalling the plugin does not remove the authorizations.

So, for example, to remove the authorization that we set up for Twitter, we would do the following.

• Log in to Twitter and go to Settings > Apps and sessions.
• In the Apps list, click “Blog2Social APP.”
• In the “Permissions” section, look for the “Revoke Access” link.
• Click “Revoke Access.”

Every social media site will have a different process to remove app authorization. Here are some app authorization removal links that may help:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Medium
• Tumblr

Jetpack and Other Alternatives to Blog2Social

If Blog2Social isn’t for you, or you don’t want to install another plugin, Jetpack’s Publicize feature will also auto-post to social media. It even does something the free version of Blog2Social doesn’t, which is auto-post when a post is published.

Are you a Hootsuite user? If so, check out Post to Social Media – WordPress to Hootsuite. If you’re not a Hootsuite user, I would suggest that you set up a free account. You can manage up to three social accounts, and schedule posts for the future on a calendar. And the WordPress plugin integration doesn’t hurt.

If you want to delve into the world of paid social media schedulers, the list becomes a lot longer. The feature lists become a lot longer too. But then you’d expect a paid service to offer features that a free service or plugin can’t. CoSchedule, Buffer, Sprout Social, and many others can seriously improve your social media game.

A Good Social Media Auto-Poster Is an Indispensable Tool

Blog2Social is an excellent first step to setting up auto social posts. Though as you can see, much of the actual automation is only available in the paid version of the plugin. But we wrote it up here because it’s still a useful tool. The ability to share your posts with a single click—without ever leaving WordPress—is handy.

However you choose to go about it, your blog will benefit from an active social media presence. Anything you can do to make sharing easier is likely to increase the number of posts you share. So every tool that integrates with WordPress is a potential time-saver.

And make sure your blog is running on a fast, reliable hosting service. That’s where GreenGeeks comes in. Our platform is optimized for WordPress. We’re WordPress experts, and our support team is always on hand to help. If your blog is essential to you, your choice of a host should be too.

GreenGeeks is powered by renewable energy. For every amp we pull from the grid, we match three times that power in the form of renewable energy via Bonneville Environmental Foundation. You can feel good that you’re helping make a difference by hosting on an eco-friendly platform.

Do you do any social media automation or scheduling? Have a tip for another social plugin we should check out? Drop a comment and let me know.

The post How to Use a Social Media Auto Poster in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

For example, if you used #Earth, you would be able to find a lot of great images of our planet and nature. These can fit very nicely into your content and can even help you gain followers on your own Instagram profile.

Today, I will demonstrate how to show images from Instagram hashtags with the Social Feed Gallery plugin.

Why Show Images From Instagram in WordPress?

Sending images from Instagram to WordPress is a very popular request. Instagram has the highest level of user engagement out of all social media platforms. And a large part of that is thanks to the excellent images users upload.

However, this begs the question why would I need those images on WordPress?

The answer is pretty simple, images are really popular and adding them can significantly improve your content. And more importantly, you can give your Instagram account a huge boost depending on your hashtag selection.

For example, let’s say I own a website called RobReviews.com. I could upload images under the #RobReviews. Then when I use that hashtag on my WordPress website, images I have uploaded will appear and they can get more attention.

It’s also a great way to show off the results of a contest if your requested entries to upload an image with a specific hashtag. You can get really creative with how you utilize Instagram hashtags for WordPress, but first, you are going to need a plugin to help you do so.

Installing Social Feed Gallery

The Social Feed Gallery plugin makes adding Instagram images to WordPress really easy. The plugin allows you to take images from your own account or get them through Instagram hashtags and display them in WordPress. And unlike many other plugins I’ve tried, it does this all for free.

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Social Feed Gallery in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Social Feed Gallery plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Linking Your Instagram Account

This is not required if you just want to use images found under a specific hashtag. Thus, feel free to skip this section, but if you plan on taking some from your own account, you will need to generate an Instagram access token.

Luckily, the plugin makes this really easy to do.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Instagram Gallery and select the Account option.

Click on the big blue “Instagram Add New Account” button.

If you are logged into your Instagram account, you will be asked to allow the plugin to access your Instagram profile, which you must allow.

Alternatively, if you were not logged in, you will be prompted to and then be asked to accept.

Note: You can repeat these steps to add multiple accounts, but they must be your own. You will be required to log in to them to allow the plugin to access your images.

Using Social Feed Gallery

The plugin is pretty simple to create a feed from. To begin, click on Instagram Gallery and select the Feeds option.

Click on the “+ Add New Gallery” button.

You will see two options at the top, User and Tag. The User option allows you to display images from your own Instagram account on WordPress. The Tag option is what allows you to search by Instagram hashtags and display images from those categories.

Note: There are other ways to add images from Instagram directly into WordPress.

Choose the one you want to use, but for the purpose of this tutorial, I will be selecting Tag.

In the text box below this, you will be able to enter any tag you want. You do not actually have to enter the hashtag symbol (#). So if I wanted to use the #Earth, all I would need to enter is Earth.

Enter a tag.

Now comes the customization options. Some of the things you can change include the layout, how many images will appear in the feed, the size of the feed, the color of the feed itself, and much more.

What you choose is entirely up to you, but I strongly recommend going through each setting you can and pick the best one. When you are done, click on the “Update” button at the bottom to save the feed.

Note: There are many settings here that are only available in the Pro edition. You may want to consider upgrading if you see some you like for further customization options.

Now all that is left is to actually add it to WordPress.

Adding A Feed In WordPress

At the top of the page, you should see a shortcode that was generated. Copy the shortcode.

You can add this shortcode into any post, page, or text widget.

Note: It is very important that your images are properly sized for the area you display them. For example, in a text widget, your images should be smaller since they are in a sidebar or footer.

Paste the shortcode either into a text or shortcode block. It does not matter which one you use, the result will be the same.

Make sure to save the changes you make. You can now visit your website to see the Instagram feed in action!

Congratulations on adding and learning how to add an Instagram hashtags feed into your WordPress website.

Beware of Posting Images You Do Not Own

While the internet does not always follow this rule, it can give you a few headaches later on if you are not careful. Sometimes, if you just give the original creator credit, they are satisfied and that is that.

However, that is not a universal rule and more importantly, it is not a legal one.

It is possible for people to take images without permission from Instagram and get in trouble for it. Thus, it is strongly recommended to only have images that you created, purchased, or have permission to use. Otherwise, you may have a legal battle in your future.

This rule is often forgotten about by beginners and it can have some repercussions later on, so it is best to get all the necessary permissions.

Visitors Love Images, So Use Them

Images have become an important aspect of just about every website. Instagram is a great place to get images to display from and a great marketing tool. Thus, it only makes sense to try and promote your images on both WordPress and Instagram at the same time.

You can use this plugin to create plenty of feeds, and that can help you grow your Instagram followers as well. The higher the quality of your image, the better the results will be.

What hashtags on Instagram do you plan on using? Do you have any plans on linking your Instagram account to the plugin?

The post How to Show Images from Instagram Hashtags in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Why Add Highlight and Share to Your Website?

Many websites are full of more dynamic and interactive content. Website owners are always looking for unique ways to get their users to share more things from posts or pages.

A good example of this is when you see a website that uses a specific Pinterest Pin It button for images only. This allows users to share that image to Pinterest, reference the article title, but not worry about sharing it in a traditional article style format.

The ability to highlight text in WordPress is always there. You can of course copy and paste text, and pull images to share. However, more often than not, this does not give any type of credit to the author of the article you are pulling content from.

So, in this method, you are sharing text on Facebook, but you are not giving credit. Another great example of this is when you see websites add click to tweet boxes within their content.

This is a fantastic way to allow people to highlight text for Twitter based on content boxes you have preset. However, they can only share on one platform and it leaves out the rest of the social media platforms that people use.

You can now highlight and share text across social media platforms using a smooth plugin I found called “Highlight and Share.” Let’s take a look at the plugin together.

Highlight and Share

Highlight and Share is a great WordPress plugin that allows website users to highlight and share any text content within an article. The plugin gives people the ability to share text they highlight to a number of social media platforms quickly and easily. These platforms include:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email
• Xing
• WhatsApp

It should be noted that sharing the actual text only can be done using Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. However, the plugin does show the other social media icons when some text to share is highlighted, allowing users to share the article itself to those other platforms.

The plugin is lightweight and very easy to set up and use. It also comes with a Gutenberg block that is added automatically when the plugin is activated. The block acts as a click to share piece and works much like a click to tweet box would work.

The Highlight and Share plugin is packed with features. Some of the most popular ones include:

• Choosing a Theme to Display
• Enable or Disable on Main Content and Excerpts
• Enable or Disable Sharing on Facebook
• Disable or Enable Sharing on Twitter
• Customize Your Twitter Username

It also includes more advanced options for those who need it including override of font-awesome and the already mentioned Gutenberg block.

Let’s take a look at how to get the plugin installed and activated. After that, we will go over the plugin configuration and settings together.

Install and Activate Plugin

In order to allow your website users the ability to highlight and share text across multiple social media platforms, you first have to install and activate the plugin.

You can easily do this by going to the Plugins page in your WordPress admin dashboard and searching the name from there.

Once the plugin has been installed and activated, click on Settings > Highlight and Share. This is located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

This takes you to the main configuration page for the plugin. Here, you can set the entire thing up and save your options so that users can highlight and share text from your content.

Configure the Plugin Settings

At this point, you should have arrived on the main setup page for the plugin. You see that the settings are all in one area. Let’s go through them together so you can see what all options are available to you.

Icon and Content Settings

The first few options will allow you to enable icon settings, choose a theme for display, and also set content share up how you see fit. Go ahead and fill these out appropriately for your website.

Twitter and Facebook Settings

Now, scroll down just a little and the next areas to configure will include the Twitter and Facebook settings for the app. These include display and username options. The plugin allows you to put your own Twitter username in.

Note: In order to use Facebook to share highlighted text, you will need to go create a Facebook developer application. Just log in and follow the step-by-step instructions Facebook gives. It is very straightforward.

LinkedIn and Pinterest Settings

Scroll down a little more from the above settings and you will find the options for LinkedIn and Pinterest. WhatsApp and Xing are also right there. Go ahead and click on the checkboxes of all the social media platforms you want to use.

Copy, Email, Post Settings

Now, let’s start to wrap up the rest of the settings. If you want to enable copy and email sharing text options, then go ahead and click on the checkboxes.

After that, you will see a box to enable shortlinks. Go ahead and check that off as well and shortlinks will be enabled. When content is shared, your links will look much nicer and not be so long.

Advanced Settings

To finish up, go ahead and review the advanced settings. Remember, you may or may not need to use these options. These are more advanced based on your current setup. This includes jQuery and Font Awesome classes.

That’s it! You have gone through all the settings for the plugin. Click on the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page to save all the options you put in.

You are good to go.

Front End Highlight and Share

Now that the plugin is up and running, let’s take a look at what it looks like when used on the front end of your website. Please remember, that yours may look different based on the theme and share buttons you choose.

Go to any article on the front end of your website. When you arrive, select just a snippet of text to highlight. When you highlight it, the plugin buttons should automatically pop up and give you the options to share text across the social media networks you chose.

Final Thoughts

Giving your website users the ability to highlight and share snippets of text content allows a more diverse way of interaction with your website content. You don’t have to know how to write code to perform this function. Simply install and activate the plugin above, configure it, and you are off and running in just a few minutes.

I hope this tutorial has been easy to follow and helps you accomplish a new function on your WordPress website.

Have you ever used the Highlight and Share plugin before? Do you find that your content is shared more often and in different ways?

The post How to Enable Highlight and Share for Social Media in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

The main advantage is the convenience for your visitors. Making it easy for them to log in almost always increases participation. And the fact is, the vast majority of visitors would rather not create another website account.

The drawback is you can’t build as extensive a user database as you could if you encouraged visitors to create accounts on your site. The information you receive about a visitor who uses a social login varies by platform.

But if you don’t need to gather specific data, the pros of social logins easily outweigh the cons.

For this WordPress social login tutorial, we’re going to use the WordPress Social Login plugin. The free version of the plugin provides logins for Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn users (plus five other platforms).

In this tutorial, we’ll be going through the social login features of the plugin. But the plugin also provides social sharing buttons and social commenting. Social commenting allows users who are logged in to Facebook or Google to comment without being logged in to your site.

We won’t go into those features here, but they’re worth checking out.

Let’s get started.

Installing the WordPress Social Login Plugin

Log in to your WordPress admin panel.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Plugins” link and click the “Add New” link.

In the “Search plugins…” box, enter “WordPress Social Login.”

Once you have located the plugin, click the “Install Now” button.

Click the “Activate” button.

Configuring WordPress Social Login

There’s a guided tour of the plugin when you first access the settings. The screenshots here are what you’ll see after the tour (or if you skip the tour).

You have a couple of options when configuring social logins. You can set up each login yourself, using “App IDs” and “App Secrets” that you get from the providers. For example, to set up a Google login, you’d have to create a Google Developer project to get an App ID.

But the Social Login Plugin we’re using provides an alternative. It will handle the authorization for the platforms, saving you the time and trouble of registering each one yourself. That’s the option we’ll use here.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “miniOrange Social Login, Sharing” link and click the “Social Login” link.

You’ll land on the “Configure Apps” tab. To activate a social network login, click the corresponding toggle switch.

A configuration window will open.

Click the “Pre configured miniOrange App” toggle switch.

That will open a “Register with miniOrange” box. Complete the registration information and click the “Register” button.

Account confirmation is not necessary. Once your miniOrange account is registered, you’ll see the social platform is marked “Active.”

At the time this tutorial was written, Facebook logins could not be automatically added. You’ll have to get an App ID and App Secret on the Facebook developers console. Detailed instructions are provided on the plugin page.

If you allow visitor registration on your WordPress site, your login page will now have the social login option.

As you add more platforms, the logins appear.

What Happens When Someone Logs Into Your Site With a Social Login

When a user logs in to your site using a social login, they are registered as a “Subscriber” and added to your user list.

Customizing the Social Login Icons

If you don’t like the default appearance of the login icons, it’s easy to make a change.

In the “Social Login” section, click the “Customize Social Login Icons” tab.

Options include the ability to use small square or round buttons and to change the button text and color. There’s a convenient preview window to show your changes in real-time. Changes aren’t saved until you scroll down and click the “Save” button.

Display Options

The “Display Options” tab controls where the login buttons are visible. By default, they’re on your login page, but you can place them on a registration page or even in your comments section.

As you can see, when the login buttons appear on a page or post, the theme CSS is applied. In this case, using the WordPress Twenty Nineteen theme, the font has changed from what we saw on the login page. So you may have to apply some additional CSS to style the buttons.

In this case, the WordPress theme is customizable. So I went to

Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS

and applied a sans serif font to the login-button class like so:

.login-button {
  font-family: sans-serif;
}

And that helped with the appearance:

I’m not sure what’s going on with the Google logo when the buttons are displayed in the comments. I sent a message to the developer, and if I hear back, I’ll post an update.

A tip of the hat to the developer for providing a way to remove their logo from the button display. Just unclick the “Display miniOrange logo with social login icons on selected form” option on the “Display Options” tab.

Displaying the Login Buttons on a Specific Page or Post

You aren’t limited to displaying the social login buttons in the locations provided. There’s a shortcode you can use to place them anywhere:

[miniorange_social_login]

Here I’ve added the shortcode to the middle of a page.

Not that there’s any reason to add social logins to a page, but it’s here to show you the possibilities.

What Happens if You Uninstall the WordPress Social Login Plugin

If you uninstall the plugin, be aware of the following:

• Social logins will no longer be available.
• Users created when logging in via social login will no longer be able to log in. (Their email could be used as a username, but a password reset would be needed to create a password.)
• The plugin shortcodes will stop working, so the shortcodes themselves will be displayed anywhere they were used.

Reduce Friction, Increase Communication

Providing multiple ways to login to your WordPress website increases visitor engagement. That much is clear. So anything you can do to make it easy for visitors is in your best interest.

Handing over user authorization to another platform isn’t necessarily ideal. I get that. But if the alternative is a visitor being turned away by a barrier to entry, it’s probably a reasonable tradeoff.

Humans are social creatures. Your visitors want to engage. This plugin makes it easy for them to do so.

Do you allow user registration on your WordPress site? Have you ever explored alternative or additional methods? Let me know in the comments.

The post How to Add a Social Login to Your WordPress Website appeared first on GreenGeeks.