My WordPress Tutorial

Posts Tagged ‘social media’

When I logged into Facebook this morning, I was greeted with the picture to the left. I am sure that many of you have already seen this. I am also sure that many started out the same way I did; looking for the path to add the ‘like’ button to your website. With that said, I decided to write a post explaining how to install this little tool to your website.

Before I begin, I thought I would share what this button can and will do for you. If you look to the right, you will see this button in action on our real estate network. As you can see at this point (originally published 4-22-2010), not many have used it. Over time, the number will grow and people will be able to share our network with their facebook friends a lot easier. All one needs to do is to click the ‘Like’ button once, and it adds them. Below is an excerpt from the facebook page explaining this a little better:

The Like button enables users to make connections to your pages and share content back to their friends on Facebook with one click. Since the content is hosted by Facebook, the button can display personalized content whether or not the user has logged into your site. For logged-in Facebook users, the button is personalized to highlight friends who have also liked the page.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at how we add this neat little tool to our own websites. If you look to the immediate left, you will see the picture of the Like Button Generator. As you can see, I have filled out the necessary fields to create this button for Positive Real Estate Professionals’ main page. Now, in theory, I could do this for each and every page that I wanted to on PREP, but at some point, you run into overkill.

Once all the pertinent information is entered, all you need to do is click on ‘get code’. When that is done, it will generate 2 codes; the first is an iFrame code and the second is a JavaScript code. Once you have selected which code you want to use, all you need to do is add this as a ‘Text’ or ‘HTML’ widget in sidebar of your website. If you do not have access to do that, then contact your webmaster and they can instruct you more on this subject. In some cases this can require coding added to the theme itself or some adjustments to certain parameters that can only be done by an admin or webmaster.

OK, now that we have the why and how to out of the way, let’s get down to the where. I thought long and hard about how I could help you get this tool on your site in the easiest way. I decided that I would add the direct link to the Facebook Developers social media ‘Like Button’ plugin page; http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like I hope that you find this post useful.

***There have been changes to the widget discussed in this tutorial since the original publication (August 13th, 2009) of this tutorial. I have updated the tutorial to reflect these changes. Yellow font indicates where changes have been made. I have used the strike thru to indicate procedures that no longer apply. Also note that the first two images have changed to reflect the changes to the widget.***

One of the most powerful developments on the internet for both business and personal connections is the emergence and widespread use of social media outlets. I would surmise that most internet users and even many people who do not use the internet have heard of at least one social media network; even if they do not realize it. MySpace? Twitter? Facebook? One of these three will generally ring a bell with most people as they are mentioned often on television, the radio, and in print media. In addition to these three social medias there are others, lots of others.

As a PREP member you have access to a pre-loaded widget from your Dashboard that can easily allow visitors to your site to connect with you via numerous social medias. This tutorial is going to give you step by step instructions (with illustrations) on how to:

1. access this widget
2. enter your social media usernames
3. place this widget on your sidebar

To begin with you will need to be logged into your Dashboard. From your dashboard, here is the path to access the widget:

Dashboard > Settings > Social Media Page (SMP)

As you can see from the graphic to the left, the Widget named ‘Social Media Page’ is where you need to begin. Locate the ‘Setting’ tab on the left hand side of your dashboard. When you hover over the settings tab a grey arrow will appear next to the tab name; click this arrow. When you have clicked this grey arrow a dropdown with numerous options will appear. In this list of dropdowns you will need to locate ‘Social Media Page.’ This is the widget we will be working with. In the image to the left I have placed a red box around the widget with a red arrow pointing to it. Click on ‘Social Media Page’ to begin working with this widget. Follow the directions on the image to the left.

When you click on ‘Add profile to list‘ the image to below  will appear on your dashboard:

From this point you fill in your Username/User ID for each of the social medias that you belong to and that you would like to utilize to easily connect with visitors to your site. Be sure that once you have filled in this information that you click ‘Update Profiles & Options’ at the bottom of the page to save the information you have entered. WARNING: If you do not click update the info you entered will not be saved and you will have to re-enter it. Now you are ready to place the widget on your sidebar.

To place the completed Widget on your sidebar, here is the path:

Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets > Add

On left hand side of your dashboard, locate the ‘Appearance’ tab. Just like you did with the ‘Settings’ tab above, hover over Appearance and a grey arrow will appear. Click this grey arrow to open up a dropdown. In this dropdown, locate ‘Widgets’ and click on it. I have placed a blue oval around widgets in the image to the right.

When you click on widgets, a new screen will open on your dashboard. From this screen, you can now add the completed ‘Social Media Page’ widget to your sidebar. Simply click ‘Add’ to place it in drag the widget to the sidebar you have selected. Once you have added it to your selected sidebar be sure to click ‘Save Changes’ or it will not be added.

That’s it! Now if you open your PREP site you will see the widget added to your sidebar with the various social media icons present and linked to your accounts. Just another way to connect with those potential clients.