How to Add Social Media to Your WordPress Website

If you’re looking to add social media to your WordPress website, there are a few different ways to do it. Each method has its perks and quirks. We’ll discuss the various pros and cons and which option is the best for your needs.

The Classic Approach: Use WordPress’ Native Plugin

The first and most obvious way to add social media to your WordPress website is to use one of WordPress’ native plug-ins. These are built into WordPress and can be found in the dashboard under the Plugins tab. Some of the more popular choices are:

• Facebook Like Box (free)
• Instagram (free)
• Twitter (free)
• YouTube (free)

Each of these plugins will add a specific social media site’s widget(s) to your WordPress website. You can also find and install similar widgets for YouTube and Twitter for example, from the WordPress repository of third-party plugins.

The benefit of using one of these native WordPress plugins is that you don’t need to worry about the look and feel of your website since they’re designed for use within WordPress. The downsides include the fact that they can be a little glitchy and some of them can be a little bit unstable. But, for the most part, they work just fine.

If you’ve never added a social media platform to your WordPress website, the easiest way to get started is via the classic approach. This is the approach that you probably already know how to take. You simply visit the dashboard, log in, and then click on the Plugins tab. From there, you can click on the Add New button and, from the drop down menu, you can select Facebook Like Box, Instagram, or Twitter.

The Modern Approach: Use a Third-Party Plugin To Get The Look You Want

You can also take a more modern approach and use a third party plugin to get the look you want for your social media platforms. These are often designed for use with other CMSs (Content Management Systems) like Joomla and Drupal, but they are also compatible with WordPress. Some of the more popular plugins for this approach are:

• WooCommerce (free, opensource)
• Velocity (free)
• BuddyPress (free)
• Cascade (free)
• Mastiff (free)

Each of these plugins will give you the ability to add your chosen social media platform’s widget to your WordPress website. But, instead of using one of WordPress’ native plugins, you’ll need to download and install one of these third-party plugins.

The benefit of using these plugins instead of WordPress’ native ones is that you can manipulate the look and feel of your site to fit your exact needs. The downsides include the fact that they can be a little more glitchy and, on occasion, they can also be a little bit unstable. But, for the most part, they work just fine.

The Hybrid Approach: Use Both

The last option we’ll discuss is a hybrid approach. You can download a free trial of Elementor, for example, from WordPress.org. This will give you a completely new look to your site. Once you’ve downloaded and installed Elementor, you’ll see a new tab at the top of the dashboard. From here, you can click on the Elementor Live Preview button to launch the site in a new browser window or click on the Dashboard tab to get to your WordPress’ dashboard. Within the Dashboard, you can click on the Plugins tab and then click on the Add New button.

From the drop down menu, you can select Facebook Like Box, Instagram, or Twitter. But, rather than using one of WordPress’ native plugins, you’ll need to select the Elementor entry from the drop down menu. Then you can use the customize tool at the top of the dashboard to completely change the look of your website.

The downside of the hybrid approach is that you’ll need to download and install an additional app. And, even then, you’ll still need to use one of WordPress’ native plugins to get the standard functionality that you’d get from a native plugin. The benefit, however, is that you can use the Elementor app to completely change the look and feel of your site. Thus, you don’t need to worry about fitting in with the design choices of a pre-existing template.

It’s a common question among WordPress users, “Which method should I use to integrate my social media platform?” Each answer is a little different and depends on your situation. If you’ve never added a social media platform to your site, you can try out one of these three options to get started. Choose the one that you feel most comfortable with and, if you do decide to make changes at a later date, then go with one of the more stable and, therefore, recommended plugins.