14 Of The Best Social Sharing Plugins For WordPress That ROCK!

Social sharing plugins ROCK!

Unless you’ve been living on Mars for the last few years, you should know that social media has taken blogging to new areas that were once unheard of. With your help by sharing (thanks in advance), this post could be the most talked about post in the blogosphere.

With internet giants like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg and many more, you can have something go viral in a few hours or days just by a few people liking it in the beginning.

With so many (I didn’t even name half of them) tt can be bit overwhelming trying to work your blog in with them to get a following and build traffic.

With the recent Google Panda updates, it’s a fact that authority will now be based more on social sharing which is why most blogs now have social share icons on them.

It’s not thanksgiving but one thing I am thankful for is for you coders that make plugins and share them with the world. Take a moment to thank them because without them, we (I know I would) would be stuck and out of luck.

The Best of the Best Bookmarking & Social Sharing Plugins

There are a lot of bookmarking and social sharing sites out there but there are 100x more plugins. Some work and some just piss you off and make you want to throw your laptop against the wall.

I’ve compiled a list of 13 of the best social sharing plugins for WordPress blogs (sorry Blogger users). Most of these I’ve used and then went on to another one and so on. One thing I’ll say; don’t install all of these. The trick is to find one that fits your needs and run with it. If it slacks, find another until you’re happy.

I just want you to share this

1. Digg Digg

Don’t think this plugin is all about Digg. It does have Digg incorporated into it but the reason I made Digg Digg number 1 is because it pretty much has all the below plugins in one. It has the scrolling sharebar on the side (both right and left), you can put share icons above and below posts and even on excerpts.

Now don’t let the pic below fool you. They no longer have Google Buzz. They have updated to Google+. As I’m typing this, I’m thinking of switching back to Digg Digg. I have 2 plugins doing what this 1 can do. That doesn’t seem smart.

**UPDATE** I’ve officially made the switch. Digg Digg now powers iBlog4Dollars.com.

Check out Digg Digg here

2. Tweet, Like, Google+1 and Share

This is made the list of great social sharing plugins because it’s easy to setup. After you install it, you go in the settings and tell it what buttons you want to show up and where you want them to show up (posts and/or pages).

One of the best features (for you theme hackers) is it allows you to throw your own PHP code in the theme so you can make it show up wherever you want it to.

It also supports shortcoding which can be used within single blog posts. This social sharing plugin has tons of support on the creators site. If you have a problem, you can just post a comment and they’ll get back to you fast.

**Quick Tip** You can use the shortcoding to throw a quick like button over a video and ask the reader if they like the video, hit the like button. Makes it almost effortless.

Check this plugin out here

3. Scrolling Twitter Like Google+1 Linkedin and Stumbleupon Plugin

This is one of the coolest social sharing plugins I’ve ever seen. You have to see it for yourself. It’s a miniature scrolling bar that activates when you mouseover it. That’s when all the sharing stuff pops out.

My only dislike for this on is on first look, it doesn’t show how many shares your post got. It just shows the ways the post can be shared. This kind of takes away from the “I want to do like everyone else” feeling. Most people share because they see many others have done it. It makes them feel a sense of accomplishment. I can’t explain it but it’s true.

I personally like for my visitors to see how many times my post has been shared; and thanks for adding to that number by the way.

Go here is you want to download this plugin or check it out for yourself.

4. Facebook Comments for WordPress

With Facebook being the #2 site in the universe right now and right on the heels of Google for that #1 spot, it would almost be blog suicide to not somehow incorporate Facebook into your blog.

Even though I did delete my Facebook account, I still have Facebook working on my site. I didn’t need this plugin because my theme already has it built-in. Now the reason I suggest this in my list of top social sharing plugins is because it’s simple to install.

A friend of mines recently added it to his and all it takes is creating a Facebook app and pasting the app id into the Facebook Comments plugin settings. After that, you go through and change some setting and it’s ready to go.

Having Facebook comments is great because it has a check box (that users have to uncheck to opt-out) that will post the comment to the commenters wall. This could get the attention of one of their friends and the process repeats itself.

Go here to get Facebook Comments or just check it out

5. Scrolling Social Sharebar

If you’re looking at this particular plugin like you’ve seen it before, it’s because it’s right to your left (as I’m typing this).

This is a really simple to install plugin that has 7 different social sharing sites. Not much to say about this one. It’s from the same people who brought you numbers 2 & 3.

This is like #3 but it shows the viewer on first look, how many shares your post has.

6. Social Media Widget

This is another plugin I’m happy to use on iblog4dollars.com. I was searching long and hard for a good social sharing widget that has too many options for me to name; and this is it.

I think there are close to 50 different social sharing options to choose from. You just paste your social profile URL and it’s ready for action.

It also has 4 different button styles which really got my attention. You can choose from sketched, heart, cutouts or just regular.

I needed something different from just regular social sharing buttons.

If you like what this plugin has to offer and think it will work out great on your blog, check it out here.

7. Tweet Old Posts

I got this plugin from Mitz on her post about building new links on old pages. She was saying how to make turn old posts into money makers and one way to do that is to have them continuously tweet out.

I haven’t installed this plugin as of right now but it’s coming. One project at a time. It Tweets to multiple accounts and it will even push to Facebook and Google+. Now if this isn’t an amazing social sharing plugin, I don’t know what is. Maybe it should be higher up on the list.

Get more info on Tweet Old Posts here

8. Like Gate

This is definitely one I’m liking so far (with a mischievous grin on my face). Like Gate allows you to reveal some hidden/secret content when the user likes the article.

All you have to do is insert some content between two shortcode tags and that information will be shown after the like. This could be an image, download link to an ebook for your blog, a YouTube video; whatever. This is pure social media domination.

One problem I found with Like Gate though is that is didn’t reveal the content. I soon saw a much better purpose. It doesn’t seem like a very powerful plugin so I use it to throw a quick like button in my posts in certain spots. Great way to get those extra likes.

I have quite a few social sharing plugins on my blog so it may have been conflicting with another one. I ended up having to delete it.

Go here to check out like gate

9. WP Greet Post

This plugin had to be on the list of social sharing plugins because it makes your visitors feel more welcome and entices them to share .

This plugin lets you show a different greeting message to your new visitors depending on their referer url.

For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they will see a message reminding them to Digg your post if they like it.

Another example, when a visitor clicks through from Twitter, they will see a message suggesting them to twit the post and follow you on Twitter.

You can also set a default greeting message for new visitors (not matching any referer URLs) suggesting them to subscribe to your RSS feed.

Having these targeted suggestions will help your blog increase exposure, loyal readership, and reader interaction. Best of all, this plugin is compatible with WPMU and various WordPress cache plugins (so you do not have to sacrifice speed).

Go here for more info on WP Greet Box

10. Most Shared Post

When it all boils down, you need to know what your most shared content is. Track your most popular blog posts, sorted by those with the most social shares. It checks the number of Facebook Likes, Twitter Tweets, and Google +1s.

You can display them to your users or just view the data in the WP admin area.

Go here to check this plugin out

11. OnlyWire

I don’t think too many people know about Onlywire because I don’t see it on too many blogs but I see many people talking about social sharing and bookmarking.

This magic plugin is thee social sharing plugin of all social sharing plugins. First you sign up for an Onlywire account at https://onlywire.com/signup.

When you create a OnlyWire account and set up your social networking site logins, OnlyWire will submit your post to all of the sites simultaneously. Did you read that? All at one time.

OnlyWire does all of the submission behind the scenes on behalf of you. This is automatically when you create a blog post. When your readers use OnlyWire, they can also auto-submit to all of their networking sites.

Check out the Official plugin here

12. Facebook Likebox Widget

Now this is a great social sharing plugin for those that aren’t that good with HTML coding.

Having a Facebook LikeBox for your Fanpage is a great way to build your fans up. This plugin just calls for you to paste your fanpage URL, adjust the width and a few more options and you’re done. It also allows you to put just a like button.

Check out the Facebook Likebox Widget

13. ((WP Twitter))

This plugin does a few things but the only things I care about is it tweets out my posts as soon as I publish them. It will also send out tweets when you update a blog post. Those 2 features are gold in my eyes. You can then get retweets while you’re sleep or whatever you’re doing.

It’s really simple to setup too.

Check it out for yourself here

14. Simple Social Bookmarks (formally Sexy Bookmarks I think)

This plugin had more ways to share than you would ever need. The reason I said had is because I’m not sure why type of changes they made to it; why they decided to change the name from Sexy Bookmarks.

The great thing about this plugin (the one I used), it had handwritten words that encourage the visitor to share your blog post. Here are some

That’s liquid gold in my eyes for getting people to share you content. I haven’t tried the new plugin but this is what it did when I was using. It’s from a company called “Sharaholic” (those guys are really good at marketing I bet).

Go here to download Simple Social Bookmarks

If you don’t like the new plugin and would like to try the old one out for yourself, just contact me and I’ll download it from my servers on one of my other blogs and get it to you.

In conclusion

This is a pretty nice sized list of social sharing plugins. I could have taken it into the hundreds but I only wanted to talk about plugins that I’ve used, heard about others being happy with or they just seem right.

Not all plugins are perfect for every blog. Some plugins conflict with others so that’s why I said try them out and see what works best for your blog.

You may remember I did a post on my top 15 Favorite plugins. It’s one of my most popular posts.

The goal of these social sharing plugins is to make our lives as bloggers easier. As I said earlier, hats off to the developers who put these amazing plugins together because without them, I would be lost.

What are your exact thoughts on this list of social sharing plugins? Did you like them? Is there one or more on here that you love or hate?

What about one that you’re using that you absolutely love and would like to share.

I’m constantly looking for ways to make blogging easier and having the right social sharing plugins is a very important part of that.

I hope you enjoyed this post and found some plugins you can use on your blog. Please comment and make sure you share this. I gave you a nice sized list of social sharing plugins and all I ask is you share it after reading.

Thanks for reading social sharing plugins that ROCK.

Have a better day today than yesterday!

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