Most social media plugins have the same problem; you have no control over the way your content “looks” when someone shares it. Even worst, the title and description are a bypass product of your blog post.
But I found the secret to share your images to the social media channels as you want it. What’s the secret?
It’s a social plugin called; “Social Warfare”.
This plugin is not only excellent all around “Social Media”, but is been given great attentions to perform BEST on Pinterest.
It’s no secret that Pinterest benefits your online business with quality traffic that converts into sales.
According to SocialMediaToday.com, 47% of online consumers from the US have bought stuff online based on Pinterest recommendations. That’s huge!
But the most interesting part is that 88% Pinterest’s user purchased a product they pinned, and 49% purchased five or more products. That is serious conversion.
Here are some more fabulous facts from the infographic on the hellosociety.com blog. This topic is been expanded by Jeff Bullas (a brilliant social media marketer) with 10 facts about Pinterest marketing.
What about other FREE social plugin?
Other social plugins are lacking behind, offering a sucking sharing experience of your content.
What is the point to spend hours on crafting an amazing blog’s post, and when someone decides to share, the image or text isn’t suitable for that social platform?
The result; Loss of opportunity to drive more traffic to your blog.
Did you know Pinterest’s users love vertical images? Instead on Facebook – Google Plus – Linkedin square or horizontal images perform better.
I’ve used sharing plugins from the beginning of my blogging journey, five years ago. I’ve relied for the last two years on the free SumoMe plugin for social sharing on my sites.
It’s a great multi-purpose plugin but lacks some essential futures critical to today social media platforms. I’m going to talk about in more details in a minute.
Before SumoMe, I had experimented with all kinds of social sharing buttons for WordPress:
- MashShare
- Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress
- Shareaholic
- Custom Share Button
Probably more, but I can’t remember. Most of these plugins are FREE with an option to upgrade, but none had ever impressed me.
This is the reason I never paid for a sharing plugin in five years.
I don’t like to spend money if I’m unsure about getting a ROI (Return Of Investment). Whenever I buy something, I must be thrilled and excited (I’m a financial blogger; SAVE MONEY – INVEST – AND GROW WEALTH).
“Do you relate?”
Recently, I realized that social sharing is critical in growing my websites reach, improve SEO and offer a better experience to my users.
My content wasn’t being shared the way I wanted, partially because my previous plugin wasn’t up to the task.
I was frustrated!
THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS WITH SOCIAL SHARING PLUGINS
I’m not a coder or a tech guru, so I’ve limited resources in improving plugin’s problems.
I want a sharing plugin capable of giving the best possible experience to my users and improve my content shares.
Because the more people share my content, the more traffic I get on the site.
“Am I asking too much?”
Till I found Warfare the answer was: “YES”.
As per my earlier conversation, I had a couple of issue with SumoMe plugin:
- Image Choice; In this example, if a user shares one of my blog post on Pinterest with SumoMe, a wide choice of pictures is display. I want full control of my brand. Don’t let your readers decide for you.Click To Enlarge
- Can’t Custom; Branding is important to me. I couldn’t custom the colors and size of SumoMe’s button to match my theme.
- Poor Appearance; Most social sharing plugins (not only SumoMe) I used in the past were bulky, unappealing and strangers to my website’s designs.
HOW I DISCOVERED SOCIAL WARFARE PLUGIN
While visiting popular website and blogs in the last two months, I notice an increased usage of this plugin. This plugin button has a unique shape called “A leaf on the wind.”I got curious and interested, wondering why more and more popular bloggers switched to Social Warfare.
Just to name a few:
- Melyssa Griffin at Melyssa Griffin (Formerly Nectar Collective) – BLOG TRAFFIC EXPERT
- Ashley at Mad Lemmings – DESIGN GURU
- Mary Jaksch at Write to Done – WRITER GIG
So, I tested by sharing an image via my Pinterest account, and to my surprise, it was perfectly crafted for Pinterest standards.
I know Pinterest is booming and I wasn’t getting much benefit. I needed a social plugin able to share Pinterest pictures perfectly. Social Warfare seems excellent for the task, but it was US$29 per year for each website.
I rarely pay for plugins, let alone yearly recurring payments.
I searched for a free option. After 2 weeks navigating the web, well, no alternatives. Other plugins weren’t up to the task; limited or not fitting in my website design.
Welfare offers a 60 days refund policy, so I had nothing to lose but just to try it.
THE PROs FOR SOCIAL WARFARE
I installed Social Warfare and surprise to find a wide range of options from design to usability.
Here the main futures:
- Style; There are 14 color sets with six different styles for the sharing buttons. But I loved the custom color to match my branding.
- Image over Pin bottom; This is awesome to make easier and intuitive for my readers to share only selected Pinterest image. You can decide the minimum picture’s size to display the Pin button.
- Share Counts; Full control on the share count to display total shares, shares per network, or both. You can also hide or set a minimum number of shares, which is handy for new bloggers.
- Click To Tweet; I had already installed another plugin for this task, but Warfare offers 4 different custom designs which attract more tweets. Like this:
Social Warfare has a build in 'Click to Tweet' option with 4 different designs to attract more tweetsCLICK TO TWEET - Analytics Tracking; You can set up a campaign with “Google Analytics” and learn more about your readers share habits.
- Display Option; Show the share bar on top or bottom of your posts (or both). Plus, you can enable a floating bar on top or bottom of the screen (excellent for mobile shares).
- Bitly Link Shortening; If you like to have all of your links automatically shortened, just turn on a switch.
- The Team; After using Social Warfare and had a blast of experience, I check out the team behind this project. Four young guys, passionate about web design and to help others. They are SuperStars! I’m confident they’ll improve this plugin even more.
- In-Post Sharing Option; The last but not the least, my favorite option which I’m going to talk about in more details.
SOCIAL WARFARE BEST OPTION; IN-POST SHARING
This is the most exciting option for this plugin. You can choose optimized images, titles and description on the bottom of every post.
Let’s examine each social network one by one, but first, let me show you the “Feature Image” for the post used in this test.
The blog is “Do You Want To Be Rich? Think Like A Jew“.
Would you ever let someone to share this dull image? Just think about it. There is so much competition out there, who would notice your blog post with such image. It’s just another image. No branding, no message, no colors – BORING!
DIFFERENT IMAGE FOR FACEBOOK – LINKEDIN – GOOGLE PLUS
Usually, when someone wants to share your post on their favorite social network (Facebook is the most popular of the three here), the “WordPress Future Image” will be automatically used.
If you don’t know what a “WordPress Future Image” is, it’s the main image your blog post show below or above the title.
“That is horrible! Pal, you can do better”.
Do you know each social network engage people differently? As a brand, you can leverage by custom your images, create catchy titles and descriptions rich in keywords specifically created for Facebook, Linkedin and Google Plus.
Like this:
SUGGESTION
Don’t forget to brand the image with your logo
DIFFERENT IMAGE FOR PINTEREST
For the Pinterest enthusiasts, Warfare plugin is taking social sharing to all a new level.
To be successful on Pinterest, not only your images must be eye-catching, colorful and interesting, but the size is unique from other social platforms; TALL – 735×1102.
This is a big deal for me. I can still use my horizontal images below the title, but I can create specific images only for Pinterest.
This option prompts me to go through each post on my blog, create branded image specifically for Pinterest. Result? Immediate increase in traffic from Pinterest to my blog.
WHERE DO I GET MY PINTEREST IMAGE DONE?
I get 5 pictures for US$5 on Fiverr – This is my favorite guy; Click Here
Pinterest enthusiasts upload specific images on their Pinterest board but are left hopeless on their blog posts. Don’t waste opportunities to get your content shared, with this plugin is super easy. See how to:
One more thing, with a simple “shortcode”, you can add a Pinterest button like this:DID YOU NOTICE THE CUSTOM TWEET?
There is a box to custom your tweet so you can create a defined message for your followers on Twitter. I custom my messages most of the time. The post title or worst, the hashtag aren’t always appropriate for a tweet.
I custom my messages most of the time. The post title or worst, the hashtag aren’t always appropriate for a tweet.
The fact is, each social network has a different type of users which respond to different messages.
FLEXIBLE BUTTON POSITIONING
How annoying is when you don’t want your sharing button to appear on a particular post or page but there isn’t a convenient option for not showing the button. What about when there isn’t an option at all?
Social Warfare is a breeze allowing you to choose a custom location that applies to each post as you prefer.
I just place a “shortcode” below so you can see the magic by yourself.
After so much talking, it’s time to try the power of Social Warfare.
Click your favorite social network and share this post (I tried to make the best image possible so I don’t embarrass you, Pal. I hope is good enough for your standards).
I LOVE SOCIAL WARFARE!
I feel weird about it, but I never thought I would pay for a social sharing plugin. I just love it, and I’m going to buy more licenses for my other websites.
If you feel that your current social plugin isn’t doing the job, I recommend giving a try to Social Warfare (Affiliate Link).
“You’ve nothing to lose with a 60 days refund policy.”
