Have you have tried to share someone’s great blog post only to find their Twitter handle or other social network handle are not there? It’s been my pet peeve for years. I have seen it since I started blogging back in 2011. I still am seeing it more and more lately and it surprises me that in 2017 people haven’t added their usernames to their social share buttons.
When I go to share posts from blogs the share button says @wordpress.com or via @Shareaholic. Some say nothing at all. How can bloggers get credited for their work on social media if they don’t label their share buttons? Don’t they wonder why they are not getting more shares?
How Social Share Buttons Increase Engagement
Not only do bloggers not get credit but those that want to share and give credit cannot do so easily. I then have to manually change it on Twitter or in my Buffer app if I want to give credit to who wrote the piece. I see this on WordPress.com blogs, Shareaholic buttons, ShareThis and Digg Diggsocial share buttons to name a few. It takes a few extra minutes to do this and if I’m on the go with my mobile I will not do it.
If that social share button was labeled I could share it and then engage with them on the social network where I shared. They may thank me and we will then be having a conversation on the social network. Engagement on social media is key today!
How to Label Your Social Share Buttons
This is an easy fix to label your social share buttons and I don’t understand why more bloggers don’t use it. It helps to see who the author is and give credit to them on the social networks. All one has to do is to fill out the info with their user name on their share button settings. Many of these settings can be fixed on the plugin settings. Some of these social share buttons also offer customization of the buttons display on your website. You can change the color or size of the social share buttons. Do take advantage of the customization available.
And now you can see the difference below that the social share buttons will make, when someone clicks the tweet button. And the same would go for the other social share buttons too.
You can also do this with the Digg Digg plug – in for the WordPress self-hosted websites. You go into your Digg Digg plug-in and then to your Global configurations there and you will see this screen where you can add your usernames.
You also can add your username for the Buffer. The Buffer is really a must and you know how much I love the Buffer app. The buffer is a great way to time your social shares so they are not going all out at once on any social network.
Different Social Share Buttons and Social Proof
SaveThere are many new social share buttons today you can choose from. I have recently added Social Warfare to my own blog after it was updated and Shareaholic no longer worked with my new theme. I love how Social Warfare Social Share buttons show the count for each network you choose and a total of all. This really helps to show social proof. It provides evidence to people visiting that your content is shareable and that your blog is not a ghost town.
People love to share. ” 69% said they share information because it allows them to feel more involved in the world. To get the word out about causes they care about. 84% of respondents share because it is a good way to support causes or issues they care about.” – tripleseo.com/why-do-people-share/
With Social Warfare you can have a special size image just for Pinterest. That is very important for pinning images on Pinterest. They also have a great click to tweet feature where you can choose from several styles each time you use a click to tweet on a blog post. All this is for just $29/year – it is well worth it.
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How Social Shares Effect SEO
According to Search Engine Land social signals are emerging as ranking factors as search engines determine how to leverage our social interaction and behavior. Having your own social presence that is well regarded is important today. Getting social shares is ideal for SEO. Good things happen when more people see your brand or your profile online.
Others have found that stories and blog posts with many social shares have a higher ranking in the search engines. They go on to say that there are many secondary benefits of social sharing on the search engine rankings. So please check your social share buttons on your blog or website today and you will see more engagement on your blog and on the social networks when they are correct.
Do your share buttons make it easy to others to share your content across the social networks?
Do you come across some blogs that don’t have their share buttons set up still?
