Social share buttons are those little icons you see on websites that allow visitors to easily share content from that page on various social media platforms. When you click on one of these buttons, it will take you to the social network and prefill a post with the page title, description, and a link back to the original article or webpage. This makes it very simple for readers to spread content they find valuable with their friends, followers, and networks.
Some common social share button platforms include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, and email. These buttons are a very important part of website design and online content strategy today.
Benefits of Social Share Buttons
There are many benefits to having social share buttons on your website pages:
Increased Traffic
When content gets shared socially by visitors, it can drive referral traffic back to your site. People trust recommendations from those they know, so this incoming traffic is generally of high quality and more likely to convert into leads and sales. The more shareable your content is, the more traffic social shares can potentially drive.
Improved SEO
Social signals are an important ranking factor for search engines like Google. When content gets shared a lot, it can signal that the content is popular and valuable. Search engines aim to surface content in results that meets users’ needs, so pages that get social shares tend to perform better in organic search.
Brand Awareness
Getting your brand name, products, and website in front of new audiences is critical for business growth. Social shares expose new people to your brand in an organic way. When content with your brand mentioned is shared, it increases awareness and familiarity with your business.
Referral Traffic Quality
Visitors from social media tend to have higher engagement metrics. For example, referral traffic from social converts to leads and sales at a higher rate than direct traffic. So the quality of traffic driven by social sharing can benefit your business goals.
Types of Social Share Buttons
There are many social platforms that have share button options. The most common include:
The Facebook share button allows visitors to share pages from your site directly to their Facebook feed or in Facebook groups. This can expose your content to new audiences and drive traffic.
The Twitter share button makes it easy for readers to tweet your content out to their followers. Twitter is great for driving website traffic and visibility.
The LinkedIn share button enables sharing your pages with professional networks. This can help establish your brand as a thought leader.
The Pinterest share button allows pinning pages with images to relevant pinboard categories. Pinterest is highly visual and can drive referral traffic.
Reddit users can share your content to relevant subreddits using the Reddit share button. Getting upvoted on Reddit can lead to viral exposure.
Email share buttons make it easy for visitors to forward your pages to potentially interested contacts by email. This extends your reach.
Ideal Placement for Social Share Buttons
Where you place social share buttons on your site pages can impact how often they are used. Some best practices include:
Near Top of Content
Putting social share buttons near the top of blog posts or articles makes them visible right away so readers can share before scrolling down.
Floating Sidebar
A fixed sidebar with share buttons that floats as the reader scrolls can keep them in view the entire time.
Popups
Share buttons can sometimes be effective in popups, like when someone exits a page or reaches the bottom.
Bottom of Content
At the end of the page, after someone has read the content, is another prime spot for share buttons.
Next to Related Content
Placing social sharing buttons next to related content links lets readers easily share more than one page.
Customizing Social Sharing Buttons
Most social sharing tools allow some customization of button design and functionality:
Size
Make share buttons sufficiently large to be visible and accessible on both desktop and mobile.
Color
Match the button color scheme to your brand colors for consistency.
Shape
visually select button shapes that fit with your site’s aesthetic. Circle, square, and icon-only are common.
Titles
Descriptive but concise button text like “Share this Article” improves usability.
Counts
Showing share counts can indicate popular content but may slow performance.
Open Graph Tags
These tags allow customizing the image, title, and text shared on social media.
Social Share Button Best Practices
To get the most out of share buttons on your website, keep these best practices in mind:
Place buttons strategically in multiple locations
Put buttons near the top, bottom, and in the sidebar for maximum visibility.
Use well-known social platforms
Stick to major networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn which have the most users.
Make buttons a reasonable size
Too small and they won’t stand out. Too big and they can distract. Find the right balance.
Make sharing easy
Use one-click share options and have buttons open in a new tab to simplify sharing.
Highlight the number of shares
Displaying social share counts can encourage and validate sharing behavior.
Test alternative placements
Try different button locations and see which get the most use on analytics.
Match your brand style
Customize colors to fit with your existing website design and branding.
Simplify sharing
Pre-fill share content with details so users don’t have to add them manually.
Use share hook images
Tweets and posts with images attached tend to get more engagement.
Implementing Social Sharing Buttons
Adding social share buttons to your website involves:
Choosing networks
Select the relevant social platforms you want share buttons for like Facebook and LinkedIn. Avoid having too many.
Getting the code
Most social networks provide embed code or plugins to easily add buttons to your pages.
Installing buttons site-wide
Add the button code to a header/footer include or plugin so they load across your site.
Customizing design
Tweak the button colors, size, shape, and text using CSS to match branding.
Testing buttons
Verify buttons work as expected on both desktop and mobile, with pre-filled sharing.
Measuring performance
Use analytics to see which buttons get used most and adjust placements accordingly.
Promoting sharing
Encourage social sharing in blog posts, popups, and with follow buttons on social media.
Top Social Sharing Platforms
The most popular and effective platforms for social share buttons include:
With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is critical for social sharing. An auto-populated share on Facebook exposes your content to large established networks.
Twitter’s 500 million monthly users tend to be very active sharers. Tweets can drive instant traffic and engagement.
Sharing business, industry, and career content on LinkedIn with its 722 million users can position your brand as an expert.
For visual content like recipes, fashion, and DIY projects, Pinterest’s 433 million monthly pinners deliver massive referral traffic.
Popular subreddits like r/technology, r/news, and r/science with engaged communities are ripe for sharing your content.
Email sharing allows readers to directly contact and forward content to interested individuals in their network.
Tips for Creating Shareable Content
To encourage more social sharing, create highly shareable content optimized for each network:
Emotional appeal
Content that evokes strong emotions like joy, inspiration, excitement is more likely to be shared.
Surprising facts/stats
Intriguing data points and research that contradicts assumptions grab reader attention. Use charts/graphs to visualize them when possible.
List posts
Posts formatted as numbered lists can be easy to digest and share. For example, “10 Ways to Boost Website Traffic”.
How-to tutorials
Teaching readers valuable new skills with step-by-step instructions makes informative shareable content.
Curated collections
Curation posts with the best content recommendations around a topic perform very well.
Quizzes/polls
Engaging readers by letting them take a quiz or vote in a poll increases social sharing behavior.
Controversial topics
Presenting a strong take on a debate or providing a counterintuitive perspective tends to attract shares and discussion.
Appeal to identity
Align your articles with distinct communities like parents, golfers, etc. to encourage within-group sharing.
Standout visuals
Eye-catching images and video stand out in social media feeds and can increase sharing when used effectively.
Be helpful
Share button use increases when content provides real utility to readers they want to pass on. Teach a new skill or solve a problem.
Social Share Button Design Examples
Here are some examples of effective social share button design and placement from around the web:
| Website Name | Button Design | Button Placement |
|---|---|---|
| Copyblogger | Minimal circle icon buttons in black and white color scheme to match overall site aesthetic. | Social follow buttons in a fixed left sidebar visible while scrolling through content. |
| Buzzfeed | Round icon buttons slightly muted in color to contrast brightly colored viral content. | Buttons present at both top and bottom of articles to facilitate sharing. |
| Entrepreneur | Squared buttons with transparent backgrounds blend into sidebar and content backgrounds. | Buttons housed in right sidebar and stay fixed on screen during scroll. |
| The New York Times | Compact text-only rectangular share buttons downside occupy minimal space. | Buttons contained in floating bottom toolbar that slides up as user scrolls down. |
| TechCrunch | Sleek dark square icons inline with dark site theme and modern aesthetic. | Buttons shown in sticky horizontal navigation bar overlapping content. |
As you can see, both the visual design style and placement of share buttons can vary widely depending on the overall look and layout of the website. Testing different configurations allows you to determine what works best for your particular audience and goals.
Social Share Plugin Solutions
Rather than copy/pasting code for each social media platform individually, there are plugins and tools that make adding social sharing simple:
AddThis
AddThis offers a popular social sharing widget with customization options and detailed analytics. It supports hundreds of platforms.
ShareThis
ShareThis also provides a sharing widget with buttons for all major networks. It comes in slide-in and flyout layouts.
Sumo
Sumo’s suite of products includes a smart sharing tool that surfaces the optimal buttons at the right time.
AddToAny
AddToAny lets you customize which share buttons appear, with options to use your own custom icons if desired.
Shareaholic
Shareaholic is an all-in-one content amplification platform focused on driving social shares.
Social Warfare
Social Warfare offers advanced social sharing options like floating buttons and popups to boost engagement.
NinjaOutreach
Ninja Outreach’s sharing toolbar provides detailed social analytics to track and optimize your strategy.
Conclusion
Implementing user-friendly social sharing buttons is a highly effective tactic for increasing engagement, referrals, awareness, and search visibility. Strategically placing prominent buttons that enable one-click sharing to popular platforms makes it effortless for readers to spread your content across their networks.
To maximize their impact, customize your buttons to match branding, promote sharing in your content, experiment with different placements, and analyze performance using social metrics. With quality sharable content and well-designed share buttons, you can amplify your reach exponentially.