Even the best business websites can need a little bit of enhancing. When creating your website, you will want to use every piece of real estate on the page to further your cause. Social media is one of the best platforms for marketing any kind of business and is a great addition to your website. Adding social media icons to your website sidebar or footer can take advantage of unused space and enhance your business presence.
Whether you are a WordPress beginner or a seasoned expert, adding social media icons to your WordPress site is simple and quick. So, log into your dashboard and let’s get started.
Find Your Icons
The internet is a wonderful place. So wonderful in fact that there are thousands of options to choose from when customizing your WordPress site. The first step in adding icons to your sidebar or footer is to find the icons that fit your theme and website style and branding.
You will want to find icons for each social media platform that you wish to advertise. This could include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, G+, etc. There are many different places to find these icons including:
- IconFinder
- FlatIcon
- FreePik
- A simple Google search
Once you find your icons, download them. Make sure to check the copyright for the icons before you decide to use them for your business.
Next, you will upload the icons to your Media Library in WordPress. In your Dashboard, navigate to “Media” and then click “Add New.” Upload all of your icons separately for each platform.
Add Some Basic HTML
Don’t get nervous. This is really simple HTML that is already complete for you. Navigate to your Customizer to add a Widget to your website. You will want to add a text widget and drag it into your sidebar or footer, wherever you desire.
(Source: WordPress)
You will add HTML similar to what’s above and change the bracketed areas to match your information. You will need your social media links as well. You will want to open your Media Library to retrieve the image URLs for your icons. Once you open it for each icon, copy and paste it into the HTML.
You will want to change the width and height to display well on your website. You can change this over and over until you get exactly what you’re looking for. The code only changes if you change it!
You can add a title to your widget that draws attention to your social icons, or you can leave it blank. Once you have your HTML the way you want it, save it and you are set to use your new social icons! It really is as simple as that.
Other Options
If you wish to make this process even simpler, you can use premade social media icons by using the Social Media Widgets page by WordPress. You will simply copy and paste the code into the text widget from the same page as the above.
You can then edit the code the same way as the above code to fit your needs. These icons are simple and quick to implement if you are short on time and are made to draw attention.
Your website is the most important part of your marketing strategy for your business. You should use it to create awareness for your other platforms, so your audience can see more of your awesome content. With a quick Google search and a few lines of simple HTML, you will be well on your way to enhancing your presence.
If you are new to WordPress, check out this beginner’s guide.