Few days back, I shared best Social media sharing plugins for WordPress, and most of these plugins are optimised for web-version of your blog. You must be aware of the fact that mobile usage is increasing every day, and it’s important for you to optimise your mobile version of the site for sharing and conversions.
When it comes to mobile Apps, Whatsapp is one of the most popular messaging apps and you must be having it right now on your phone. Since Whatsapp is now available on web, it’s important for you to add it as a part of your blog marketing & promotion.
Have you ever thought of adding Whatsapp sharing button on your blog? Imagine what kind of immense traffic it can bring to your site as it will make sharing so easier. Your readers read an article, and if they find it interesting they can quickly forward it to their friends/team view Whatsapp.
Before I share the way to add Whatsapp button on your WordPress blog, let me quickly share some interesting stats with you.
Popular Website Buzzfeed added WhatsApp button sometime back, and now Whatsapp button is generating more share than Twitter share button. In a conversation with Re-code, Buzzfeed President Jon Steinberg added “Every time we looked at WhatsApp’s numbers, it blew us away“.
After all, it makes complete sense as Whatsapp sharing button on mobile phone works like “Email to friend” option and the difference are that it’s faster and happens in real-time. Undoubtedly it has power to make anything go viral too.
Let’s look at the way by which you can add Whatsapp social sharing button on your blog. WhatsApp button was earlier available only on Android, and now it supports iOS too. The first plugin listed below supports iOS only.
WhatsApp Share button plugin for iOS & Android
WhatsApp share button is the simplest plugin to add Whatsapp button on your blog. This is a free plugin, and it also supports URL tracking via Google Analytics. I suggest not to enable this, as it adds an extra parameter to the URL shared by your readers, and it makes it look ugly. This could be avoided if the plugin is integrated with any URL shortener. You can download the plugin from here.
The plugin comes with settings option, and you can automatically add the Whatsapp button on posts, pages including all your custom post type. You also have an option to add the button manually via Shortcode. (I’m using this plugin here at ShoutMeLoud)
Mobile share bar plugin for Whatsapp button- (Android only)
I recommend you to use the above plugin, as this plugin doesn’t support iOS platform.
Here is a step by step guide for you to use this plugin. For non-WordPress users, I have also listed down another method at the bottom to use for your website.
- Download and install Mobile share bar plugin and it’s free. < Official Link>
- After activating the plugin, go to Settings > Mobile share bar and configure the option. Everything is straight forward, and you will have no problem configuring it.
You also have an option to add your Bit.ly credentials to shorten URL. I have already configured a branded URL on Bit.ly, and if you want to do that, you should refer to this guide. (This is optional). Select the places where you want to show the share button on your blog. I have selected Homepage, Posts, Pages to show Whatsapp and Facebook button. Select the position of share button for your mobile site.
Click on save changes and clear your WordPress cache. It’s time to verify if it’s working or not, so open your iPhone and type your website address to see if it’s working or not. If you don’t have an iPhone, well you don’t have an iPhone, ask any of your friends to test your WordPress blog on iPhone and confirm it for you. Here is a screenshot of how it looks for ShoutMeLoud:
There are few more plugins that have added Whatsapp button feature and here is the list:
- Add to any WordPress plugin
- Share this (Not confirmed)
- Whatsapp sharing button for JetPack
If you know of more plugins which now supports Whatsapp sharing button, you can let me know via comments.
For non-WordPress website:
For any other platform, you can use this Whatsapp sharing button generator tool to generate code and add it to your blog.
The only limitation of this button right now is; it works with iOS platform only and I’m hoping to see Android support too in the near future. Overall, After Pocket button, this is the second new sharing button I’m trying here at ShoutMeLoud, and I will share my learning soon. I will look forward to your experience and traffic details after integrating Whatsapp sharing button on your blog.
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