Social sharing is a great way to increase engagement and spread your content further. Adding Twitter share and retweet buttons to your WordPress site makes it easy for readers to share your posts with their followers.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover how to add Twitter share and retweet buttons in WordPress using two excellent plugins:
- SharedCounts
- Twitter Feed Pro
Contents
With over 217 million active monthly users, Twitter is a powerful platform for sharing content.
Adding Twitter buttons encourages readers to share your posts, resulting in:
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More referral traffic as tweets drive new visitors to your site. According to HubSpot, tweets result in a 28% increase in click-through rates compared to organic traffic.
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Increased brand awareness as new audiences discover you. Every retweet exposes your content to new potential followers.
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Valuable social proof and endorsements. When someone retweets your post, it‘s a sign they found your content valuable. Their followers are more likely to click on a retweeted post since it comes recommended.
When leveraged effectively, Twitter sharing and retweeting can help you gain more subscribers, leads, and customers.
The quickest way to add Twitter sharing buttons is using the SharedCounts plugin. This is one of the most lightweight social media plugins for WordPress.
First, you‘ll need to install and activate the SharedCounts plugin. You can search for "SharedCounts" in the WordPress plugin repository or download it from the developer‘s site.
Upon activating SharedCounts, go to Settings > SharedCounts to configure the plugin‘s settings.
Choose Which Buttons to Display
Under "Share Buttons to Display", you‘ll see Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter added by default.
To remove any buttons, simply click the "x" icon next to them. You can also add other social platforms by typing their name into the field.
For Twitter share buttons, make sure the box next to "Twitter" is checked.
Select Button Placement
Next, open the "Theme Location" dropdown menu and choose where you want the share buttons to display.
Some popular options include:
- Before content
- After content
- Before and after content
We recommend showing the buttons before or after your posts so readers see them once they‘ve read your content.
Display Buttons on Pages and Posts
By default, SharedCounts will only add the share buttons to your posts.
However, you may want to display them on your pages as well, especially landing pages, About pages, Contact pages, and other static pages.
To do this, simply check the box next to "Page".
Choose Button Style
SharedCounts offers 8 different button styles to pick from:
- Official
- Icon Count
- Icon
- Text Only
- Icon + Text
- Counts
- CTA
- Custom Buttons
The default "Icon" style displays just the social media platform‘s logo. But you can choose a more visible button style like "Official" if you want the social network‘s name and button text to show.
Browse the different options and pick a button style that aligns with your brand.
Save Your Changes
Once you‘re happy with how the Twitter share buttons are configured, click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the screen.
The buttons will now display on your website!
Here‘s an example of how the share buttons may look:
As you can see, it‘s very quick and easy to add highly customizable Twitter share buttons using SharedCounts.
Next, let‘s look at how to go beyond just sharing and add retweet capabilities.
Method 2: Using Twitter Feed Pro (For Retweets)
While SharedCounts offers an easy way to add Twitter sharing buttons, it doesn‘t include an option to add a retweet button.
For that, we recommend using Twitter Feed Pro by Smash Balloon. This popular plugin allows you to display your entire Twitter feed on your site, complete with retweet icons.
Set Up Twitter Feed Pro
First, install and activate Twitter Feed Pro. You can find it under "Recommended" in the WordPress plugin repository.
After installing, head over to Twitter Feed > Settings in your WordPress dashboard. Here you can enter the license key for the plugin.
You should have received the license key in your Twitter Feed Pro purchase confirmation email and account area.
Enter your key and click "Activate" to connect your account with Smash Balloon.
Create a User Timeline Feed
Next, go to Twitter Feed > All Feeds and click the "Add New" button. This will launch the feed creation wizard.
When it asks what type of feed you want to create, select "User Timeline" and click "Next". This displays your tweets in chronological order.
On the next screen, enter your @username and click "Next" again.
For example: @Blogcadre
Customize the Twitter Feed
You‘ll now see a preview of your Twitter feed. The layout, colors, type of tweets shown, and more can all be customized.
For instance, you can:
- Choose from 30+ professionally designed template styles
- Edit tweet text size, color, borders, and spacing
- Adjust number of tweets shown
- Make retweet and favorite icons more visible
- Add "Load More" buttons or infinite scroll
- Customize user avatar style
Refer to Twitter Feed Pro‘s documentation for the full range of customization options. The settings are intuitive and changes appear live in the preview.
Spend some time playing around with the settings to get your feed looking just right.
Get the Shortcode
Once you‘ve customized your Twitter feed containing retweet buttons, you need to get its shortcode.
Go to Twitter Feed > All Feeds to see a list of the feeds you‘ve created. Copy the shortcode found in the "Shortcode" column.
For example: [custom-twitter-feeds feed=2]
This shortcode is needed to display this specific feed on your site.
Embed the Twitter Feed in WordPress
There are a couple ways to embed your Twitter feed with retweet buttons in WordPress:
Option 1: Using the Twitter Feed Block
Add the Twitter Feed block to any post or page where you want the feed to display. Click the "+" icon to insert a new block, search for "Twitter Feed", and click it to add the block.
Then paste your shortcode into the "Shortcode Settings" sidebar and click "Apply Changes".
This will embed your customized Twitter feed into the post or page.
Option 2: Using a Widget
Navigate to Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress dashboard. Click the "+" to add a new widget, search for "Twitter Feed", and add the widget.
Paste your shortcode into the widget settings and click "Apply Changes". Then save your widgets.
This will add your Twitter feed to any widget area like your sidebar, footer, etc.
And that‘s it! Your full Twitter feed including retweets and tweets will now display on your WordPress site.
As you can see, Twitter Feed Pro provides much more customization and functionality than just regular share buttons.
Now that you‘ve added Twitter sharing and retweeting capabilities to your WordPress site, here are some tips to increase social engagement:
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Encourage shares/retweets at the end of posts. For example, "If you enjoyed this article, please retweet it to share with others!"
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Use click-to-tweet boxes with compelling quotes from your content that followers can easily share.
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Craft strong headlines that pique interest and encourage clicks.
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Post at optimal times when your audience is most active on Twitter.
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Respond and engage with those who retweet your content. This builds relationships with followers.
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Analyze your top-shared and retweeted posts, and create more content like those popular posts.
Additional Plugins to Enhance Sharing
Here are a couple other plugins that can help boost Twitter shares and retweets:
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Click To Tweet: Makes it easy to add click-to-tweet boxes to your content.
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Revive Old Posts: Automatically shares old posts on social media to give them new life.
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Social Pug: Lets you add floating social sharing buttons that follow users down the page.
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Social Warfare: Optimizes your site for social sharing with share buttons and open graph meta tags.
| SharedCounts | Twitter Feed Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Adds social sharing buttons | Displays your entire Twitter feed |
| Twitter Buttons | Share button only | Share buttons + retweet buttons |
| Customization | Button style and placement | Feed layout, tweet style, colors, load more, infinite scroll, etc. |
| Usage | Quick setup for sharing | Advanced features for engaging and driving retweets |
| Additional Features | Supports many social platforms | 30+ templates, combines multiple Twitter feeds, hashflags, moderation tools |
| Ease of Use | Very easy, great for beginners | More options to tweak feed, better for intermediate+ |
| Load Time | Very lightweight | Extra assets so can impact site speed |
As you can see, both have their own strengths and ideal usage scenarios. SharedCounts is great for quick and easy social sharing while Twitter Feed Pro is better for fully leveraging Twitter to engage users and get more retweets.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Here are some common troubleshooting tips for Twitter share buttons:
Share counts not showing properly? Try clearing your cache and cookies. SharedCounts uses caching so refreshing your browser cache will update the counts.
Twitter Feed not displaying? Double check that your shortcode matches the feed ID found in Twitter Feed Pro. Also confirm the feed is published and not in draft mode.
Buttons not responsive on mobile? Make sure your theme is mobile-friendly. You can also use CSS to adjust button sizes for different devices.
Feeds look broken? There may be a plugin conflict. Try temporarily disabling other plugins to identify if there is an issue.
Still having problems? Contact the plugin developers. Both offer excellent customer support.
Final Thoughts
Adding Twitter share and retweet buttons helps readers endorse your content to new audiences. This can significantly increase your reach, referral traffic, and subscribers over time.
SharedCounts offers a super easy way to add highly customizable Twitter sharing buttons to WordPress.
For advanced features like showcasing your latest tweets and adding retweet capabilities, Twitter Feed Pro is an excellent choice.
Hopefully this guide gave you a good overview of how to add Twitter buttons in WordPress. Let me know if you have any other questions!
