I think it is a pretty safe bet to say that almost all bloggers use social media networks to engage with their readers, which is why it is good to have a set of social media icons on your blog.
Typically, social media icons are near the very top of a site either in the header or at the top of the sidebar. Today I am going to show you how to install and set up the best social media icon plugin for WordPress. You are going to love this plugin because it is easy to use and simple to customize to coordinate with your site. Let’s dive in!
I am going to use my blog as the example. See those social media icons? If you click over to the site you can see that they change colors when you hover over them.
The plugin used is called Simple Social Icons by Studiopress. It is totally free!
To install, login to your WordPress dashboard.
Look on the left hand side for ‘Plugins’ and select it.
Now you should see a search box. Inside the search box type ‘Simple Social Icons.’
This is the one you want …
Click ‘Install’ and the ‘Activate.’
Now on the lefthand side of your dashboard to go to ‘Appearance’ and then ‘Widgets.’ You should see a new widget option.
Drag the widget to the location you would like it on your sidebar. I have mine almost at the very top.
Open the widget and you will see the following options. Input your information and save!
Click save and you have beautiful customized social media icons!
A few quick notes >>>
- The colors are done with a HEX CODE. A hex code is a number sign and then a mixture of 6 numbers and letters. You can find hex codes for any color at Color Picker.
- At the top of the widget you can choose to have your social media pages open in a new window. I like this option!
- This tutorial is for Worpress.org blogs. If you are using Blogger you can read this post on how to add social media icons to your sidebar.
If you like learning about blog design follow my blogging tips pinterest board!
Snap
Editor at Tauni Everett
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Oh I love this! Thank you! : )
You’re welcome! Glad it was helpful!
Love this post! I’ve been creating and adding my own icons one by one. This is so much easier!
Glad it was helpful! 🙂
I love it — I just downloaded this plugin earlier today! So nice to get confirmation that I made a good decision. Website should go live in the next week, so we’ll see how it works then, won’t we?
Yay! I love this plugin! I hope you will come back and share a link when your site goes live. xoxo Tauni
Thank you Kendra for this post.
I could not find the right Pinterest button for my website and this did the trick. I’m not sure of the location yet, but I’ll have to wait and see if people actually see it in the side bar. I’m still at the very beginning, so I guess I need to test a few things first.
I’ll be back to check out more of your tips and tutorials.
– Marlene
Mariene, I am so glad you found Kendra’s tutorial helpful. I’ve really enjoyed having her here as a contributor! Please let us know if there is anything we can help with or other questions we can answer! xoxo Tauni
Thank you!
I sure will, but I will also go through your website for past posts and tutorials. I’m sure they will be helpful.
– Marlene
Thanks for the tips! Just one question- how do I find the URL of my email?
Thank you sooo much for the tip! I have been trying to find social media buttons that I liked but never could. One question, is there a way for you to have a different color for each social media button? Thanks again – you rock!!
-Hillary
Hillary, Unfortunately with this plugin all of your buttons would have to be the same. If you want different colors, you’d actually have to go in and hand code them instead of using this plugin. xoxo Tauni
Thank you SO much for this post!! Just got my social links added to my new blog!
Fantastic! Glad we could help. xo