Last updated on April 9th, 2019 at 05:16 pm
Are you on the hunt for the perfect social sharing plugin? If so, I am about to show you the Social Warfare plugin. This plugin does so much more than just add social sharing buttons to your blog.
You can easily add a Click to Tweet box without adding an extra plugin to your blog.
In this post, I am going to be talking about the Social Warfare plugin. I won’t go into complete detail of how to set it up, I’ve already created a tutorial on that. Instead, we are going to be focusing on the feature of the plugin.
I’ve been using this plugin for since October 27th and I have to admit, I love it. I truly believe that it’s the main reason that my blog posts get shared.
You Need Your Content Shared
If you’re a new blogger, you need to make it as easy as possible to get your content shared. This plugin does just that. In fact, I don’t think that my content would be shared so much, if I wasn’t using this plugin.
Related posts on the Social Warfare Plugin:
- Is Social Warfare the Best Plugin?
- How to Create Your Pinterest Images
- Social Warfare Plugin, Why I Use It and Setup And Customization Tips
- How to Set Up The Free Social Warfare Plugin
This is my Customized Live Click To Tweet
Yes, you can click this one to see the Social Warfare plugin in action. Click it now
[clickToTweet tweet=”Customize the Social Warfare Click to Tweet theme #SocialWarfare #FreeTraining @SusanVelez.com” quote=”Customize the Social Warfare Click to Tweet theme #SocialWarfare #FreeTraining @SusanVelez.com” theme=”style4″]
Take a look at my most shared blog post.
I know that you might be thinking that it’s barely over 400 shares, and shares are nothing more than vanity metrics.
True, I know that shares don’t mean a lot. However, every time someone shares one of your blog posts, it means that more people have the potential to see that post.
This is why it’s so important to make sure that you’re using the right WordPress plugin that makes it easy for people to share your content. This plugin allows you to easily create tweetable content for your readers.
If You’re Not Getting Shares
Then your chances of being found by new readers will decrease big time. This means that you’ll be pumping out blog post after blog post, pretty much for nothing.
Nothing is more demotivating than writing new blog posts without getting any readers. Trust me, I still have a knack for producing content that doesn’t get any love. As new bloggers, we have to find ways to stay motivated when no one reads our posts.
I know that it takes time to build up a tribe and you’re going to need a lot of content, and I am not complaining. However, don’t you think that using a plugin that makes it easier to get shares is worth it? Check it out here.
Related: Steal My Pinterest Image Creation System
Social Warfare Click To Tweet
When I first started this blog, I was using the Monarch social sharing plugin. I was also using thisΒ plugin.
Now that I am using the ultimate social plugin, I no longer have to use a separate plugin. It comes with the feature built in. I am not sure if the free version has this function, as I only use the paid version.
I want to walk you through the process of how I use this feature.
Now, I’ve been known to do things a little harder than necessary. In fact, when I customized the Social Warfare plugin, I dove into the CSS and styled it from there.
Dustin Stout the creator of the plugin got on Twitter, to inform me that there was an easier way to style the plugin.
Of course, I chose to leave it customized like I had it. I figured it was working fine and I spend so much time on other tasks, I really don’t have a lot of free time.
Maybe, one day, I’ll go back and fix it. Don’t worry, I’ll write a new blog post on how to customize it properly.
However, this Twitter comment just goes to show how awesome the developer of the plugin is. I mean he got on Twitter and told ‘little ole me’ that there was an easier way to customize the plugin.
You’ll never have to worry about getting support for the plugin π
How to Create A Beautiful Box
Once you’ve got Social Warfare installed and activate the plugin, it’s time to start using it. It took me a while to start using the feature to start increasing your social media following because I really didn’t understand it.
I am not sure that I still do, however, I am starting to use it more often in my blog posts. It’s extremely easy to use and if you don’t want to customize it, you don’t have to.
However, I am going to show you how I customized the colors to match my blog like this. Yes, I’ll be diving back into the CSS stylesheet.
Watch Over My Shoulder
If you would rather follow along as I show you how I changed mine on my blog, I created this step-by-step video.
Of course, if you’d rather follow along with me via my screenshot tutorials, then you can do so below.
Log Into Your WordPress Dashboard
First things first, you’ll first need to log into WordPress. Scroll down until you see the Social Warfare tab on the left and click on it. If you don’t know how to install the plugin, read this.
This will take you to the plugin settings, you’ll want to click on the styles tab on the very top of the settings page. Scroll down the page until you see this.
When you click on the drop-down, you’ll notice that you have several different themes to choose from. Here is a quick look at what each theme looks like, so you’ll know exactly what I am talking about.
I’ve taken screenshots of all the possible themes built-in to the plugin.
Default Theme
Send Her My Love
Roll With the Changes
Free Bird
Don’t Stop Believin
Thunderstruck
Livin on a Prayer
As you can see, all these themes look great without you having to do any customization. So if you want to use them as is, that’s cool.
You can pick up the plugin here.
However, I am going to show you how I customized the Don’t Stop Believin theme which is style 4. I only did this so I could get it to match the color of my blog.
Of course, if there’s an easier way to do this, then feel free to let me know. I am just showing you how I did it.
Styling The Don’t Stop Believin Theme
You can choose from any of the different themes and follow this tutorial. I am just going to show you which code you need to grab and paste into your child theme CSS.
I am using the Daily Dish Pro from Genesis. Every child theme will be different, but the concept will be the same.
Let’s Go…
Open up your WordPress files using your favorite FTP software. If you’re completely new to this, I recommend using Desktop Server to set up a local installation of your WordPress blog.
This will allow you to play around with WordPress and make changes without crashing your live site. Either way, it doesn’t matter which method you use to make these changes.
Navigate to your the social Warfare plugin CSS stylesheet. The path will be:
wp-content/plugins/social-warfare/css/style.css
That file will have all the built-in styles for your plugin. Do not make any changes to this particular file.
Instead, we are going to find the styles we need for the Don’t Stop Believin theme which is style4.
That code is going to look like this and I found it on line 1377 using Sublime.
a.swp_CTT.style4:hover .sw-click-to-tweet {
border-left: 10px solid #3c87b2;
-webkit-transition: all 0.25s linear;
transition: all 0.25s linear;
}
a.swp_CTT.style4 .sw-click-to-tweet {
background-color: #333;
border-left: 10px solid #c33;
-webkit-border-radius: 0;
border-radius: 0;
-webkit-transition: all 0.25s linear;
transition: all 0.25s linear;
}
As you can see this is only for the style box 4 theme, so it won’t affect any of the other themes. If you choose to use a different theme, just choose the theme for that code.
Or you should just be able to replace the number 4 with the number of the theme you want to style.
Copy and paste that code into your WordPress child theme style sheet. In order to do this you, you’ll go to:
wp-content/themes/genesis/daily-dish-pro/style.css
Scroll all the way to the bottom and paste the code into your child themes’s CSS stylesheet.
a.swp_CTT.style4:hover .sw-click-to-tweet {
border-left: 10px solid #F0E876 !important;
-webkit-transition: all 0.25s linear;
transition: all 0.25s linear;
}
a.swp_CTT.style4 .sw-click-to-tweet {
background-color: #333;
border-left: 10px solid #68A725 !important;
-webkit-border-radius: 0;
border-radius: 0;
-webkit-transition: all 0.25s linear;
trans
As you can see, the only thing that I changed was the color of the border color. I also changed the color of the border on the hover effect.
I wanted the border to match the green color of my blog. The default color, did not match my blog.
It’s Easy to Customize The Social Warfare Plugin
As I mentioned, you don’t have to customize your Click to Tweet boxes, as they already look good right out of the box.
All you have to do is start using the boxes to make it easy for people to share on Twitter so you can get more eyeballs on your content.
I personally couldn’t find an easier way to customize them from inside the dashboard. So I dove into the stylesheet and figured it out on my own.
My goal with this post was to show you how I was able to customize it to match the colors of my blog.
I still haven’t gone back and changed them out on my old posts, but from this point forward they will match.
Final Take Away
Even if you decide NOT to style yours with the Social Warfare plugin. You should realize the importance of using a plugin that makes it easy to get more shares. By now you should know that you shouldn’t use several plugins, it will only slow down your blog.
If you’re using this social sharing plugin, you won’t have to worry about adding a separate click to tweet plugin. This does everything you need to start promoting your content on the popular social media platforms.
I know that paying for a plugin that you may or may not like can be challenging. You can install the free Social Warfare plugin to see if it is the right plugin for you.
If you decide that you like it, then upgrade to the Pro version. I personally think that it’s worth the small yearly price they ask for.
No blogger wants to spend time writing content that doesn’t get shared. If you need more shares then.
This plugin will do that for you. Even though we’ve all heard that social share numbers are nothing more than a vanity metric. The truth is that you need people sharing your content.
That’s one of the fastest ways to grow your blog. Yes, I know that SEO is important, but you can’t sit there and rely 100% on Google. If you’re ready to start your blog I suggest you pick up my JumpStart WordPress ebook which will help you get started on the right track.
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Do you use the Social Warfare Plugin? Did you find this tutorial easy to understand and follow? Let me know in the comments below.
Following your articles from last few months and got motivated to start my own blog. Keep up the good work.
Hi Shubham,
Glad to hear that my blog is helping you get motivated to start your own blog.
Let me know when you get it started, and I’ll stop by and check it out.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day π
Susan
Hi Susan,
I really dig that click to tweet feature. And how easily you can add it. Both with my 51,000 member following and short and punchy, sometimes tweetable lines from my blog posts, seems like a fine match. I also dig your little pop up in the lower right hand corner. What plug in is that? I set up a similar one through Sumo I believe and netted a few more subscribers after posting it.
Thanks for the cool share π
Ryan
Hey Ryan,
Yeah, I really love the Click to Tweet function as well. I am starting to use it more often now and I really like it. I am sure that it works awesome with your 51,000 followers.
The little pop up is Thrive Leads I’ve personally never used Sumo, but have heard a lot of good things about it.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, hope you have a great day π
Susan
Hi Susan,
This is a really interesting article because social sharing is so important.
Like you say, it’s not just vanity.
Those numbers are real people who have taken the time to read and share your articles.
Since they’re interested in what you’re doing, a Click To Tweet is a natural add-on.
Do those clicks go back to your blog site, though?
I never quite understood how that works with Click to Tweets.
You did a great job with this article, with real helpful, detailed info.
-Donna
Nice one, Susan!
I’m a huge fan of Social Warfare and Dustin! He is super friendly and informative! I love what you did with your Click to Tweet. Great tutorial!
B
Hi Bren,
Yeah, I am a fan of both as well. Glad you liked the tutorial.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, have a great one π
Susan
Hi Donna,
I used to think that it was vanity, funny huh. I love it when people share my articles, it means that they like them enough to share them and gets me in front of more visitors.
The clicks on the Click to Tweet actually are an easy way for someone to Tweet out your saying in the box. So when someone clicks on the Click to Tweet box, they will tweet out what the box says.
Hope this makes sense, and I am so glad that you liked the article.
Have a great day π
Susan
Hello Susan,
I am also started using Social warfare plugin on my blog. It is really so cool . I also like the click to tweet option as it will increase the share of your post. I am just playing with its setting and find this post of yours. Its really save my day. Thanks for this informative tutorial.
Have a great day π
Vishwajeet
Hi Vishwajeet,
Glad to hear that you’re using the Social Warfare plugin. Let me know if you have any questions with the settings.
I am glad that you were able to find my post.
Have a great day π
Susan
Focus on the basics first, getting a good website up,
a strong foundation of SEO and an effective outreach program to kick things off.
Later,
you can build on your successes and pretty soon youβll have to hire your own customer response team,
to whom you can refer this article for pointers
Good luck out there!
Hi Ibrar,
Great tips and I appreciate you sharing them.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day π
Susan
I could not stop myself reading this wonderful post.
I am using social warfare for months and I am impressed with it.
And, yeah, it’s frustrating writing posts one after one until you find readers and sharing helps a lot.
Thanks Susan !
Hi Lakesh,
Glad to hear that you’re using Social Warfare. You’re right, it is frustrating when you’re just writing and no one is sharing.
Keep hanging in there, I have no doubt that you’ll reach your blogging goals soon.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan