Mobile usage is not going anywhere, and many believe that our reliance on those beloved handheld devices is only going to increase in the future. This is something that shouldn’t be overlooked while you try to grow your business or website popularity.
If your content and design are not suited to work well on mobile devices, you might be in some serious trouble. However, we’re not about to let that happen to you. Read on to find one of the most powerful ways to stay in and ahead of the mobile game.
Just by connecting your website to a single influential app, you’ll see your exposure grow exponentially (assuming that your content is share-worthy of course 😉 ). When it comes to mobile apps, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps worldwide.
If that’s not already obvious by the number of your friends and family who probably use it, just take a look at the stats: WhatsApp grew from 1 billion to 1.2 billion users in just one year (from February 2016 to February 2017), and is used in more than 180 countries, with 50 million messages being sent per day by its users.
It’s no wonder that many companies are jumping at the opportunity to incorporate the WhatsApp Share Button into their marketing strategies. Have you?
If not, let’s talk about the advantages of WhatsApp and why you should use it.
What is WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay carrier fees for texting. The app primarily started out as an SMS alternative, but overtime it’s grown to include photo sharing, audio and video calling, and even the ability to send documents, locations, and more.
Basically, WhatsApp is its own version of Messenger but with very convenient and popular group messaging options, especially for connecting people from different countries or different devices (Androids to iPhones). You may already have the app, and if so, you probably have groups dedicated to family, close friends and perhaps even co-workers.
How Adding a WhatsApp Share Button To Your WordPress Website Can Increase Traffic
Many sites have already begun displaying a WhatsApp Share Button on their posts. The WhatsApp Share Button allows visitors to quickly send or share an article with their friends (individually or to a group) in real-time while they’re reading the article. As we all know, the easier and faster it is to share content, the more likely it is that it’ll actually be done. And the more shares your website gets, the better!
As mentioned above, there are now over a billion people around the globe who are using WhatsApp in their daily lives. Imagine how much traffic you can generate by tapping into that market. It can bring massive amounts of new views to your site by making sharing so much easier. Think about the potential of every blog post being shared to groups and groups of WhatsApp users through the WhatsApp Share Button.
It’d be fantastic! Whenever your readers enjoy one of your articles or posts, they can quickly forward it to their friends/team via the WhatsApp Share Button in seconds. You obviously won’t be able to reach all billion plus users at once, but even succeeding in reaching at least some percentage of these users would be beneficial.
The WhatsApp Share Button on mobile phones works similarly to the “Email to Friend” option; however, the difference is that it’s faster and happens in real-time. Additionally, WhatsApp will send a notification to everyone in the group so that they can read the article right away with their friends.
Adding a WhatsApp Share Button to Your WordPress Website
The WhatsApp Share Button works like any other social network icon (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, etc.). You can either combine it with these other buttons or display it separately – whichever makes the most sense for your post.
If you want to integrate the WhatsApp Share Button with your WordPress website, it’s quite simple and yet very effective. All you have to do is follow the steps we list below and you’ll have the WhatsApp Share Button working within minutes.
There are a number of plugins you can use on your WordPress site to include the WhatsApp Share Button. But to save you time we’ve narrowed down the choices to our two favorite:
First we’ll describe how to add and use the Share Post to WhatsApp plugin.
1. In your WordPress Dashboard go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for the plugin “Share Post to WhatsApp” and install it, then press “activate”.
3. Once the plugin is installed and activated, you’ll need to enable the WhatsApp icon in Settings > Share Post on WhatsApp and select the option “Enable Whatsapp Icon”.
4. Click on the “Save Changes” button.
As a result, you’ll get the WhatsApp Share Button on your WordPress website for posts and pages. With this particular plugin, it’ll look something like this:
Another plugin you can use to add the WhatsApp Share Button is called the AddToAny Share Buttons.
1. In your WordPress Dashboard go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for the plugin “AddToAny Share Buttons” and install it, then activate.
3. Go to Settings > AddToAny to configure the settings, and click “Add/Remove Services” to add the buttons you want, along with the defaults given for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
4. Find the WhatsApp service. Click on it to add WhatsApp and configure the display options according to where you want the button to display – at the bottom or top of the page.
5. Click on the “Save Changes” button.
This plugin option is better if you want the WhatsApp Share Button in addition and alongside other social network logos. With the AddToAny plugin, your WhatsApp Share Button will look something like this:
So that’s about it. Easy stuff, but really worthwhile. We definitely recommend you add a WhatsApp Share Button, especially if you post frequently on your website, sell new products constantly, or are an avid blogger. Have you already integrated WhatsApp with your WordPress site?
Share your results in the comments.
Recapping What We’ve Learned
- WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS.
- The WhatsApp Share Button can bring immense traffic to your WordPress site by making sharing so much easier.
- The WhatsApp Share Button on mobile phones works like the “Email to friend” option, but the difference is that it’s faster and happens in real-time.
- The WhatsApp share button works like any other social network icon (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.).
- There are several plugins you can use on your WordPress site. We’ve talked about two of them:
- Share Post to WhatsApp
- AddToAny Share Buttons
- Add one of the plugins to your website and enjoy the extra shares and exposure!
Writer’s Note: I’d like to especially thank Tatyana Hutsol, Artbees Support Specialist, for her contributions and help in writing this article.
No comment yet, add your voice below!