Facebook Plugin for WordPress: Installation and Features

After a tad bit of trouble and a couple of error messages, I was able to get the new (free) Facebook plugin for WordPress to work properly. YEA!! There are a couple of things I want to caution you about before you install it. So let’s talk about how to install and what you can expect once you activate the plugin.

Installation

First things first, you have to install it before you can use it! I was a little anxious since I know very little coding, but luckily none was needed.

For a link to Facebook’s installation instructions, click here. 

For a more thorough walk-through, here’s a quick video from Meredith Eisenberg, of Global Social Media Managers Association: Click here

One caution: After you’ve installed the plugin and are taken to the page to create your app, you’ll see this box:

Do NOT check the box for web hosting. It won’t explode your computer or anything, but it’s not necessary and, for me, made the plugin not work properly. Aside from that, just follow the instructions from the video and you’ll be fine. It truly only takes a few minutes and is just a matter of copying and pasting information from the Facebook app page and the plugin console on your site.

Features

• Social Publisher This is a great feature in that it saves you a step when publishing a new post. As soon as you hit Publish, it is posted to your Page’s timeline (and with any luck, shown in fans’ news feeds). Within this feature there is an option to Publish to Author’s Timeline which allows posts to be published to each author’s timeline. Sounds great, but I had some issues with this as the instructions from Facebook leave out a couple of important steps that I have no idea how to complete. When you check the box for Publish to Author’s Timeline, you’re taken to the instruction page from the link above. There are what seem to be very simple instructions, but after completing all the steps and clicking Submit (it must be submitted to Facebook for review), this box pops up:

I have no idea what I’m supposed to put in this box. I’m sure many people do, but as someone with no experience creating apps, I’m stumped.  Should I get further instructions, I’ll update this post.

Until then, moving on…

Other features:

• Like Button This feature allows readers share your content with their friends on Facebook. You can choose options such as Send, Show faces, Layout, Width, Action (recommend or like), Color scheme, font,  and  Show on homepage. These are activated through check boxes or drop down menus – and may I just say thank goodness for that!
• Subscribe Button If you have allowed subscribers on your personal timeline, you can allow people to subscribe to your public updates right from your blog.
• Send Button This works like the Send button on other plugins which allows readers to send your URL to friends, Facebook groups, or in an email.
• Comments You’ve probably seen these on sites already. It displays a Facebook comment box directly under your posts.  NOTE: If there are already post comments, they’ll disappear and be replaced with the Facebook comment box.
• Recommendations Bar This allows readers to get recommendations, like content, and add what they’re reading to timeline as they go.

 Features in Post Editor Dashboard

• Mention Facebook Pages You can tag other Pages and the post will be sent to their timelines.
• Facebook Status on Your Page’s Timeline This is cool! You can actually write the status update that accompanies the post right from your dashboard. That may be my favorite features!
• Facebook Status on Your Timeline Just like above, but for your personal timeline. Again, pretty cool!
• Mention Facebook Friends You can tag your friends and your post will be sent to their timelines. Not sure how often I’d tag someone, unless I mentioned them in the article.

All in all, this is a great plug in that may allow for greater engagement for your Facebook Page(s). It will be interesting to see if it improves/encourages likes, shares, and comments. If it does, EdgeRank scores for those using the plugin may just go through the roof! <fingers crossed!>

Have you installed the plugin? If so, what are your thoughts? Need help? Leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to help!