Think Before You Engage: 100 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign

22. What Can I Install on My Website to Encourage Conversations?

There are many different plug-ins and codes that can be included on a website to encourage conversations. The codes or plug-ins to use will vary depending on your purpose and intended usage on the site.

Social Plugins

The most commonly used plug-ins are the ones let you add the content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or other services immediately from the website or article. Commonly referred to as the Like button (Facebook), the Tweet button (Twitter), Digg button, or +1 (Google), these plug-ins are often used on blogs to promote social sharing. Nearly every social network has a button that you can install on your website to encourage conversation. The social networks will also have instructions for how to install, including giving you the code directly and allowing you to essentially just copy and paste it over into your website. Sites based in WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or other similar content management systems often can take advantage of ready-made code that can be installed with a simple upload.

Comment Systems

The most commonly used plug-ins are the ones let you integrate comments into commenter's social networks. Disqus is a blog-commenting system, an external service used in blogs to offer a versatile, yet easy-to-use platform for both the readers and the bloggers to make blog commenting a better experience ...