Social media sharing is a highly underrated form of marketing your products, and it costs you absolutely nothing other than a little time to set up.

Allowing your customers to share to Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, allows your products to reach further potential customers and increases the chances of going viral.

  • What Are Social Media Share Buttons And Why Are They Important? 🤷‍♀️
  • Which Social Networks Are Best For eCommerce?🧐
  • How to Add Facebook Like And Share Buttons On Shopify 👩‍🏫
  • Where To Use Social Media Share And Like Buttons 🔍
  • Conclusion🙌
  • Important disclosure: we're proud affiliates of some tools mentioned in this guide. If you click an affiliate link and subsequently make a purchase, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (you pay nothing extra). For more information, read our affiliate disclosure.

    What Are Social Media Share Buttons And Why Are They Important? 🤷‍♀️

    Social sharing buttons are the little icons you see on sites that allow you to share a post or product directly to the social media channel of your choice.

    Social media buttons, such as the Facebook like and share button, are incredibly effective and totally free. And who doesn’t want in on free marketing!

    Adding these to your site can increase brand exposure and trust, improve customer experience, and play a role in SEO by increasing organic traffic.

    As far as eCommerce is concerned, it is a quick and easy way to allow your customers to share their purchases on social media. This endorsement increases cross-channel promotion and positively impacts your online influence through social proof.

    By sharing, your product reaches new prospective clients in a quick and cost-effective way and is one of the best word-of-mouth marketing strategies you can employ.

    Which Social Networks Are Best For eCommerce? 🧐

    As with any social media marketing, choosing the channels that work best for your brand is important. Think of your target market and test out a few channels to see which works best.

    While we may think of social media as the most talked about social networks, don’t underestimate sharing to email (the original social media) as this allows your customers to send the link directly to specific contacts.

    For this post, we’re focusing on Facebook like and share as it’s still one of the most popular platforms out there, is a highly visual network, and has a large number of users.

    How to Add Facebook Like And Share Buttons On Shopify 👩‍🏫

    There are a few ways to let your customers share to Facebook, by using one of the social sharing apps available on the Shopify app store or by customizing your theme’s code.

    Adding Facebook like and share buttons to your Shopify store is a great way to reach prospective customers.

    Shopify uses HTML, CSS, JSON, and JavaScript, in addition to their own templating language, Liquid. Only edit the code if you understand these coding languages.

    If you do not know how to work with them, it is best to hire a Shopify Expert, through the Shopify Experts Marketplace, to assist in setting this up. You can also contact your theme’s developer for support.

    The Shopify App Store has a variety of apps that range from free to around $4 per month.

    Your best bet is to review the apps and ratings to see which one would work best for your eCommerce store.

    Remember that Shopify updated its themes and customization platform in 2021, so you’ll need to check whether the app is compatible with the new Online Store 2.0 Themes or the Vintage Themes.

    Below are a few of the available apps on the Shopify app store:

    App

    Free trial

    price

    Customizable

    ShareThis Share Button

    no

    free

    Wezu

    no

    One time $20 fee

    Social Share Buttons by Elfsight

    7-day

    $3.99 p/m

    Thank You Page - Share Buttons

    7-day

    $1.99 p/m

    Share Share Buttons

    7 day

    $0.99 p/m

    Where To Use Social Media Share And Like Buttons 🔍

    The placement of social media like and share buttons will have a big impact on their success. You could allow your shoppers to share after they have made their purchase or place subtle buttons on your product pages.

    Placing share and like buttons on product pages add convenience for customers who want to post the product quickly and easily.

    It’s worth knowing that some people use sites such as Pinterest to create digital wish lists and allowing them to ‘save’ a specific product would make it visible to their network regardless of their choice to purchase or not.

    That being said, social buttons should never distract from your goal of increasing sales.

    Conclusion 🙌

    Free social media advertising through social like and share buttons is a great way to reach potential customers and build your brand, just don’t forget the end goal of boosting conversions.

    Your Facebook like and share buttons should not interfere with the customers' purchasing process. Use smaller button sizes that allow customers to interact without interrupting the user experience for those who don’t want to.

    These buttons should also be strategically placed and designed. For example, buttons with counters can decrease conversions if numbers are low (decreases credibility). On the other hand, high numbers build trust in your products so add those in if your numbers are high.

    It might be best to hide counters if you’re just starting out or have a small following.

    In the end, tapping into social media sites, such as Facebook, is a great marketing tactic and, with the right strategy, can boost your conversions and increase your brand awareness.