As creators and authors we know that including rich media can work to make our content more interesting and engaging. While high quality images, memes and graphics all serve this purpose, did you know that most major social networks all provide options to embed public social content published?
Embedding social content into your posts is a good idea for the following reasons:
- It can work to bring a conversation into your posts
- It’s an interactive element that encourages engagement from readers
- They can work to provide context to the topic or credibility by sharing content from a trusted source
- Can work to increase followers by sharing your own social content
- It breaks up large blocks of text
- It’s a smart way to repurpose your social content
Now that we’ve covered why embedding your social content is a good idea, lets dive into some examples!
1. How to embed a SlideShare presentation
SlideShare is an incredible platform for not only discovering new presentations, but also an effective channel for repurposing your own content to reach new audiences.
All public presentations on SlideShare can be embedded by copying and pasting a line of code to be added to your post or page.
To embed a SlideShare presentation, find the embed button at the bottom of a presentation, choose your size dimensions, the slide number that you’d like the presentation to start on, and copy the embed code. Here’s what an embedded SlideShare presentation looks like:
2. How to embed a tweet
Embedding tweets is a fun way to share news, updates, or quotes from your own account or from other users. To embed a tweet into a page, just click expand the drop-down menu, select “Embed Tweet” and copy and paste the code into your post or page.
When copying the code, you’ll see the option to include the image (Twitter Card) or not. Here’s an embeded tweet with the image included:
4 Ways to Use @SlideShare for Lead Generation on @SMExaminer – http://t.co/FdPwTDKmYo #smtips pic.twitter.com/ZDKfgMWuzg
— Peg Fitzpatrick (@PegFitzpatrick) February 23, 2015
3. How to embed a Facebook post and video
Embedding posts from your Facebook profile or brand page is as simple as clicking the right hand corner of your post, selecting “Embed Post,” selecting the pixel width of the post, and copying and pasting the code into your website.
Here’s how an embedded Facebook post will appear:
Facebook also recently announced that users can now embed Facebook videos on other websites. To embed a Facebook video simply click the “embed” button and copy and paste the code into a post or page.
4. How to Embed Pinterest boards and pins
Embedding Pinterest pins and boards isn’t quite as straightforward as with other social networks and requires a few extra steps to generate an embed code. Hubspot’s Ginny Soskey first reported on how to embed a Pinterest board and I’ll be breaking down her process.
Start by grabbing the URL of the Pinterest board you’d like to embed, navigate to Pinterest’s Widget Builder and select “Board Widget” from the left navigation.
Enter your board’s URL, select the style and dimensions of your board and select “Build It.” Copy and paste the code where you want your board to appear.
Here’s how an embedded Pinterest board appears:
Follow Real Integrated Marketing’s board Online Marketing Tools on Pinterest.
5. How to embed a YouTube video
Including videos from YouTube in your pages or posts provides readers with another content format to present information on your website. Embedding your own or another creator’s video that have been enabled for embedding is easy and can be accomplished by following these quick steps:
1. Find the embed code from the “Share” button on a video and select “Embed”
2. Copy the code and paste it where you’d like your video to appear on your webpage
3. If you use WordPress as your CMS, copy and paste the URL of the video where you’d like your video content to display on the page
6. How to embed a Google+ Post
Google+ public post can also be embedded and shared on your pages and posts and is a great way to bring the conversation back to your website. Here’s a quick video showing how easy the process is for those that use WordPress as a CMS.
7. How to embed an Instagram image or video
Instagram also allows users to embed both images and video into websites. To embed an Instagram image or video just follow these steps:
1. Log into your Instagram account
2. Find and open the image or video you want to embed
3. In the bottom right hand corner, click the button and select “Embed”
4. Copy the embed code and past it into the HTML of a webpage where you’d like it to appear
Here’s how an embedded Instagram image appears:
That’s it. Embedding your social posts, pages, videos, tweets, pins and boards is simple and can work to increase engagement, add additional context to the topic of your post, and raise awareness for your social profiles.
Are you currently embedding social content into your posts? If so, do you feel it improves the reader experience?
