15 Pinterest Plugins for WordPress
If you are currently using wordpress for your website or blog as well as Pinterest to proliferate your visual content then you have come to the right place. For WordPress users the four native widgets offered by Pinterest are not the only options available to help share your visual content. The plugins on this list are streamlined to make it easier and more appealing than ever for visitors of your site to share your content and ultimately boost traffic back to your site.
Although this is not a complete list of all available plugins, it is a good (and rather extensive) collection of highlights that will serve well in raising your consciousness and giving you an understanding of what is out there.1. Pinterest Tab
This simple and straightforward plugin allows you to display your Pinterest page in a single neat frame inside any one of your pages on wordpress. The Pinterest Tab application also gives you the ability to showcase your boards and pins inside a tab on your Facebook Fan page. Visitors to your website can enjoy the complete functionality of your actual Pinterest while never having to leave your site environment. The application is mobile compatible and extremely easy to set up and use. To get the most out of marketing your business on Pinterest be sure to also check out wishpond’s Pinterest contest app.
2. Pinterest “Pin It” Button
Nest Lets take a look at the Pinterst ‘Pin it’ Button. This plugin will allow you to add a ‘Pin It’ button either above and/or below the content on a page or post. The ‘Pin It’ button functions much like the Pinterest bookmarklet in that it allows visitors to select an image from a popup. The Pin count has the option of being displayed either horizontally or vertically or not at all. Also, the button can be excluded from any page or post. There is also a (paid) ‘Pin it’ Button Pro version available. Some of the added features included in the pro version are: an additional 29 button designs to choose from, the option of including a ‘pin it’ button to individual images to be displayed when users hover over the images and the option of allowing featured images to be pre-selected when users pin content from your page.
3. Digg Digg
Rather than have a single isolated ‘Pin it” button on your pages it may be more desirable for you to combine your social network sharing buttons into a single tidy item. One of the best options out there to do this is the Digg Digg share bar. The Digg Digg Share bar is an especially nice choice due to the very large number of social networks that are supported. The share bar can be displayed either vertically or horizontally at the top of the page or as a floating side bar. There is also the option for advanced users to place the bar anywhere they like inside their pages. Instructions to do this are given directly inside the Digg Digg plugin menu inside of your dashboard.4. Pinterest Plugin
The name of this particular plugin almost couldn’t be less descriptive. Basically, the plugin adds a ‘pin it’ button to individual images inside of your pages and posts. The button is displayed when users hover over the images. Keep in mind, this plugin is not compatible with gallery plugins such as NextGen gallery. However, keep reading and alternative solutions will be made available to you!5. Pinterest Image Pin
If you don’t want to settle with a single ‘pin it’ button at the top of your page but instead want to drill the idea of sharing your content into your visitors heads (not that there’s anything wrong with that), then this plugin is for you. This one functions much the same way as the Pinterest plugin with the key difference being that the ‘pin it’ button is displayed below each image rather than on hover. The button can be displayed with a count bubble above, to the side or not at all. The Plugin also gives you the option of adding a Pinterest follow button to the bottom of your posts/pages. There are three design options to choose from for the follow button. This plugin does not work for WordPress image galleries, however…6. Pinterest for Galleries
Pinterest for Galleries allows you to add ‘pin it’ buttons to every image in a wordpress gallery. Depending on how you are currently displaying your content you may need to utilize just one or both of the last two plugins. On the other hand, for some users neither of these last two options will be appropriate because neither plugin is compatible with gallery plugins such as Next Gen Gallery. Fortunately, this next plugin offers a solution…7. Pinterest Lightbox
Although Pinterest lightbox exists purely as an extension to NextGen Gallery, the popularity of NextGen warrants the plugin’s place on this list. NextGen currently has over 5 and a half million downloads, so you can be sure there are plenty of people who will benefit from the marriage of NextGen Gallery and Pinterest.
8. Social Networks Auto-Poster
If you are looking to automate your posts to social networks then this plugin is for you. Auto-Poster will allow you to automatically publish your blog posts to a very large variety of supported networks. Interestingly, this plugin even has the capability to auto-submit blog posts on other wordpress blogs. Pins generated for Pinterest will automatically use the post’s featured image. Thankfully, this plugin makes 100% white labeled posts so the focus will be on your content alone. Pins generated for Pinterest will use the WordPress post’s featured image.9. Pinterest “Follow” Button
Amassing a substantial legion of followers (repeat visitors) is the goal of any person or business looking to market themselves and improve conversion rates through pinterest. To this end, you will want to do as much as you can to encourage visitors to follow you on Pinterest. To facilitate this, the Pinterest ‘Follow’ button offers a simple and easy to use solution, allowing you to place a follow button in your sidebar. But with technicalities aside, given that this article has been written to help you improve your Pinterest marketing strategy, I am compelled to emphasize that providing the incentive for viewers to follow you lies entirely in the content production and marketing end of your operation (as if anyone actually needed a reminder). Pinterest is a platform in which users explore and share their desires and their passions; people do not click ‘pin it’ and ‘follow me’ buttons just because they are red and shiny (that is only a small part of the reason). As can be seen in the image above, the Pinterest ‘Follow’ Button is available in a variety of different styles.
10. Pinterest Pinboard Widget
As a pinboard-style widget, this plugin will establish a theme for the next few inclusions on this list. The Pinterest Pinboard Widget works simply by displaying a selected number of the most recent pins from a Pinterest user of your choosing. A show ‘more pins’ button is included at the bottom of the widget. The expansiveness of the widget can be adjusted by specifying how many images wide and how many images tall you would like the widget to contain. The actual thumbnail size can be changed only by adjusting the CSS. I only bring up that last point because…
11. Pinterest RSS Widget
The Pinterest RSS Widget is quite similar to the Pinterest Pinboard Widget with the addition of a few more customization options. These options include: the ability to choose specific boards, adjustable thumbnail dimensions, the option of displaying pin titles and the option of including a size adjustable ‘follow me on Pinterest button.’12. Pretty Pinterest Pins
Much like the last two widget options this easy to use plugin allows you to display thumbnails of the latest Pinterest Pins from a Pinterest user (that includes you) of your choice. The plugin settings for this particular variety of pinboard widget allow you to choose the number of pins to be displayed and whether or not to show image captions. You can also choose whether or not to display a ‘Follow me’ button. Compare the look and functionality of the last few widgets options and decide which one is best suited to your specific site.13. Ultimate Photo Widget
This widget breaks the pattern established by the last few entries by branching out to other image sharing sites. The ‘Ultimate Photo Widget,’ allows you to bring together images from Flikr, Tumblr and Pinterest and present them all within a single widget. There are four display options for this widget: vertical, slideshow, tile and square tile. The first two are fairly self-explanatory; the square tile option differs to the tile option in that it crops all images to become squares. A more detailed explanation of this plugin’s functionality can be found here.14. WP Pinner
The functionality of WP Pinner is a great deal more extensive than most of the other entries on this list. WP Pinner claims to be an entire Pinterest dashboard inside of your WordPress admin area. The idea, according to the developers, is to get more out of Pinterest while not having to spend as much tiem on the site. According to wppinner.com plugin functions include: scheduled pins, auto-pin wordpress posts, auto-follow pinterest users and analytics options. WP Pinner cannot be found inside the wordpress.org plugin directory. Instead, free access to wp pinner beta can be found at wppinner.com.15. Pinterest Block
To conclude this list of WordPress plugins geared to increasing the share-ability of your content on Pinterest I will finish with a plugin that does the exact opposite. This little gem enables you to select global areas of your blog/site (eg. Home, archives, pages, posts etc.) that visitors will be incapable of pinning images from. This can be done on a page by page or post by post basis.
Leverage Pinterest for your Marketing Campaigns with Wishpond’s Pinterest Contest app. Run a Pinterest contest to engage fans to submit and vote on Pinterest boards, on Facebook, Twitter, Websites, and Mobile Devices.