Our Favorite WordPress Plugins for Boosting Engagement on Blog Posts
If you’ve been trying to figure out a way to make your blogs more interactive, you’re not alone. In the world of content creation, it’s important to provide blogs that are not only interesting but also keep the viewer engaged. But there are many ways to make a single blog post or article more interactive. We have identified some tools—including polls, ratings, and dynamic images that go beyond text to keep readers clicking and scrolling.
One caveat before we dive in: As with most things on WordPress, there are several options that mimic the functionality of each of the plugins we’ll discuss here. These are a great starting point, but ultimately, the plugins that you choose should be compatible with your theme and other plugins—and you’ll also run into paid options. If you are interested in more interactivity and want to review some plugins together, we’re happy to help.
Better Click to Tweet
It goes without saying: The more eyeballs on your content, the better. Taking that a step further: The easier it is to share your content, the more chances for more eyeballs. Plugins like Better Click to Tweet do a great job of allowing you to package shareable snippets of your content in an eye-catching callout within the post—and in just two clicks, readers can tweet that snippet along with a link back to your post. There’s no need for them to navigate to Twitter, think up a caption or copy, and paste the link. Think of it as a block quote on steroids! Here it is in action:
Crowdsignal Polls & Ratings
Traditionally, the only way to gain feedback on your WordPress content was through comments—but that’s hardly the case anymore. Adding polls to your posts with plugins like Crowdsignal Polls & Ratings is a low-stakes, anonymous and easy way for readers to provide feedback. Whether your questions are just for fun or you’re seeking sentiment to help shape your strategy, polls are an effective and user-friendly way to gather information.
Superb Social Media Share Buttons
As we mentioned before, encouraging readers to share your content is an effective way to expand your reach—so you want to make sharing as easy as possible. Plugins like Superb Social Media Share Buttons differ from Better Click to Tweet in that they typically become a fixture of your blog layout—normally at the top or bottom—and contain links to social networks of your choosing. There are tons of options for styling, so you can find a look that works well with your design.
Embed
A great (and common) way to break up a wall of text is through the use of imagery—but what about other forms of media? We’ll round out our list of plugin suggestions with something that isn’t a plugin at all—it’s a built-in feature of WordPress’s block editor: the Embed block. There are a ton of options for what you can embed in your blog post, but these are a few of our favorite ways to incorporate relevant media that go beyond a static image:
- Videos hosted on sites like Vimeo or YouTube
- Social posts from Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and more
- Photo galleries and sliders
Wrapping Things Up
Although there are plenty of ways to make your blog more interactive, the most important part of adding plugins is making sure they’re relevant to what you’re writing. So, play around with some of these plugin features, look for content to include in your blogs, and see what works best for you—you’ll have more interaction in no time!
