{"id":1133,"date":"2015-01-21T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T14:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamwiztech.com\/blog\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2015-01-21T09:06:56","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T14:06:56","slug":"social-media-icons-boxes-go-or-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wiztech4zc.com\/blog\/social-media-icons-boxes-go-or-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Icons & Boxes – Go or No?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tI was hired to create a Facebook like function for the Zen Cart product page back in 2010. I hated what happened. First of all, the like button takes longer to load that anything else on the page disrupting the loading and making the site look clunky. Then reality hit. All these social media folks just love making changes. I quickly decided never to do any social media mods again. I had one Twitter box get wiped out quickly; the like button was a constant source of aggravation for several reasons as I tried to support it on ZenCart.com<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI did just recently create a social media sidebox to make putting those icons on sites easier and in a way that I thought was best for design. I'm offering it in my Zen Cart Ready-To-Go template<\/a> and use it when setting up websites because it's a really easy way to do this. The colors can be changed with only a CSS edit – eliminating the need for graphic work and images. \n<\/p>\n

\n\tEven still, I'm running into cart owners who think those icons are so important that they ignore my recommendations and want them larger or more prominent than I believe is good.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd Then, A Blog Post Appeared in my Inbox
\n<\/h3>\n

\n\tIt was about Social Media icons and e-commerce conversions<\/a>. The question is does social media share buttons increase conversions – do they sell?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe answer is a resounding no. In fact, they can even hurt sales – especially if you don't have many shares or followers. They can also be a distraction:  "A case study from Visual Website Optimizer<\/a>, a website conversion and testing platform, of Finnish ecommerce retailer Taloon.com found that removing social sharing buttons from product pages resulted in an 11.9 percent higher conversion rate than pages that contained them."\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMy Social Media Recommendations:
\n<\/h3>\n