How to Add Social Media Icons to a WordPress Website with the Social Icons Widget Plugin by WPZOOM

In this tutorial you will learn how to add social icons to your WordPress website using a free plugin.

Some themes come with built-in social icons, though generally that is considered bad practice. In many cases it is best to use a plugin, like the Social Icons plugin by WPZOOM.

At the end of the video I will show you how to optimize the way this plugin works, something that many users of the plugin might not be aware of.

A paid version of the plugin is under development, I will make a separate video once it’s released. A link will be added in the video’s description.

Let’s begin.

Video Transcription

Install Social Icons Widget by WPZOOM Plugin

Go to your Dashboard and open the Add New page in the Plugins section.
Search for the term WPZOOM. You will see the plugin called Social Icons Widgets & Block by WPZOOM.

Click on the Install Now button and wait for the plugin to be downloaded.
Once it’s ready, click Activate.

Now let’s go to the Customize page and open the Widgets panel.
The Podcast Plus theme that I am using has multiple widgetized areas. Let’s start with the Primary Sidebar.

Click on the Add a Widget button and select the Social Icons by WPZOOM widget.

Check out all of the widget’s options.
When you add the URL to your social media profile page, the widget will automatically use the correct icon. But you can also manually choose an icon from one of the 5 libraries that are included in the plugin.

If you want each icon to be displayed on a separate line, you will have to enable icon labels.

Let’s add another instance of the widget in the website’s footer.

If you are using the Block Editor, you can add social icons by using a custom block.

Click the plus sign and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list.
Add the Social Icons Block and adjust it to your own liking.

Now let me explain how to optimize the performance of this plugin.
By default, the plugin will load all its CSS files and icon font files, even for icons that you’re not using.

To avoid that, go to your Dashboard and open the Social Icons Widget page in the Settings section.

Uncheck all the icons that you know you’re not using.
In the Misc. tab I’m disabling the Social Icons Block, as I’m not really using it.

Now instead of loading 15 files, the plugin will load only 4.

If you found this video helpful and you plan to purchase a theme or a plugin from WPZOOM, please consider using my affiliate link, it helps me continue making videos like this one.