Social media and RSS feeds
Many merchants use social media and other digital tools to build brand and product awareness. You can integrate your store with your social networks by installing a Marketplace extension or adding a plugin to your content pages. Use RSS feeds to publish your product information to shopping aggregation sites, and even include them in your newsletters. Customers can subscribe to your RSS feeds to learn about new products and promotions.
Social networks
Your store can be connected to social networks by installing a Marketplace extension. In addition, you can easily add social plugins such as the Like button to CMS blocks that can be incorporated into pages throughout your store.
Social networking sites have a numerous plugins that can easily be added to your store. In addition, there are many extensions on the Commerce Marketplace that can be used to integrate your store with social media. The following example shows how to add a Facebook Like button to your store.
Step 1. Get the button code
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On the Meta developers website, go to the button setup page.
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For URL to Like, enter the URL of the page in your store that you want people to Like.
For example, you might enter the URL of your store’s home page.
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Choose the Layout for the button.
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Enter the Width in pixels that is available on your site for the button and any associated text message.
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Set Action Type to one of the following:
Like
Recommend
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Click Get Code to copy the generated code to the clipboard.
Step 2. Create a content block
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Return to your store Admin.
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On the Admin sidebar, go to Content > Elements > Blocks.
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In the upper-right corner, click Add New Block.
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Enter a descriptive Block Title for internal reference.
For example:
Facebook Like Button
. -
Assign a unique Identifier to the block, using all lowercase characters, and underscores instead of spaces.
For example:
facebook_like_button
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If your Commerce instance has multiple store views, choose each Store View where the block is to be available.
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Add the code snippet to the block content, depending on your content tool:
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When using Page Builder, add an HTML Code block to the stage and paste the snippet of code that you copied from the Facebook site. Otherwise, paste the snippet of code into the Content box.
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With the editor, paste the snippet of code that you copied from the Facebook site into the Content box.
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If the block is not ready to go live, set Enable Block to
No
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When complete, click Save Block.
Step 3. Place the block
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Add the block, depending on your content tool:
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When using Page Builder, follow the instructions to add the block to the stage.
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On the Admin sidebar, go to Content > Elements > Widgets.
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In the upper-right corner, click Add Widget and do the following:
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(Available with Adobe Commerce B2B only) In the Settings section, set Type to
CMS Static Block
and click Continue. -
Verify that Design Theme is set to the current theme.
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Click Continue.
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In the Storefront Properties section, do the following:
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For Widget Title, enter a title for internal reference.
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Set Assign to Store Views to
All Store Views
, or to the view where you want the app to be available. To select multiple views, hold down the Ctrl key (PC) or the Command key (Mac) and click each option. -
Enter a number in the Sort Order field to determine the order of the block if it assigned to appear in the same location on the page as other content elements. The top position is zero.
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In the Layout Updates section, click Add Layout Update and set Display On to the category, product, or page where you want the block to appear.
For example, if you choose
All Pages
and position the block in either the header or footer, the block appears in the same place on every page of the store.To place the block on a specific page, do the following:
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Set Display On to
Specified Page
and select the Page where you want the block to appear. -
Choose the Block Reference to identify the place on the page where the block is to be placed.
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Accept the default setting for Template, which is set to
CMS Static Block Default Template
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Click Save and Continue Edit.
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In the panel on the left, choose Widget Options.
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Click Select Block… and choose the block that you want to place.
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When complete, click Save.
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When prompted, follow the instructions at the top of the workspace to update the index and page cache.
The widget now appears in the Widgets list.
Step 4. Verify the location in the store
Return to your storefront to verify that the block is in the correct location. To move the block, you can reopen the widget try a different page or block reference.
RSS feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based data format that is used to distribute information online. Your customers can subscribe to your RSS feeds to learn about new products and promotions. RSS feeds can also be used to publish your product information to shopping aggregation sites, and can be included in newsletters.
When RSS feeds are enabled, any additions to products, specials, categories, and coupons are automatically sent to the subscribers of each feed. A link to all RSS feeds that you publish is in the footer of your store.
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The software that is required to read an RSS feed is called a feed reader, and allows people to subscribe to headlines, blogs, podcasts, and much more. Google Reader is one of the many feed readers that are available online for free.
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Benefits of setting up an RSS feed
- Download the latest update from your store or blog
- Light ads
- Ordinary shares
- Boost SEO
- Increase sales
Types of RSS feeds
Set up RSS feeds for your store
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On the Admin sidebar, go to Stores > Settings > Configuration.
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In the upper-right corner, set Store View to the views where the feeds are to be available.
If you are prompted to confirm, click OK.
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In the left panel, expand Catalog and choose RSS Feeds.
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Expand the Rss Config section and set Enable RSS to
Enable
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If necessary, clear the Use Default checkbox to change the default value.
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Expand the Wish List section and set Enable RSS to
Enable
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Expand the Catalog section and set other feeds to
Enable
as needed.- New Products
- Special Products
- Coupons/Discounts
- Top Level Category
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Expand the Order section and set Customer Order Status Notification to
Enable
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When complete, click Save Config.
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See result on the storefront with
/rss
at the end of the page URL.