So you want to know ‘How to add a ‘Facebook Like Button’ to your email template‘. Ever since MailChimp promised to add the functionality to their system we have seen a buzz with people wondering how they do it. This article is a quick and dirty guide to DIY Facebook Like Buttons embedded in email templates. So no matter who your ESP is you can embed a Like Button within your email design.
Well to be perfectly honest it really is not that hard, however contrary to what you may have hoped it is not quite seamless and there is no way for it to be. It involves a 2 click process.
The simplest way and the one most likely to work for most users is to use the following code.
— The Code —
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.facebook.com/pages/Email-Expert/130177676994892?ref%3Dts&layout=standard&show_faces=true&width=450&action=like&colorscheme=light&height=80 target="> <img title="Facebook Like Button" src="http://emailexpert.org/dontexist/likebutton.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
—-ends—-
Instructions
1. Change the URL to the page you want ‘liked’
2. Change the img location and upload your likebutton image.
Other Implementations
The Mailchimp implementation is a little different. When you click the ‘Like’ button you are taken to the hosted version of the newsletter and the “Like Box” as above is overlayed as a div. You could also take this route by adding the code to your hosted version of the newsletter.
With a little tweaking of the code you can do one better than the new window that is launched using this method. What is not going to be possible is a single click with you landing on your facebook fanpage or your website homepage. There will need to be two clicks.You can have the like button delivered as overlay on the html version of your newsletter as one example.
What Mailchimp do
As MailChimp said in their recent release:
Qudos for MailChimp implementing this so quickly, but with a little tweaking you should all be able to do something similar relatively painlessly while you await your own ESP or software vendor adding similar social sharing to their email newsletters.
Anyone else have idea’s on improving on this basic implementation?
Credit to @iamelliott for inspiring this blog post with his question on LinkedIn
Thanks this is going to help increase the number of fans of my page.
Regards
I found you via a comment on Econsultancy and I am so glad I did, this is just what I have been looking for. Thank you!!
how should this code being added, as e-mail signature right?
Hi,
does this code works for live mail…
I’m trying but I don’t know what’s happening, maybe I’m not doing it well…
help please…
Good web page! Thank you!
Good infomation here, thanks.
How long has this blog been around? I have been searching for this kind of information for the past week and a half. Good thing I stumbled upon your blog.
Hey, great post.
Fantastic . thank you!
Hmmm…very good, there are a number of elements that I had not considered before.
Thanks- I was wondering! excellant blog post.
Thanks Tony I have made some amendments to fix some of those issues, hopefully that will make it easier for everyone. Still need to tidy up those comment tags..
Jordan glad you found it useful.
Great info. I used this and it works like a charm!
Best regards,
Jordan
When you click the Facebook like within the email, where is it supposed to take you? When I test this I’m going to a page with nothing but the Facebook like button. Like the example above –
http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.facebook.com/pages/Email-Expert/130177676994892?ref%3Dts&layout=standard&show_faces=true&width=450&action=like&colorscheme=light&height=80
Is this what other people are getting or am I doing something wrong?
No Lilly, I am getting this too. seems this doesn’t work :(
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
Merci pour le contenu intéressant!
I really love Facebook. Thinking about giving it a try.
Nice great info here, i will post it on facebook :D
Hi, in FF3 at least, what should be normal double quotes marks copy over as angled ones, and need correcting, and what should be & characters come over as the html for the ampersand.
Great code though
best wishes
Tony
This is fantastic function that I am exploring as well. Would that affect the email deliverability?
Great Question. I have not tested it to any great degree. However, off the top off my head I would hope not for most part, but that said a link to facebook.com might well trigger some corporate filters and some may even strip the link.
So what to do if you fear this may be the case?
Well I suggest the idea of linking to a web based version of your email or a big thank-you page which contains the “div overlay” with the like button embedded within that page.
I will dig out the code for Overlay and write up an example if anyone wants it.