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You are here: Home / Small Business Marketing / Socially Build Your List – How To Add Social Share Buttons To PDF Reports

Socially Build Your List – How To Add Social Share Buttons To PDF Reports

February 18, 2013 by Jan Kearney

There’s no doubt that your email list is your most valuable asset online – yes, even more than your blog or website. 

Last week I unleashed (haha! A slight over exageration there!) my new free report, “5 Simple Steps to Local Business Facebook Success“.  I thought I would try something that doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the gazillion “build your list” articles online.

If you downloaded the report would have spotted the social share buttons. 

Pdf with social share buttons

Click any of the share buttons on the PDF and the report isn’t actually shared…

A link back to the sign up page to download the report is shared.  Adding social share buttons to your PDF reports and documents has two benefits:

  1. It encourages others to sign up to receive the report and helps build your list
  2. You get social shares and mentions pointing back to your site

Since then, several people have asked, “Jan, how did you add those social share buttons to the report?”  Grab a coffee, this could turn out to be a long post.

Contents

  • How To Add Social Share Buttons To A PDF Document
  • Add a Facebook Share Button
  • Add a Twitter Share Button
  • Add a LinkedIn Share Button
  • Add a Google+ Share Button
  • What about Pinterest?
  • Take a PDF cheat sheet with you
  • Related Posts

How To Add Social Share Buttons To A PDF Document

Depending on where I am sat, I use either Word or Open Office to create short PDFs.  Both allow linking images and export to PDF in the current versions.

To add social share buttons to a PDF, you will need:

  • A way of creating PDFs that allows linking images
  • Social share icons
  • The link to your opt-in page

Add a Facebook Share Button

1. First, you need to prepare your target URL.  The part that tells Facebook to share is:

http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=

2. Directly after the equals symbol, add the URL of your opt-in page where people can sign up to download your PDF (including the http://)

http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.your-opt-in-page.co.uk

3. Copy and paste your Facebook share URL into your browser to test it

facebook shared from PDF

4. Next, you add the link to the share icon.  Follow the next steps for each share icon you add.  The screenshot is from Open Office.

adding a share link to social icons in a PDF

  • Insert your chosen share icon and click on it so that it is selected
  • Click on the add hyperlink icon in the menu and enter the complete share URL into the target box
  • Click the frame dropdown and select  _blank then click apply

Add a Twitter Share Button

You can add your own tweet to be shared, although it can be altered by the person tweeting.  Keep your message short to allow room to retweet.  I do recommend you shorten your landing page URL with a service such as bit.ly.

The first part of the URL that you need is:

http://twitter.com/home/?status=

1. Prepare your tweet message including your Twitter handle and hash tags as required e.g. 

I downloaded this fab report from @jankearney http://bit.ly/1234 #genius

2. Replace all spaces with a + and the # with %23

I+downloaded+this+fab+report+from+@jankearney+http://bit.ly/1234+%23genius

3. Add your Twitter message to the share URL directly after the equals sign

http://twitter.com/home/?status=I+downloaded+this+fab+report+from+@jankearney+http://bit.ly/1234+%23genius

4. Copy and paste your Twitter share URL into your browser to test it

twitter shared from pdf

5. Insert your chosen Twitter icon to your document and add the link as outlined above

Add a LinkedIn Share Button

The first section of the link that allows sharing is:

http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=

1. Immediately after the equals sign add your landing page URL (including the http://)

http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http://www.your-opt-in-page.co.uk

2. Copy and paste the LinkedIn share URL into your browser to test

linkedin shared from PDF

3. Add your LinkedIn icon to your document and insert the link as outlined above

Add a Google+ Share Button

The first part of the share URL you need is:

https://plus.google.com/share?url=

1. Directly after the equals symbol, add your URL

https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.your-opt-in-page.co.uk

2. Copy and paste the complete URL into your browser to test it.  Note that this isn’t a +1 but adds your link to the sharer’s posts page

shared from PDF to G+

3. Add your Google+ icon to your document and insert the link as above.

Once you have added the social icons with links to your document, convert to a PDF. 

In Word, click File > Save as and select PDF from the drop down menu under the file name

In Open Office it is File > Export to PDF

What about Pinterest?

Pinterest is growing in popularity and as yet I have not found a way of adding a linked Pinterest button to a PDF.  If you know, please do share in the comments!

Take a PDF cheat sheet with you

You can download this tutorial as a PDF cheet sheet to refer to again and again.  No opt in needed, simply click here

Over to you…

Will you add social share buttons to your PDF documents?

Socially Build Your List - How To Add Social Share Buttons To PDF Reports by Jan Kearney
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Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: facebook, Google Plus, How To Guides, linkedin, social sharing, twitter

About Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest

Comments

  1. Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA says

    February 18, 2013 at 3:51 pm

    This sounds like a cool idea. I will be trying this out on our free articles. Thanks for the idea!

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 18, 2013 at 8:19 pm

      I’m glad it was useful for you, Roy – let me know how you get on adding it to your articles 🙂

      • Bonnie Gean says

        February 19, 2013 at 8:08 pm

        Jan, I notice that you’re using a landing page as an example. I’m wondering… could you share a PDF file in the same way?

        What if I want to allow people to download the PDF directly from the shared link. Would it work?

        • Jan Kearney says

          February 20, 2013 at 4:32 am

          I don’t see why not, Bonnie. Instead of a landing page URL put in the file URL. The other option is to link it back to your resources page?

  2. Mary Kathan says

    February 18, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    Wow – I did not even know we could do that! Great info.

    I am going to have to try this out on some pdfs…

    Mary Kathan

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 19, 2013 at 6:33 pm

      Glad you found it useful, Mary – let us see your finished results too 🙂

  3. Bonnie Gean says

    February 19, 2013 at 1:09 am

    What a fantastic idea and you beat me to a great tutorial! LOL

    I’m going to try this since I started offering my tutorials as share-able reports! Thanks dear!

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 19, 2013 at 6:36 pm

      Well that makes a change me being half a step ahead of you, Bonnie! lol Share buttons will make a good addition to your tutorials too 🙂

  4. Peggy Lee Hanson says

    February 19, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Super idea, Jan! And thanks so much for supplying a PDF with all of the info included! It is saved and will be used!

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 20, 2013 at 4:30 am

      Enjoy, Peggy Lee! Don’t forget to hit those share buttons 🙂

      • Peggy Lee Hanson says

        February 20, 2013 at 11:10 pm

        Oh, I have, Jan…. I have 😉

  5. Janie Thomson says

    February 20, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    Your cartoon on Facebook to get me to this post definitely worked, Jan. I’ve been meaning to read this since you published it(well, before actually as I saw Sue asking you for it), but that cartoon got my attention and reminded me to do it NOW! That’s a really valuable tutorial.

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 21, 2013 at 12:03 am

      I thought that cartoon summed it up well 🙂 Will we be seeing share buttons in your PDF’s now, Janie?

  6. Toni Nelson says

    February 20, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    Several months ago I learned about putting your links in your pdf reports but I didn’t realize you could also add in twitter, google+ etc. Great step by step tips!

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 21, 2013 at 12:02 am

      I hope you’ll be putting them to good use, Toni! Thanks for popping in and commenting 🙂

  7. Debra Moser says

    February 22, 2013 at 4:55 pm

    Jan, great blog and thanks! I definitely need to do this for my “freebie”. The instructions are also easy to follow!

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 25, 2013 at 12:05 pm

      Glad it helped, Debra 🙂

  8. Nanette Levin says

    February 24, 2013 at 4:44 am

    Too cool. I need to start delegating more of this stuff because I just don’t have time to do/learn it all. We need to plan a Skype call after I get moved. Thanks for another great post for the DIY motivated.

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 25, 2013 at 12:05 pm

      I look forward to it – good luck with your move, Nanette 🙂

  9. Denise Tonin says

    March 29, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    Hello Jan, thanks so much for your help! I was like a crazy person trying to discover the codes to share my e-book 🙂 But I still need some way to insert Pinterest as my E-book is about it! Waiting for someone’s help! 🙂 Greetings from Brazil!

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 31, 2013 at 8:45 pm

      Hello there Denise! If you find a Pinterest method, do let me know 🙂

Meet Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest or Discover More About My Local Business Online…

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