Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Add a Facebook Like Box / Fan Box in WordPress

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

Do you want to add a Facebook Like Box to your WordPress website?

Adding a Facebook Like Box to your website makes it easy for your audience to like and follow your Facebook page. The more likes you get, the more reputable and trustworthy your brand will look to new users.

In this article, we will show you how to add a Facebook Like Box in WordPress.

How to Add a Facebook Like Box or Fan Box in WordPress

Why Add a Facebook Like Box on Your WordPress Website?

Adding a Facebook Like Box to your WordPress website has some great perks.

First, it helps engage people by letting them easily like your Facebook fan page or business page. This means your posts will show up in their Facebook feed, so you can keep reaching people beyond your website.

Also, the Facebook page Like Box shows how many people have liked your Facebook page. This can work as social proof and encourage more visitors to click ‘Like.’

Additionally, having a Like Box can boost your website’s SEO. Search engines like Google may look at your social media presence to decide if your brand and content are trustworthy. A lot of Facebook likes and followers can signal that your business is reputable, which can lead to higher rankings in the search results.

This tutorial will show you two ways to add a Facebook Like Box: one using a social plugin and the other with code. You can use the quick links below to navigate through our article:

Note: A Facebook Like Box is different from a Like Button. If you want to display that on your website instead, then you can check out our step-by-step guide on how to add a Facebook Like Button in WordPress.

This first method is the easiest and recommended way for beginners to add a Facebook Like Box to their sites. It will also allow you to display your Facebook feed on your website if you wish.

This method uses Smash Balloon, which is a user-friendly WordPress plugin that allows you to embed various social media feeds in WordPress, along with a Like Box.

For this tutorial, you can use the free Smash Balloon Social Post feed plugin. But if you want more features beyond the Like Box (like displaying videos, photos, and events), then we recommend upgrading to the Pro version.

Set Up the Smash Balloon Facebook Feed Plugin

First, you need to install the WordPress plugin in the admin area. After that, go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and click ‘Add New.’

Creating a new Facebook Feed in the free Smash Balloon plugin

Now, select the ‘Timeline’ feed type.

Then, simply click the ‘Next’ button.

Selecting the Timeline Facebook Feed type in Smash Balloon

At this stage, you will need to connect your Facebook page to your WordPress website.

What you need to do is click the ‘Add New’ button.

Adding a new Facebook Feed source in Smash Balloon

Smash Balloon will direct you to a new screen.

Here, just select ‘Page’ for the source type and then click ‘Connect to Facebook.’

Connecting Smash Balloon with Facebook

Now, you need to log in to your Facebook account.

After that, choose which page(s) for which you want to display the Like Box on your WordPress blog or website. Then, click ‘Next.’

Selecting Facebook Pages to use as sources in Smash Balloon

You will now see the Smash Balloon’s permission settings. We recommend enabling them all to make sure everything works well.

Now, go ahead and click ‘Done.’

The Smash Balloon permission settings when connected to Facebook

The last popup will simply confirm that you’ve successfully linked Smash Balloon with Facebook.

Simply click ‘OK’ to continue.

Confirming that the Smash Balloon and Facebook connection is successful

Smash Balloon will now redirect you to the admin area, where you have to select a Facebook page to use in your timeline feed.

Just pick a page and click ‘Add.’

Choosing a Facebook page to use as a source in Smash Balloon

You will now see the Facebook page you’ve just connected to as a source in the Smash Balloon plugin page.

Simply pick that and click ‘Next.’

Selecting a Facebook page to use as a source for the Smash Balloon Facebook Feed in WordPress

Customize the Facebook Like Box

At this stage, Smash Balloon will bring you to the Facebook feed editor.

The first step is to click ‘Feed Layout’ above the Color Scheme option.

Selecting the Feed Layout menu in the Smash Balloon Facebook Feed editor

Simply scroll down to the ‘Number of Posts’ section.

After that, set the number for both Desktop and Mobile to 0. This will remove the display of all your recent posts and have the feed display the Like Box only.

Alternatively, if you also want to show your Facebook feed along with the Like Box, then you can follow our tutorial on how to create a custom Facebook feed in WordPress.

Removing all display of Facebook post in the Smash Balloon Facebook Feed

Now, go back up.

Then, click ‘Customize’ to go back to the feed editor page.

Clicking the Customize button in Smash Balloon to return to the main Facebook Feed editor

At this stage, you can remove the header of your Facebook feed.

What you need to do is move down to the ‘Sections’ part and select ‘Header.’

Opening the Header section setting in Smash Balloon

This Header setting determines what your Facebook feed’s header will look like.

But in this case, you need to hide it, so just turn off the ‘Enable’ toggle.

Disabling the Facebook Feed header in Smash Balloon

Let’s now go back to the main feed editor page and open the ‘Like Box’ setting. After that, simply turn on the ‘Like Box’ feature.

On this page, you can also adjust the Like Box’s size, position, cover photo display, custom width, custom call-to-action text, and so on.

Enabling the Facebook Like Box feature in Smash Balloon

Once that’s done, just hit the ‘Save’ button in the top right corner.

Embed the Facebook Like Box on Your WordPress Page or Post

At this stage, you can display the Facebook Like Box on a page or a widget-ready area like a sidebar.

To do this, click ‘Embed’ at the top right corner. Now, the Embed Feed popup will appear, giving you two options to display the Like Box.

One is to use a shortcode, and the other is to directly add it to a page or a widget-ready area. The second option is much easier, so we will show you that method first.

The Embed Feed popup for Facebook Feed in Smash Balloon

If you want to add the Like Box to a specific page, click the ‘Add to a Page’ button.

Now, just select a page to add the feature to and click ‘Add.’

Selecting a page to insert the Facebook Feed to in Smash Balloon

You will now arrive at the Gutenberg block editor.

Go ahead and click the ‘+ Add a Block’ button, as instructed by Smash Balloon.

Clicking the Add Block button as instructed by Smash Balloon in the block editor

Once the block inserter library is open, you need to find the Facebook Feed block.

Then, simply drag and drop it wherever it looks best on the page.

Finding Smash Balloon's Facebook Feed block in the block editor

In the block, select the Facebook feed with the Like Box you just created earlier.

The block will then display the Like Box.

Choosing a Smash Balloon Facebook Feed to embed in the block editor

But what if you have multiple Facebook pages and have set up a Like Box for each one using Smash Balloon?

You can also switch between them in the block settings sidebar by picking a feed from the ‘Select a Feed’ dropdown menu.

Switching to a different Facebook Feed in the Smash Balloon block settings sidebar inside the block editor

All you need to do now is click the ‘Update’ button to make the changes official.

Here’s what our Like Box looks like on our demo site:

An example of the Facebook Like Box created with Smash Balloon

If you use a block WordPress theme, then you can also use the Full Site Editor to add the Facebook Like Box block to your theme’s page templates.

For more information about the Full Site Editor, just read our beginner’s guide to Full Site Editing.

Embed the Facebook Like Box Widget in WordPress

If you use a classic WordPress theme, then you may want to display the Facebook Like Box in a widget-ready area, like a sidebar, header, or footer. It’s a great way to show the Like Box without distracting users from the main content on the page.

In the Embed Feed popup, select ‘Add to a Widget’ to go to the block-based widget editor.

Now, like in the previous method, just click the ‘+ Add Block’ button, find the Facebook Feed block, and drag it onto your desired area.

On our demo site, we want to use the Like Box as a WordPress sidebar widget.

Finding the Smash Balloon Facebook Feed widget in the widget editor

In the block, select the Facebook Feed with the Like Box you created earlier.

Then, click ‘Update’ to make the changes live.

Selecting a Smash Balloon Facebook Feed to embed in the widget editor

And you are done!

Here’s what the sidebar on our test site looks like with the Like Box widget:

An example of what the Facebook Like Box widget looks like in the sidebar

Embed the Facebook Like Box Widget With a Shortcode

If the two previous methods don’t work, then we recommend adding the Facebook Like Box or Fan Box using a shortcode.

Simply copy the shortcode from the Embed Feed popup earlier and add it anywhere on your website.

Copying the Facebook Feed embed shortcode in Smash Balloon

For more information on using shortcodes, you can read our guide on how to add shortcodes in WordPress.

Method 2: Adding a Facebook Like Box With Code

If you are only interested in displaying a Like Box without adding any other types of Facebook feeds, then using a Facebook page plugin may seem like overkill. In this case, you can add the Like Box using code instead.

This method may seem intimidating for beginners, but we will show you a foolproof way to insert code using WPCode. It’s a WordPress plugin that makes it easy to add custom code snippets to WordPress without breaking your site.

For this guide, the free WPCode version is enough, although you can upgrade to the Pro version for advanced features like testing mode and a cloud-based code snippets library.

First, let’s install the plugin in WordPress. Once it’s active, go to Code Snippets » + Add Snippet. Then, select ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ and click ‘Use snippet.’

Adding custom code in WPCode

You will now arrive at the code editor. Let’s give your custom code snippet a name first so that you can easily identify it later. For this one, we will name it ‘Facebook JavaScript SDK’ because that’s what we will add here.

Now, keep this tab open and create a new tab on your browser to go to the Facebook Developers page.

In the menu, click ‘Log In’ to sign in to your Facebook account.

Logging into the Facebook Developers page

If this is your first time accessing the page, then complete the onboarding wizard to create a free account.

You will then be directed to the Facebook Developers dashboard. Let’s click on the ‘Create App’ button.

How to create a new Facebook app

On the next page, just select ‘Other’ for the use case.

After that, click on the ‘Next’ button.

Choosing a Facebook use case

Now, you will see all the different apps that you can create for your Facebook page.

To create a Like Box, you can just select ‘Business’ and then click on ‘Next.’

Creating a business application in Facebook

Let’s now give your app a name. It can be anything you like since this is just for reference. You can also enter your email address and select an optional Business Account.

Finally, just click ‘Create app.’

Creating a Facebook application in the Developers console

Let’s now go to the Facebook Developers page for social plugins.

Then, scroll down until you find a section like in the screenshot below:

Here, make sure to fill out your Facebook page URL, empty the ‘Tabs’ field, and specify the width and height of the Like Box if needed.

You can also choose to use a smaller header, disable the cover photo, and more. We’ve also chosen to adapt the Like Box to fit the container width so that the size will adjust responsively to where it’s placed on the website.

Once done, click the ‘Get Code’ button. You will then see a popup that shows you two types of code snippets: JavaScript SDK and iFrame. Both will display your Like Box, but in general, JavaScript SDK is a much better option.

The JavaScript SDK codes to embed the Facebook Like Box

JavaScript SDKs are usually faster because they are directly embedded into the webpage, allowing them to load as part of the main document. iFrames require loading an entire HTML document, which can slow down the page load time.

In the JavaScript SDK tab, make sure the app name you created earlier has been selected.

Then, go ahead and copy the JavaScript SDK API code from Step 2. Now, keep this tab open, but switch to the WPCode tab and paste the code there.

You can leave the Code Type as ‘HTML Snippet.’

Pasting the Facebook JavaScript API to WPCode

Now, scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section.

The Insert Method can be left as ‘Auto Insert,’ while the Location should be changed to ‘Site Wide Body.’

Finally, just make the code active and click ‘Save Snippet.’

Choosing Auto Insert and Site Wide Body for the code's Insertion settings in WPCode

Next, you will create a second code snippet. You can follow the same steps as before and call it something like ‘Facebook Like Box.’

After that, switch to the Facebook Developers page for social plugins from earlier and copy the code from Step 3.

Navigate to the WPCode tab again and paste the Step 3 code in the Code Preview box. The Code Type can be ‘HTML Snippet.’

Pasting the Facebook Like Box custom code snippet in WPCode

Let’s scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section.

If you use ‘Auto Insert,’ then you can make the Like Box appear automatically in multiple places that fit the Location category.

In our example, we have decided to choose the ‘Site Wide Footer’ location, which means the Like Box will appear in the footer.

There are other options, too, like Insert Before Post, to display the Like Box before all of your WordPress blog posts.

Selecting the Side Wide Footer location in WPCode

On the other hand, the ‘Shortcode’ method allows you to create a custom shortcode.

You can then add it to specific parts of your website using the shortcode block.

Creating a custom shortcode using WPCode

Once you’ve configured the Insertion settings, just make the code active and click ‘Save Snippet.’

That’s it! You can then visit your website to see what Like Box looks like:

An example of the Facebook Like Box added with WPCode

For more guides on displaying social feeds on your WordPress site, check out our article on adding social media feeds in WordPress.

We hope this article has helped you learn how to add a Facebook Like Box or Fan Box in WordPress. You may also want to check out our ultimate social media cheat sheet and list of the best social media plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

25 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. Tina Gleisner says

    Thanks for explaining the JavaScript code can go in the footer, and not the header as indicated by Facebook … although I’m only guessing at why this is better & would appreciate knowing the real reason (load time?)

  3. Richard says

    To update your post, sadly it looks like the official Facebook plugin is now (2015) no longer official.

    It also has not been updated in a year and a half and now has a poor user rating.

  4. Kitty says

    One question: I use the plugin, but why wordpress tells me that it’s not a valid facebook page url. It’s my own facebook site. How can I get the right url?

  5. Peter says

    I installed the plugin but I then received a warning the it is not compatible with WordPress seo by Yoast.
    Here is the message below.

    The Facebook plugin(s) might cause issues when used in conjunction with WordPress SEO by Yoast.

    Both WordPress SEO by Yoast and Facebook create OpenGraph output, which might make Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks use the wrong texts and images when your pages are being shared.

    Recommended solution
    We recommend you deactivate Facebook and have another look at your WordPress SEO configuration using the button above.

    I will try to install it manually and see if that works.

  6. carol neumann says

    Am confused; WordPress plugins do not download into Widgits. Plugins can only be placed before and/or after a post, not in the sidebar.

  7. Chrys says

    Hi,

    I’ve tried everything to add it manually but the like box won’t appear! I really cannot figure out why..I put the codes in the right places though…

    Any idea?

    Kind regards

  8. Pummy says

    Hi Sayyed.

    Your header and footer plugin is awesome. I think this is a must have plugin for wp beginners,
    You publish great posts with great detail.
    Thanks.

  9. Ajay says

    I use Jetpack’s widgets to add the Facebook box. I’ve found it easy to use with decent number of options

  10. Scott says

    iframe seems like the easiest way, not having to deal with the javascript. Are there any major disadvantages to using iframe?

Leave a Reply to nareshdetruja Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

WPBeginner Assistant
How can I help you?

By chatting, you consent to this chat being stored according to our privacy policy and your email will be added to receive weekly WordPress tutorials from WPBeginner.