In this post, I will discuss about some of the best WordPress plugins to let users download files and view content by making a donation, social actions like Tweet or when they +1 the content on Google+, when they subscribe to your email list by using iContact, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and GetResponse subscription forms, by automatic download or when they refer their friends. The files are locked and they can only be unlocked when a user performs any of the above described actions. By using the below given plugins you can lock any type of content like eBooks, PDF files, images, videos, or any other downloadable files. You can add the social actions download buttons anywhere in your blog by using shortcodes. Size and appearance of the buttons can be edited from the plugin settings page.
Here is the list of best WordPress plugins for users to download files by donations, social actions, subscriptions:
1) Paid downloads: By using this plugin you can let users download the content of your blog when they make a payment. When a user makes the payment, a download link is sent to them via email. Almost all the payment systems are supported by this plugin. This plugin can be used in any language as per your choice.
2) Social Download: By this plugin you can add social downloading functionality in your blog. Users have to complete a social sharing task like sharing the page to download a file by this plugin. This plugin supports the following social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. With the help of this plugin, the readers of your blog have to tweet the post before they download a file in your blog. You can set up the post which you want your users to tweet from the plugin settings page. You can also add a Twitter Follow to download functionality by this plugin. You also have the option to add custom CSS to change the appearance. When you implement this plugin in your blog, users have to fist +1 the particular page to activate the download. Plugin uses cookies so users who have already +1 will not see the +1 to download again.
3) Donate and download: By using this plugin you can enable the donate and download feature in your blog. Apart from regular Paypal donations you can add other payment gateways like Authorize, Payza, Moneybookers, etc.
4) Subscribe for unlock: When you install this plugin in your blog users have to first subscribe to your newsletters before they can view a particular content. This plugin supports iContact, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and GetResponse services.
5) Automatic download: By using this plugin you can enable automatic downloading of files. The way it works is, you just have to set the time delay and when a user visits a post or a page the download of the file starts automatically.
6) Refer for unlock: You can use this WordPress plugin to lock content in your WordPress blog. Content can be unlocked by your users when they refer a specified number of friends to your WordPress blog.