Quick answer: Add two to four social media icons that are relevant to your work, at 16–24px, in your brand color or each network’s official color. Link each icon to your profile, not the network’s homepage, and use hosted PNG images, since Gmail and Outlook do not display SVG.
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
X (Twitter)
YouTube
TikTok
WhatsApp
GitHub
Behance
Dribbble
Pinterest
CalendlyWhich social media icons should you include?
More icons is not better. Pick the profiles a contact would actually want to visit:
| Your role | Icons to include |
|---|---|
| Sales, recruiting, consulting | LinkedIn, plus a booking link such as Calendly |
| Real estate agents | Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube for property tours |
| Designers and creatives | Behance or Dribbble, Instagram, LinkedIn |
| Developers | GitHub, LinkedIn, X |
| Creators and marketers | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube |
| Local businesses | Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp |
| Students and job seekers | LinkedIn, plus a portfolio or GitHub if relevant |
Only link profiles you keep up to date and professional. An empty or personal profile does more harm than no icon at all.
The right size and style for social icons
- Size: 16–24px is standard; 20px is a safe default. Upload at 2× (40px) for sharp results on Retina screens.
- Spacing: leave 6–10px between icons so they are easy to tap on a phone.
- Color: use official brand colors, or make every icon one color that matches your signature.
- Format: PNG, hosted online. SVG and icon fonts do not show in Gmail or Outlook.
- Alt text: add “LinkedIn”, “Instagram” and so on, so people with images turned off still know where the link goes.
More sizing tips are in our email signature size guide.
How to add social media icons in SignTry
- Open the email signature generator and pick a template.
- In the Links step, paste the URL of each profile you want to show.
- Fine-tune colors and sizes in the Style step.
- Save and click Copy. The icons are hosted and linked for you, and clicks show up in your signature analytics.
How to add social icons manually in Gmail or Outlook
- Download each icon as a PNG, about 40×40px, and upload it somewhere public, such as your website.
- Open your signature settings (Gmail or Outlook).
- Click the image button in the signature editor and insert the icon by its URL.
- Select the icon, click the link button, and paste your profile URL.
- Repeat for each icon, then save.
It works, but it is slow and the icons often end up different sizes. A generator does it in one step.
Brand rules for social media logos
Networks are strict about how their logos are used. Use the official icon unchanged: do not stretch it, rotate it, add effects or redraw it. You can usually show it in the network's color, or in a single solid color such as black, white or your brand color. The icons on this page are the official brand marks.
Add your icons in two minutes
Writing a signature by hand in a settings box is fiddly: no photo cropping, no layout, and it looks different in every app. With SignTry's free email signature generator you pick a template, fill in your details, click Copy and paste it into the signature box above. Your photo and logo are hosted for you, so they show up for every recipient.