In this post, we’ll discuss (use the links to jump to what interests you<\/em>):<\/p>\n 1\u00a0– Always up to date list of FREE social media icons.\u00a0<\/strong>Jump here.<\/a>\u00a0(Most recent update: August 24, 2016)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 2\u00a0– Discover what icon style is the best suited for your business. Is your personality\u00a0flat, chic, retro, gooey or grunge?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Jump here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 3\u00a0– Expert tips on how to optimize your social media icons.<\/strong>\u00a0Jump here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 4\u00a0– Different types of social media icons: Share vs. Follow.<\/strong>\u00a0Jump here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ___ There are two types of social media icons: share buttons and follow buttons (or profile links)<\/strong><\/p>\n Share buttons are easy-to-use links to create a new post on a social network<\/strong>.\u00a0They do not take your visitors to your social profiles. Rather, clicking prompts them to share your content to a particular social network.<\/p>\n Instead of copying the page\u2019s URL, heading over to Facebook, pasting it into a new post, and writing a text caption, your visitors can click \u2018share this’, and go back to your site, where you want them.<\/p>\n The easier something is to share, the more likely people are to do it. <\/strong>– Flywheel<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In short, share buttons are essential for expanding the social reach of your site.\u00a0They’re also an integral component in building an audience.<\/p>\n While the actual lingo may vary \u2013 like, follow, circle, etc. \u2013 the concept is the same on each social network. Follow buttons simply link to your social profiles<\/strong> so people can add you to their network there.<\/p>\n Follow buttons can take any number of forms from just the social network\u2019s icon to the icon plus the network\u2019s name. You can also customize an icon\u00a0to reflect your brand better. The type of site and the space allotted for social media icons will determine what option is best for you. Profile links give your visitors the chance to connect directly with you on your various social networks<\/p>\n Why you should have Follow Buttons:<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty rare that someone will see a website once and think, \u201cI\u2019m going to keep up with them forever.\u201d Nope, it takes much longer for someone to become a real fan or customer or even to remember that you site exists.<\/p>\n You have to make sure they don\u2019t forget about you.\u00a0<\/strong>By having readers follow your active social media profiles, you\u2019ll pop up there to help stay top of mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a><\/p>\n A Google search for social media icons produces masses of options for you, ranging from a clean, flat design, to watercolor, retro, vintage, grunge, gooey and just about everything else in between.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to build and design a blog worth following it is essential that your social media links are both visible and current and always up-to-date<\/strong>. – Dustin Stout<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Staying on the cutting edge keeps you:<\/p>\n Here are some examples of different types of current icon designs featured in a post on the\u00a0Canva blog:<\/p>\n Flat Social Media Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n Chic Watercolor Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n Retro Social Media Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n Grunge Flat Social Media Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n Social Media Icons with a Gooey Effect<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> For the most meticulously updated and accurately crafted minimal social media icon set on the internet. Now including the new Instagram icon! <\/strong>Dustin hand picked the most popular social sites out there and created six different downloadable sets.<\/p>\n The social networks included in the set are:<\/p>\n Steven Snell at\u00a0Vandelay Design put together a comprehensive list\u00a0of over 50 social media icon sets from his favorite\u00a0designers from around the world. Here is a preview of a few of them:<\/p>\n Contains cool Social Media icons vectors pack with logos of the largest network sites.<\/strong> Download speech bubble composition with vector icons of Facebook, Google+, YouTube, RSS Feed, Twitter, MySpace, Linkedin, Flickr, Digg, MeetUp, StumbleUpon, WordPress, and Blogger.<\/p>\n Here is an awesome, trendy set of curled sticker style social media icons that I am sure you will find very useful!<\/p>\n Need a trendy and fresh take on a social media icon vector set? Check out this Triangle Vector Icon Set, useful for promoting your website or social media profile. Includes 20 social media vector icons in a\u00a0triangle shape.<\/p>\n Make sure to check out the other 47 free<\/em> icon sets put together by\u00a0Vandelay Design.<\/p>\n Alexis Doreau\u2019s fantastic collection<\/a>\u00a0includes some of the most difficult to find social media icons like SnapChat, Periscope, and Slack.<\/p>\n The short answer from the CoSchedule blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n The answer?<\/strong><\/p>\n Everywhere!<\/strong><\/p>\n Popular Placement Options For\u00a0Social Media Buttons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, too many social buttons will make things worse. – Search Engine Journal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Doug Antkowiak\u00a0makes a great point about social media buttons on the Search Engine Journal<\/a> blog. He points out that too many social buttons may negatively impact\u00a0the speed of your website. This impact is a big red flag, as you can clearly link site speed to better readership and SEO performance.<\/p>\n The most valuable conclusion is that we should\u00a0limit the number of social media buttons <\/strong>that we display to as few as possible<\/strong>. The risks of slowing down our site just aren’t worth it. Social media buttons provide one of those situations where more<\/em> is not necessarily better.<\/p>\n This evidence is backed up by\u00a0TrackMaven\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0polarizing\u00a0conclusion\u00a0after\u00a0examining nearly 2 billion social shares.<\/p>\n Their data concluded that the vast majority of social shares take place on the top two social networks (Twitter and Facebook).<\/p>\n Clearly, we don\u2019t need to include all networks to make a good use of social media buttons. In this report, TrackMaven reveals that 38.6% of social shares were on Twitter. Facebook \u201clikes\u201d and\u00a0\u201cshares\u201d\u00a0accommodated\u00a0for another 60.3%.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From Jeff Bullas<\/a>:\u00a0It\u2019s a real dilemma today when there are many cool social button designs.<\/p>\n But there a few pros and cons to using custom social media buttons over standard ones.<\/p>\n \u2192Pros<\/strong>:\u00a0Custom buttons are easier to introduce to the website design. You can ask your web designer to draw you absolutely unique buttons that will appear only on your site and perfectly match its style and look;<\/p>\n \u2192Cons:<\/strong>\u00a0Custom social media buttons can become \u201cinvisible\u201d for ordinary users. Most people are used to certain icons on social media. And sometimes attempts to create a unique \u201cLike\u201d, \u201cTweet\u201d or \u201cShare\u201d icon can lead to people won\u2019t understand that it\u2019s a social button they see.<\/p>\n The example below shows the sharing buttons on a website<\/a> that will do your head in. Don\u2019t make it this hard!<\/p>\n Being this smart is sometimes very dumb!<\/p>\n This question is a tricky one. Here is the response from Creative Market<\/a>:<\/p>\n On one hand, some people would tell you that social media details will only add to the clutter. On the contrary, social media is a great way for your email recipient to find out more about you and your brand. So how do you decide if you need to include this?<\/strong><\/p>\n Here’s an example of a great use of social media icons in an email signature by dlvr.it’s CEO, Bill Flitter:<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0How to Make a Great Email Signature That Gets Noticed<\/a><\/p>\n From GetResponse: Yes, make it obvious and\u00a0make social media icons look like social media icons!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Bottom line: Social media icons in your email signature are a constant invitation for people to connect with you. <\/strong><\/p>\n From the\u00a0Later blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n Having links to your social media profiles on your blog is an excellent way to\n
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\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>Types of Social Media Icons: Share vs. Follow<\/span><\/h2>\n
Share Buttons<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"Types](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Share-This-Button-1.png\")
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Follow Buttons (or profile links)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Types](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Canva-Social-Follow-Buttons-1.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>Designing Your Social Media Icons<\/span><\/h2>\n
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![\"Examples](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flat-Icons.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n![\"Examples](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Watercolor-Social-Icons.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n![\"Examples](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Retro-Icons.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n![\"Grunge](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/flat-grunge-icons.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n![\"Examples](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Social-Icons-with-Gooey-Effect.gif\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n<\/span>Master List of Free Social Media Icons<\/span><\/h2>\n
\nIn addition to the icons listed above, here is a collection of 100+ free<\/em> social media icon sets to help save you some time and find the perfect group of icons \u2013 no matter what your style!<\/p>\n1 – Free Social Media Icon Set, Always Updated!<\/a><\/h3>\n
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![\"Minimum](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Social-Icon-Set-1024x558.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n2 –\u00a050+ Sets<\/a> of Free Social Media Icons<\/h3>\n
\u2192Social Media Icons<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Free](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Free-Cool-Icons-1024x725.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/h3>\n\u2192Social Media Icon Stickers<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/social-media-icon-stickers-1024x717.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n\u2192Free Triangle Vector Icons Set<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/social-media-triangles.png\")
<\/p>\n3 –\u00a050 Free Flat Icons (Sketch & Illustrator)<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"50](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Free-Icons-1024x648.png\"){kind=icon}
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>How to Optimize Your Social Media Icons: Ask the Experts<\/span><\/h2>\n
1 – Where are the most popular places for my social media buttons?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"Example](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Seth-Godin-Blog-1024x504.png\")
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2 – Can you have too may social buttons on your website?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Social-Shares-By-Channel.png\")
<\/p>\n3 – Should I use custom or standard buttons?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Don't](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Social-media-integration-1-1024x320-1024x320.jpg\")
<\/p>\n4 – Are social media icons a must in email?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"CEO,](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flitter-Email-Signature.png\")
<\/p>\n5\u00a0– Should you add sharing buttons to all your email newsletters?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"Average](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/GetResponseSocialSharing.png\")
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![\"Example](\"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/NextDraft-Social-Sharing-1-1024x675.png\")
<\/p>\n6\u00a0– Why are visual links to my social profiles important on my blog?<\/strong><\/h3>\n