How to Create and Add Social Media Icons to Your Email Signature Like a Pro

Amy Lockwood
Amy Lockwood
Co-Founder & Head of App and Web Design (15+ Years Experience)
Updated On: Jun 30, 2025
Email Signature Support

Adding social media icons to your email signature is a simple yet impactful way to make your emails more engaging and help others easily connect with you online.

How to Create and Add Social Media Icons to Your Email Signature Like a Pro

Email is still one of the most powerful tools for communication and often the most overlooked when it comes to marketing. By simply adding social media icons to your email signature, you can turn everyday emails into an opportunity to grow your audience, drive traffic to your profiles and reinforce your brand identity.

This guide will walk you through how to create, customize, and add social media icons to your email signature using both manual and automated methods. If you're using Email Signature Rescue, you'll find this process dramatically easier, more professional, and fully optimized for all devices and email clients.

Why Add Social Media Icons to Your Email Signature?

Social media icons in your email signature serve multiple purposes:

  • Brand Building: Icons add color, visual interest, and reinforce your online presence.
  • Traffic Generation: Drive recipients directly to your Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube with one click.
  • Trust and Transparency: Active, public profiles build credibility.
  • Unified Digital Identity: Create a consistent brand across all digital touchpoints.
  • Passive Promotion: Every email becomes a free marketing tool.

Step 1: Choose the Right Social Media Platforms to Include

Before you even start creating icons, consider which platforms make sense for you or your business. It’s tempting to add every icon under the sun—but less is more.

Here’s how to decide:

Platform Best For Use It If…
LinkedIn Professional networking You're B2B or hiring
Instagram Visual branding, lifestyle You’re a creator, retailer, or brand builder
Facebook Community and updates You run a page or group
X (Twitter) Thought leadership, PR You're active or post often
TikTok Short video, young audience You're in media, entertainment, or youth-focused
YouTube Long-form video, tutorials You post video content
Pinterest Visual products, inspiration You're in design, ecommerce, lifestyle
Threads Short-form conversations Your brand is early adopter/social
Snapchat Real-time content Targeting younger Gen Z
Custom Links Behance, GitHub, Calendly Showcase portfolio, schedule meetings, etc.
Best Practice: Include no more than 3–5 icons that represent your most active, up-to-date, and relevant accounts.
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Step 2: Design or Generate Your Social Media Icons

Here’s where Email Signature Rescue shines: it gives you full control over how your icons look, no design tools or coding required.

Option A: Use the Free Email Icon Generator

Try it here → Email Icon Generator

Features:

  • 20+ color schemes (monochrome, gradients, branded, custom HEX)
  • Shapes: circle, square, rounded, icon-only
  • Sizes: 16px, 20px, 24px, 32px (email-optimized)
  • Over 100 icons
  • You still need to host these on your own server to add them into your HTML email signatures.
  • Unsure how to host images? See Option B.

Option B: Use Email Signature Rescue's Social Media Icon Library (recommended)

The easiest way to add social media icons to your email signature is to use Email Signature Rescue:

  • Add icons to your email signatures in seconds and preview them live.
  • Over 100,000 social media icons in different styles, colors and sizes.
  • Upload custom/generated icons from our free generator right into your Dashboard.
  • Icons are automatically added to your email signatures and hosted on CDN.
  • Retina-ready for hiDPI screens and devices.
Email Signature Rescue Dashboard Social Media Icons

Option C: Upload Custom Icons

If you already have brand-specific icons, hired a designer or created icons using something like Canva:

  • You can upload them in Email Signature Rescue under the Links tab
  • Make sure they’re optimized (PNG or SVG, under 50KB, email-safe resolution)
  • Provide them at double the size to make them retina-ready.
  • Keep dimensions consistent (e.g., 24x24px)

Social Media Icon Design Tips

Rule Why It Matters
Keep It Simple Cluttered icons look unprofessional
Use High Contrast Dark icons on dark backgrounds = no go
Stick to a Style Mixed styles (flat + 3D + outline) = visual chaos
Match Brand Colors Icons should complement—not clash with—your branding

Step 3: Add the Icons to Your Email Signature

For Email Signature Rescue Users:

  1. Open your Dashboard
  2. Edit your signature and go to the Links tab
  3. Choose from our pre-built icon styles, or upload your own
  4. Click an icon to add it to your list
  5. Enter the correct URL for each icon (e.g. https://instagram.com/yourbrand)
  6. Use your Signature Key to install and get automatic updates to your webmail/desktop clients.
You can preview your signature live before saving.

Manual Instructions for Other Email Clients:

Gmail:

  • Go to ⚙️ → See all settings → Signature section
  • Insert image → Upload icon
  • Highlight → Click 🔗 Link icon → Paste profile URL
  • Save

Outlook (Web/Desktop):

  • Insert image → Right-click → Add hyperlink
  • Save and apply

Apple Mail:

  • Preferences → Signatures
  • Drag in icon → Right-click → Add Link
  • Save changes

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Step 4: Resize, Align, and Test the Icons

Consistency is critical. Even great icons will look amateur if they’re mismatched in size or alignment.

Sizing Guidelines:

  • Optimal size: 24px–32px
  • Keep spacing: 10–15px between icons
  • Avoid vertical stacking

Email Signature Rescue Advantage:

  • Icons are automatically aligned, spaced, and scaled to fit the template
  • Templates built for mobile, tablet, and desktop
  • You don't need to manually resize or code anything
  • Retina-ready for hiDPI screens and devices.
  • No need for testing, we've done it for you.

Step 5: Test Across Devices & Email Clients

You’ve done the work, now test it:

  • Send test emails to Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.
  • View on desktop and mobile
  • Click each icon to verify the links
  • Confirm spacing and sizing looks professional

With Email Signature Rescue:

  • Our templates are already tested in 60+ email clients
  • Styled with social media icons in mind

Best Practices: What Sets Great Social Icons Apart?

Tip Description
Prioritize Function Over Flash Fancy animated icons may not render well in Outlook
Always Link Them Don’t just add an image—make it clickable
Update as You Grow Remove dead profiles or rebrand as needed
Use ALT Text Helps accessibility and loads in low-bandwidth environments
Match Icon Style to Signature Style Use modern icons for a minimal signature, or playful ones for a creative agency
Avoid Overload If you don’t use a platform regularly, don’t include it

Why Use Email Signature Rescue?

Here’s why professionals, teams, and agencies trust Email Signature Rescue for managing email signatures with social media icons:

✅ 60+ professional templates

✅ Custom social icon generator

✅ Easy dashboard to manage and edit signatures

✅ Upload your own icons or use over 100,000 premade icons

✅ Tested in 60+ email clients

✅ Code-free setup

Get Started

You can build and launch a professional signature with clickable, branded social media icons in minutes, not hours.

Try the Free Email Icon Generator

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Amy Lockwood is the Co-Founder of Email Signature Rescue with over a decade of experience in HTML email signatures for 60+ email clients, apps and CRM software including Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail. She is the Head Designer of the Email Signature Rescue apps and website.

📩 Need help with your HTML email signatures? Contact Amy at emailsignaturerescue.com.

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