It’s quite rare to find a website that doesn’t have social media icons. Somewhere around the corner, you will find such logos linked with their associated social media channels. Isn’t that right!
As we already know that social media has a big role to play in marketing practices. And nowadays, every business (whether it’s online or offline) wants their brands to get better exposure on social media.
So, have you also decided to include social media icons as a part of your marketing strategy? If not, then you are missing out on a great opportunity.
But wait! Before deciding to use these social media icons, you need to be careful about a few things. The thing is that most of these kinds of icons have the company’s registered trademarks. They are protected by copyright and enforceable guidelines.
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In this post, we will explain to you that even with such legalities how you can use social media icons and from where you can get them. But first, let’s see some more reasons to use them.
Benefits of Using Social Media Icons-
These icons can easily catch the sight of the viewers. That is why most eCommerce and business websites use these icons to make their content easily shareable on social media. Moreover, by doing so, you might be able to catch the attention of other social media users to check on your website and also follow you on social media. Isn’t it a win-win opportunity?
Nowadays, not only with online platforms but also on posters and invitation cards, companies make use of these icons with their profile links. Whether it’s online or offline, these social media icons are easily recognizable. And it also shows the presence of brands on social media. Brands with a better social media presence can build a great reputation for their business, which helps them to get further more deals.
Now that you have learned about the importance of social media icons, here we are showing how to use them without compromising
Guidelines on Using Social Media Icons-
Facebook Icon –
For Facebook, you can download the official logo from the Facebook Brand Resource Center. However, if you want to use this logo for your brand website, these are the guidelines you need to follow.
- The color of the Facebook logo should be either blue or white. Sometimes due to technical errors, if you can’t get access to the blue color icon, you can use black and white also.
- Don’t resize or modify the exact color or details compared to other logos.
- Make sure not to animate the logo or represent it in a physical form.
- Don’t reconstruct or modify the design of the logo in any way.
Instagram Icon –
For Instagram also, you can go to the Instagram Brand Resources page to download the original Instagram logo. There, check guidelines to check the trademark and legal stuff.
- On the Instagram Brand Resources page, you will get the multicolor Instagram logo. There you can also use a black and white version of Instagram logo.
- With an Instagram logo, you have the option to change or modify the color combination.
- Besides color, all the other aspects and size of the logo should remain unchanged.
- Make sure that your logo is not smaller than 29×29 pixels.
- Manage space between the glyph so that it won’t with any other texts or images.
Twitter Icon –
For Twitter, you have the option to download the Twitter icon from the Brand toolkit page of Twitter. Also, there is an option to download the guide showing trademark guidelines for using Twitter icons. To give a quick review, here are the guidelines mentioned in brief.
- Usually, it is preferable to use the logo without a background or container. However, you may use it inside a circle or square or square with rounded edges.
- You can find these logos in light blue and white colors. Other than that, you can use the black and white combination.
- If you are placing the logo image on a darker background, use the logo in white color.
- Do not modify or animate the logos, such as skewing, rotating, orientation stretching, or adding other elements in it.
Linkedin Icon –
From the Linkedin Brand Guidelines page, you can download the Linkedin icon. All the logos come with a trademark sign “® mark.” There you can check the mentioned policies for using those icons.
- The Linkedin icon displays on a solid white background, and it is preferable in most cases. If not possible, you may also use a solid light color background.
- The icon part should be in the box with rounded edges.
- The minimum size of the logo should be more than .25 inches in print or 21 pixels in websites or applications.
- Though it is preferable to take a colorful logo, there you have the option to take a black and white logo as well.
- Do not modify, animate or distort the logos.
YouTube Icon –
On the YouTube brand resources page, under the overview section, you can check the YouTube logos with different colors. Here are the brand guidelines for using them.
- Don’t compromise on the spacing with the icon, and at least use half of the icon’s width around the logo to give it a clear view.
- The logo should be 24dp tall for the web and in print, not lower than .125 inches and 3.1mm tall.
- Make sure not to alter or change anything in the logo.
- The full-color logos pair the YouTube Red icon with Almost Black (#212121) or White (#FFFFFF) text. The triangle in the red icon must always be white.
- If you are using the icon over a background, you can use the monochromatic logo.
Other than these, there are several other social media platforms where you can use their logos to create social media icons. But on most business websites, you can easily find these social media icons. Moreover, regarding the trademark, most of the platforms have similar guidelines. There are some other platforms also like Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Snapchat, which you can use as social media icons on your website.
Wrapping Words- Best Practices For Using Social Media Icons
So now, if you are ready to use social media icons on your website or eCommerce store, here are the things that you should consider.
- Make sure not to do any alteration to the logo to make it look different than the original, as most people recognize these icons in their trademark form.
- Manage uniform spacing between the icons so that it will be easily visible to viewers.
- If your social media icons are visible, there is quite a chance that visitors may click on these icons and share your page on social media platforms.
- Beside your website, social media icons can be used with newsletters, videos, marketing collateral, banners and posters for better impact.
Following these above shown tips, you can use social media icons to get better engagement and conversions for your business.
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