Social Sharing Icons – choose the right ones for 2018

Social sharing icons overlay text

“So little thought goes into websites” I said this afternoon, prompting my colleague, Conrado Langer to add “You just described humanity in one sentence!”

Reviewing the social sharing icons for two clients this week we had opposing experiences.

One was getting great traction – but the sharing icons overlaid the blog text when viewed on a tablet.

Our bad – we reviewed the settings and adjusted the screen size for when the layout switched to the mobile enabled format.

The other just installed a social sharing plugin without thought to their blog layout or users.  It scrolls round to two rows, and includes some which are barely used including the highlighted, VK.  This is a Russian site with few privacy controls and full of undesirable content.  An unlikely choice for English-speaking consumers.

A poor choice of social sharing icons

Relevant social sharing icons

Do you know your audience?  Do you know which social channels they use?  If the answer isn’t yes you need to go do some research.

My choice of social sharing icons for a consumer business in 2018 are:- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest

And if you are chasing a youth audience – consider adding Tumblr, Instagram and Snapchat (QR Code)

My choice of social sharing icons for a B2B business in 2018 are: LinkedIn, Email, Facebook, Reddit

And if you’re a creative, film, art or music business consider Vero the newly launched service.