Having a killer email signature adds an extra level of professionalism that ending off with “Thanks, [Your name]” will never have. What I love about email signatures are that they provide another venue for you to promote your social media accounts. Sprinkling your social media on different venues such as linking to your other social networks in the bio, promoting in store, on business cards and email signature reminds your audience that you are out there and ready to connect with them. When communicating with someone through email, they are already invested in you (since they are email contacts) so the chances of them looking you up on social media is high. If you work for a corporation, chances are your I.T. department set up this lovely signature for you. However for the small guys using Gmail or other free email services, you have to create a fancy signature yourself.
[Tweet “If you are communicating with someone through email, they are already invested in you.”]
Not sure where to start? Have no fear! The Social Media Artist has got your back! This example is run through Gmail however I’m sure the steps are similar on other web based clients.
- Click on the gear icon on the upper right hand corner and go to Settings>General tab
- Scroll down to signature
- Upload image.
You can use a service like Tinypic that converts your image file to URL or take a screenshot of an icon you like. Here’s the fun part, choose an icon. You can simply google “Social media icons” or go to some of my favourite sites. These sites are free, and can be used commercially or for personal use.
SMartist tip: There are many designs out there. Choose one that is consistent with the look and feel of your brand. If you can’t find one, try finding a simple icon using your brand’s colours.
- Highlight the icon and click on the hyperlink button. Paste the appropriate link in the web address bar. Leave “Text to display blank.”
- Repeat!
Voila now you have an awesome email signature. Other things I like to add to my signature:
- Title
- Website
- Favourite quote
What other pieces of information do you like to add to your email signature?