Emojis are popular icons used to interpret feelings, represent events, things, items or even ideas. Emojis can be used in different ways in the digital space, be it on the website, text messages, app icons, and general communications.
Emojis helps convey communication, sometimes complex information in a simple and fun way using the Unicode standard. Originally, the word “Emoji” originated from the Japanese word for Picture + Character as in e + moji. = Emoji.
Most of the time, people mistake Emojis from Emoticons due to their similar usability. However, Emoticons are image representation created using keyboard characters while Emojis are animated digital images, see below for clear comparison.
World Emoji Day 2019
World Emoji Day is celebrated on July 17 because the Calendar Emoji displayed 17 July across all platforms and software. It is an unofficial holiday that is celebrated all across the world to celebrate Emojis. The day was declared by Jeremy Burge, the founder of Emojipedia in 2014. You can join the conversation online with #WorldEmojiDay
How to Use Emoji in Marketing
Before I go deep into how you can use Emoji in your marketing communications to increase performance. I will like to share some few stats about Emoji with you and why you should consider using Emoji in your marketing.
✅ As of March 2019, there are 3,019 Emojis in the Unicode Standard.
???? 5 billion emojis are sent daily on Facebook Messenger
???? Only 7% of people use the peach emoji as a fruit <you know yourselves> ????
Let’s skip that for now, and get back to business. Beyond doubt, Emojis will boost engagement across all levels, be it email open rates, clicks, shares, and most important engagements.
???? Tweets with emojis saw 25% more engagement, and on Facebook, emojis result in 57% more likes, 33% more comments, and 33% more shares
Below are 5 smart ways to use Emoji in Marketing;
1. Use emojis in emails newsletter
If your business constantly sends an email newsletter to clients and you will like to increase the performance of your email, then Emoji is the best tool to employ.
According to a study published by “mycleveragency”, more than 50% of brands saw an increase in email opens when subject lines included emojis.
Here’s a good example of Email with Emoji from Ruby by Retrosoft (a programmatic Ad platform)
ALSO READ: 5 Steps To Running A Successful Native Advertising Campaign
2. Emoji helps build brand personality
In recent times, brand identity has gone beyond their product or just the logo, brands are now being personal and acting human. Emoji has an appeal that makes consumers want to attribute a personality to brands that use it more often.
By using Emojis in your brand communication, it helps give your brand a voice and humanize it whether you are fun, serious, analytical or even luxurious. Only use Emojis that are relevant to your industry if available or identify similar Emojis that resonates with your brand and start using them in most of your communications if not all.
What would you think if you see this ???? + ???? = ?
3. Be clear with the message
Emojis can easily be interpreted in different ways based on the context it is being used or the platform. Don’t confuse Emoji or important words in your message or avoid it in top-level communications.
Emojis are meant to add fun to the actual message and not override important elements that make up a message, except in Emoji Quiz. Ensure you know the actual meaning of the Emoji, what it means to the audience you intend sharing it with and use it the right way to avoid confusion or possible misinterpretation.
ALSO READ: How to Start Influencer Marketing for B2B
4. Research the platform
This is directly tied to the point above. Avoid the use of Emoji on the wrong platform or with the wrong audience. Take LinkedIn for example, I’ve never come across the peach emoji on LinkedIn. if you had seen one before, kindly comment below.
it’s very important to research the platform where you will like to use Emoji to verify the type of Emoji that resonates with your audience on the platform.
5. Learn from others
It’s always advised that you learn from others in the industry. Before you finalize on your use of Emoji for marketing, consider others doing similar things in your industry and get some ideas for them.
Do short research on how your competitors or similar business alike use Emojis and identify what you can do better to make your brand stand out.
It has been proven that Emojis can easily convey emotion better and more fun than using plain text. Using Emojis also contribute to an increase in engagements by over 50%. If done right, it’s a sure-fire way to grow your brand reputation and build a more approachable identity for your brand.
Are there other ways you can use Emojis in marketing I missed out in the article?
Kindly share in the comment, I will love to hear from you ????