Using images in your marketing campaigns can communicate a lot about the types of emotions you’re trying to convey – they say a picture is worth a thousand words. These days, you can deliver almost the same level of emotion with a single keyboard click: by using emojis.

What are emojis?

Emojis are small images made up of pixels, in the form of a variety of faces, activities, and objects. They were first created in the 1990s by a Japanese marketing agency, and have gained mainstream popularity in the last decade. In 2011, Apple made the emoji a permanent part of their iOS keyboard. Today, there are 1620 emojis in the iOS keyboard with new ones joining the line-up each year.

Why use emojis in marketing?

You’ll notice that more and more brands are incorporating emojis into their messaging and branding. Using an emoji in a Tweet can increase engagement by 25%. Using an emoji in Facebook posts can increase shares by 33% and interactions by 57%. Emojis also help to make your brand more relatable, and add context to your messaging.

Humanise your brand

You can humanise your brand and relate to your audience by speaking their language with the emojis they use daily in text messaging and personal social posts. When your audience trusts your brand, they’re more likely to reuse you and shout about you to others.

Businesses which are known for not having a youthful vibe shouldn’t dismiss the use of emojis. On LinkedIn, using them can help your brand stand out in a sea of posts. Not only do you need to use them to communicate, but you can create more eye-catching lists, or emphasize your posts and headlines with symbols.

Engage your audience more

Why do people use emojis when communicating with their friends and family? Because they’re fun and engaging! They can create a major boost in engagement for your brand when used correctly. Emojis stand out among text posts and have a friendly, casual appearance.

Adds context to your content

Putting emojis in your marketing content can also add extra context to your messaging. It can change the tone and convey emotions which you can’t always do with text alone. Emojis won’t replace good copy, but the two can work together to add more depth and meaning to your words.

This is great for Twitter, with its limited character count.

Tips for using emoji effectively in marketing

The marketing channels you use will impact your use of emoji. Different mobiles also have their own display style for emojis, meaning the same emoji could have different connotations when viewed on various devices. Test and measure to be sure your message comes across the way you want and without display errors.

Emojis and social media

Emojis and social media complement each other perfectly. Everyday, people are using emojis to spice up their own content and interact with their friend’s posts. There’s no reason why your brand can’t do the same thing. Just do so intentionally and with engagement in mind.

Use emojis to add extra context or to add emphasis to the text in your content.

An easy way to encourage engagement is by asking your followers to interact with your post using an emoji. It can be as simple as asking your followers to agree or disagree with a statement using the 👍🏼 or 👎🏼 emojis. Or you can ask an open-ended question like “What is your favourite animal? 🐶🐱🐸🐴🦉”.

Facebook believes in the power of emoji so much that it created its own emoji system, called reactions, to promote engagement. You can react with these custom icons with one tap or click, just as you would to Like a post.

Emojis in email marketing

Although they’re more prevalent on social media, emojis aren’t exclusively reserved for this type of marketing. Incorporating emojis into email campaigns has shown an increase in engagement and open rates too.

In email marketing, don’t use emojis to replace text, but to emphasize a particular point. Some subscribers might be using an email provider that doesn’t support emojis as well as others, so your message may end up lost in translation if it relies too heavily on them. Test your emails to see how they look in different browsers just in case.

Conclusion

Before adding emojis to your marketing strategy, ask yourself if it aligns with the tone of your brand. Also make sure you understand the meanings of different emojis before using them.