Emojis are best described as a form of communication without having to use words. They can express ideas, concepts, and emotions, and can give reference to what is being said. Emojis originate from Japan and were made in the late 1990s. ‘e’ means picture and moji means character. Shigetaka Kurita, an engineer at the Japanese telecom company NTT Docomo, is credited with creating the first set of emojis. The spread of the emoji can be credited to mobile phones, they were first installed in Japanese mobile operating systems. And then, seeing the popularity of Japanese devices for this reason, resulted in others adopting the technology as well.
Also, near the 2010s, IOS and Android devices began to take up the market. These operating systems allowed emojis to develop into more complex and creative forms. Emojis began representing different races, genders, and professions, as well as emojis for various foods, animals, and objects. Today, Emojis are also representing movements like the LGBTQ, Black Lives Matter, and more. Emojis are a part of popular culture, and advertisers regularly use them to entice user interest in social media copies.
Table of Content
Use Of Emojis In Marketing
No doubt, emojis are a brilliant form of human expression and their popularity has risen with digital technology. The proper use of emojis can yield positive marketing results. Emojis can help you connect to your audience on a personal and emotional level.
Here are 7 tips on how:
1. Don’t Over Do It
Emojis are a great way to get users’ attention on the most important bits of the content. Using too many Emojis will make it difficult for the user to understand what’s written. Moreover, sparingly using emojis will effectively convey your message. For example, if you are selling brownies, use the brownie emoji when you are telling what flavors are available. Use the money emoji for the price, and use the emoji near the call to action. This will help users scan through the important bits.
2. Understand What Each Emoji Means, Slang, And Otherwise
While some emojis universally have the same meaning, some can have different contexts. Certain emojis are recognized universally like a heart (❤️) or the thumbs up (?). These are safe to use in almost any context. The folded hands emoji (?), means apology or appreciation in Japanese culture, while it means prayers in Western culture. Moreover, something as simple as a peach (?) or (?), can be thought of as sexual harassment. So it is best to look for both slang meanings and actual intent meanings while using emojis for marketing.
3. When In Doubt Keep It Simple
There are a lot of emojis available, but not all of them are suitable for professional communication. When in doubt, stick with traditional emojis like the thumbs-up, heart, and happy face. These emojis are more frequently understood and less likely to cause a misunderstanding. Recent waves of different movements and cultural shifts in traditional values have bred many types of emojis. However, not all changes have global recognition. For example, in the US, people can define their gender, leading to the creation of emojis like drag queens. In the Middle East, this concept is often misunderstood. Keeping things simple helps avoid mistakes and sticky situations.
4. Test Your Emojis
Some of you may not know this, but emojis can appear differently on different platforms. For example, certain iPhone emojis appear as question marks on Android devices. Similarly, emojis from Android devices when sent to iPhone appear completely different. The case is also similar for web browsers and email applications. Giving context to your message through emojis can be a significant problem.
4. Emoji Use In Push Notifications
Mobile devices influence most of the online shopping and user behavior today. There is a large chunk of the global population that rarely uses their computer. But are regular and constant users of their mobile devices. This means that most searches and online shopping also take place through mobile devices. One of the reasons why all businesses focus highly on mobile versions of their website and their applications.
Push messages directly communicate with the customers. The use of emojis helps gain the attention of the user. While text requires careful attention to understand, emojis can be understood at first glance. This helps improve user attention rates.
5. Use Emojis In Social Media Marketing
Like I said on the previous point, emojis have a way of gaining public attention. While users skim through your content. They may stop to see what a specific emojis’ attention may be. This will help you gain better impressions and convert users into customers. For example, marketing for a game? Maybe use the console or controller emoji next to the mention of the game’s name. Placed an internal link to the website? Add the link and money emoji if it’s for sales purposes. Think of emojis as an outline for content.
6. Adapt Emojis In Creative Ways
To increase engagement, emojis are a great way of getting users interested. For example, if there are website reviews, you can use emojis to rate them. For example
?- very happy
? – happy
? – Neutral
? – unhappy
? – very unhappy
Think of creative ways to use emojis in your marketing efforts. Here are some real life examples:
- The Taco Bell Emoji
- Domino’s Pizza Campaign
- McDonalds
Conclusion
Emoji marketing can be a very powerful tool. Since emojis are used on a global scale, a large population pool is able to relate to them. The human brain is wired in a way that makes it better at remembering pictures and visual images, which are difficult to ignore. In contrast, people often skim through or scan text for target words.Emojis are a great way to humanize your marketing efforts and engage your audience.
They add personality to your content and help create better relatability with emotions. Emojis can help convey the intent and tone of what is being said, which is often misinterpreted in texts. They lighten the mood, establish a tone for your brand, and can even add some light humor to things. Finding the right formula will help you improve engagement rates.
+1 925-978-8211
Chinese
