World Emoji Day: Employing Emojis in Your Marketing Strategies

In case you haven’t heard, July 17th is World Emoji Day! There are 6 billion emojis floating around the world on mobile applications every day both in and out of every social network. They are such a phenomenon that brands have now started to integrate them into their marketing messages when communicating with younger generations. This marketing strategy is most prevalent with social media marketing, but not isolated there.

Some businesses may view emojis as unprofessional in the marketing industry. However, a University of Missouri-St. Louis study examined the effects of using emoticons in a socio-economic vs. task-oriented setting. In their findings, it was proven that looking at an emoji is far more gratifying than reading a word from the Oxford Dictionary.

Florida Institute of Technology also conducted research on using emoticons in business-related emails. They found that the same message sounded less negative when it was paired with a smiling emoji. So, the potentially conveyed negativity is reduced in email by using emojis. ????

When it comes to social media marketing, engagement is especially important, and emojis are the key to triggering massive engagement. To carry out successful emoji marketing, three elements are critical in laying the foundation.

1. Know Your Audience ????
As a business, you need to understand your customer demographic. Otherwise, you might end up offending some, confusing some, and losing followers. It is important to remember that not everyone understands emojis, and even if they do, some emojis may not be appropriate.

2. Know Your Emoji ????
In terms of the appropriate use of an emoji within a business, it is similar to any other language: you have to understand the proper usage of the words you choose to use. In other words, know your “emoji grammar.”

3. Know When to Stop ✋
As fun as it may be to use emojis, you also need to know the limits. Avoid overkill, use them sparingly, and don’t use them to make or replace long sentences. Also, do not forget to consider the functionality of emojis as well. They’re processed by our brain as nonverbal information. They aren’t the words, but the emotional part of communication.

Overall, spicing up your content with emojis can actually help make bland text more vibrant and exciting. There’s nothing that increases your on-page dwell time like blocks of text. Apart from images and videos, employing emojis into your marketing strategy can really help to improve and humanize your business and brand. Happy World Emoji Day from PGM! ????