5 reasons emojis should be part of your marketing strategy

Too many messages get lost during translation when typed or written down. How can you convey your tone of voice and your feelings in just 280 characters or less?

Reports show that adding emojis to social media posts increases engagement and reduces advertising costs. Marketers of yesteryear scoffed at emojis, but these little smileys can add a lot of personality to a boring message. Also, it’s not just about style.

Why we use emoji

Emojis add real value to your messages. Intercom found that messages sent by businesses containing emojis were four times more likely to get a response from customers. Adding an emoji at the end of a sentence can soften a promotional message. Here’s some more data to convince you:

• Using emojis in email subject lines improves open rates by 3-4%.
• The more emojis you use in your Instagram captions, the more interactions you get.
• Adding emojis to your ads can improve click-through rates and improve overall performance.
• Humans are inherently visual humans. This means you can process emoji faster than you can read and understand text.

Related: What can emoji teach us about diversity and inclusion?

How to use emojis in marketing?

Staying away from the data, adding a smiley face at the end of your message adds context and helps avoid misunderstandings. With emojis, you can say more with less effort and letters. Here are five creative ways to use emojis in your marketing.

1. Choose a Signature Emoji for Branding

There are over 3,000 emojis available. There’s no harm in using an emoji that matches your message, but overusing it can make your brand look too casual and unprofessional.

We recommend rotating a few emojis and using them as branding elements. Consider McDonald’s taking ownership of the French fries emoji and Taco He Bell applied for the taco emoji. Which emoji can you create yourself?

Customers will remember you better when you use emojis as part of your branding. It’s also a simple and effective way to stand out from your competitors.

2. Humanize your tone

Messages from brands can be met with skepticism. Don’t let your audience think you’re reaching out just to sell them (even if they are). Emojis are a great tool for making your brand look more human and relatable.

While instant messaging and social media cannot replicate the intimacy of face-to-face communication, emoji can fill important aspects of communication such as facial expressions and body language.

Emojis are often associated with happiness, so adding an emoji at the end of your message shows your willingness to help and also makes your audience happy.

3. When words aren’t enough

Emojis have a way of highlighting important points when words alone aren’t enough to express your message. According to psychologists, emojis help reinforce the meaning of your message. Adding an emoji can help set the tone of your message, including how you speak.

For example, a simple “see you soon” can be very different from “see you soon” (smiley emoji). While the former sounds like a forced format, the latter conveys excitement.

4. Create an emoji

Few brands have the power and appeal of Taco Bell, whose taco emoji was officially added by the Unicode Consortium in 2015, but nothing stops them from designing emojis.

Brands such as Sephora create their own emoji keyboards filled with emoji that mimic their products. Emoji Keyboard allows users to customize their emojis, making the experience more exciting and personalized.

Having your own emoji is a great way to increase your brand presence and turn customers into brand advocates.

5. Emoji vote

You already know that emojis can increase engagement. In addition to adding emojis to captions and in-image text, another great way to integrate emojis into your marketing strategy is through Instagram’s interactive stickers.

Use emojis to differentiate “this and that” polls on Instagram Stories and find out how your audience feels about your products. Combining interactive stickers and emojis can effectively capture your audience’s attention and provide valuable insights in a fun and interactive way.

Related: 5 etiquette rules for using emojis at work

But are emojis for you?

While the data may convince you that all these smileys have value off-brand, it’s still important to understand the playing field. If you are part of a more traditional industry such as banking, you may want to keep your emojis free.

As with anything, moderation is key. Adding too many emojis can make your brand look spammy. Consider her A/B testing of ads to find out how viewers respond to changes. Don’t add emojis just for the sake of engagement. Always consider context and content, and remember that some emoji may have a double meaning.

Now that emojis have permeated everyday communication, it’s time for brands to catch up. Use these tips to create an effective emoji marketing strategy.