The Secret Life of the Emoji
Remember the good ol’ days of simply stating what you meant? Now, it takes more time. Insert the use of emojis. From engaging with a younger audience to ensuring your messaging is quick, to the point and ultimately - relatable. Many marketers and social media specialists have caught onto this trend and use it often.
Emojis are not only awesome for those text conversations with your BFFs but they can also work perfectly for brands, public figures and agencies.
Here’s why we think it’s time you jump on the bandwagon and start expressing yourself with our trusty technological friends: emojis.
Emojis can tell a story
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words so why not express it with emojis? Now, don’t get ahead of yourself and put a million hearts to express your client love (even though sometimes you just may want to!). Instead, use the emojis to amplify your messaging. Struggling to express yourself or stay in within 140 characters on Twitter? Rather than stating “i’m happy,” a smiley emoji can be used.
New emojis are being developed all the time and even TV shows are now offering downloadable emojis to share when dishing about your favourite new episode. Everyone is catching on to the trend, but make sure to use it wisely!
Increased Reach
The biggest importance to all those creating messaging for a brand/company is to stay relatable. We’re huge believers in knowing your audience. Know the trends, know what people love and tailor it.
Using emojis in Instagram captions, Twitter posts and even Instagram stories means you understand what your audience likes, relates to and personally uses.
Lately anything you want can be found with an emoji on it, and people are loving it! Emoji phone cases, emoji backpacks, emoji t-shirts. The newer generations LOVE emojis, so what better way to connect to them than to love what they love?
Increased engagement
An emoji makes your message stand out from plain text. People are more likely to stop and read your post because it’s intriguing and it becomes relatable to said audience.
Sense of Community
Many influencers and brands use emojis pertinent to their image. Do we all remember Beyonce’s Lemonade release? The Beyhive practically bombarded social media channels with the infamous lemon emoji. She also typically associates herself with the bee emoji. Creating a sense of community with a simple image can go a long way. We’re not kidding. Just ask the Beyhive…
Disclaimer: Sometimes emojis can mean something completely different than assumed (ahem...eggplant emoji). Know what you’re using, utilize them for your brand and decide as a team what best represents you.
Fun fact: these are MY top three emojis
1. ❤️ With the heart emoji you can express love or gratitude, apparently I do this a lot.
2. 😂 Cry while you laugh, there is nothing better, with this emoji you can show people how hilarious they or you are (I’m the funny one).
3. 😰 My stress emoji, sweating from the pain and fear of cracking.
Check your phone, what are yours?