If you were to take a look at your recent text messages, chances are there are various emojis scattered throughout the conversation. Why should those fun little faces be limited to text? Emoji use is slowly being incorporated into the marketing world as well and for good reason! According to a Wordstream study, Tweets that included emojis saw 25% more engagement, and emails with one colorful emoticon in the subject line boosted open rates by about 25%. On the flip side, too many emojis in the subject line actually decreased open rate by that same 25%. It’s clear: strategic use of emojis result in engagement.
Here at Fort Lauderdale and Aspen-based public relations agency Durée & Company, we try to weave emojis into everything we do. However, there is a strategy behind our use! Before you go emoticon-crazy, be sure to take a look at the Dynamos’ 5 tips for utilizing emojis in your marketing strategy.
Keep them relevant.
Before overloading your followers with emojis, make sure they are relevant to your brand. If using emojis for your marketing strategy seems like a stretch, don’t use them. If your brand is keen to keeping up with the times, be sure the specific emojis you’re using remain on-brand. For instance, a taco restaurant may repeatedly use the 🌮 emoji while a woman’s shoe store may frequent the 👠. If your brand skews to the older crowd, simple emojis may be more relevant – think: 😀👍❤️🐶 – while millennial audiences and younger may be drawn to more obscure emojis including 🦄😈👽.
Add personality.
Emoji use gives your brand another way to express its personality; whether that’s youthful, fun, risqué or witty. It allows you to express certain emotions, or lack of emotion, through a tiny image rather than black and white words. You know what they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words.
Be crystal clear.
Although emoji use is encouraged, they also leave room for misinterpretation. Depending on a person’s age, race, nationality, etc. an emoji can translate to many different things, so be sure you use them with caution. For example, a 😀 is simply a smiley face – no secret there. However, if your target audience skews to the older crowd, utilizing a 🔥 to convey something is “trending,” and not literally hot, may go right over their head. Another emoji with various interpretations is the 👏 . Do you see hands clapping or praying? Pro tip: consider asking a few different people how they interpret the emoji in context to ensure it’s exactly what your brand is trying to convey.
Encourage your audience to use them back.
In today’s fast-paced world, many consumers in need of customer service turn to social media for immediate access to a brand. Emojis can help streamline that conversation. For example, encourage your customers to leave reviews on social media by commenting a ❤️ or ☹️.
Be wary of context.
Always know there is a time and a place. If you’re running an exciting new tech startup, emoji use is typically always relevant. On the other hand, if you are a straight-laced law firm handling cases in which there may have been an injury or death, it may be smart to leave emojis out of your marketing material. No matter the brand, if you must convey sad news or something of a serious nature, emojis would (of course) not be appropriate. An important factor in using emojis correctly is also knowing when not to use them.
Overall, emojis are an easy way to add some spark to your marketing material. No matter the medium, from Facebook to email, live chat to brochures, they give a pop of color and excitement to, what otherwise would just be, text on a page. Not sure which emojis are 👍 and which ones are 👎? Slide into our DMs ➡️ and we’ll show you the ropes!
About Durée & Company
Durée & Company, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service public relations, marketing, and special events firm founded in 1999. The firm has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Aspen, Colorado. Durée & Company serves the corporate, agency and nonprofit arenas for local, national and international clients. Services include public relations, social media, marketing, content development, advertising, special events, branding, radio promotions and more. Durée & Company clients include well-known names in business, fashion, hospitality, travel, wellness and CBD, marine & yacht, art and culture, nonprofit organizations, legal and professional services and real estate. Durée & Company is a member of PR Boutiques International™ (PRBI), an international network of boutique PR firms. To learn more, go to https://dureeandcompany.com/, visit Durée & Company on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DureeCoPR/, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/dureecopr Twitter at https://twitter.com/dureecopr or YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/DureeAndCompany, or call 954-723-9350.
