July 17 is World Emoji Day – you may use the handy little icons whilst communicating socially but would you consider using them in a professional capacity? We explain how employers can use emojis to their advantage.
According to a recent report by Brandwatch, the use of emojis has dramatically risen over the years, with 95% of people online having used emojis, making it the internet’s most popular language.
The report also found that fear emojis spiked in the run-up to the EU-referendum and sad emojis spiked during May 2017 because of the Manchester terrorist attack.
As a business its important to come across as human, so it is becoming increasingly important to be able to communicate with customers across digital platforms. And as emojis are the most popular language, businesses perhaps need to jump on board and use them more.
The business case for using emojis
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Marketing channels
The number of online marketing campaigns that used emojis to communicate a message marked an increase of 777 per cent, according to a study by mobile marketing company Appboy.
The same study found that general use of emojis in emails has increased by 7100% since 2015, with the high use among older demographics perhaps surprising. The most frequent users of emojis were 25 to 29 year olds – 76 per cent of whom frequently using them to communicate.
Emojis have very much become part of the fabric of the digital world, with 92%of the online population using them.
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Generate an emotional response to your brand
As well as incorporating the set template of emojis into your marketing campaigns and social media, there is evidence that demonstrates how effective unique emojis can be – creating your own emojis to reflect your brand and message.
In 2014, the Social Neuroscience Journal published a study that revealed that emojis generated the same emotional response from people as a human face. It’s author, Dr Owen Chu.rches, confirmed that emojis were “a new form of language that we’re producing”.
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Tailor to an overseas audience
In the Plusnet “Emoji White Paper”, Dana Loberg, founder of US emoji and mobile sticker creator MojiLaLa, explained the potential in “micro-targeting” emojis towards international demographics for businesses looking to reach overseas audiences.
“For example, if Nike wants to build-out their stores in Asia, they can create very local language and slang emojis that best relate with the people they are trying to attract,” she said.
Loberg added that “current and relatable” content resonate particularly with younger demographics.
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PR exercise
Several well known brands have used emojis to create successful PR stunts – winning headlines as a result.
In 2015, car giant Chevrolet published an entire press release in emoji language to announce its new line under the tagline of “words alone can’t describe”. The creative approach drew attention and also engagement by challenging fans to decode the message. Along with an accompanying hashtag – a full-house of modern marketing methods.
To mark World Emoji Day, Kika keyboard produced to below infographic to demonstrate the differences in emoji usage around the world.
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