Social marketing in the age of emojis

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. The same may not be exactly true for emojis, used with the purpose of getting a singular meaning across. The usefulness of these symbols for quick communication is quickly growing on social media. Marketers, according to an Adweek report, want in.

"Clients of ours definitely care about them," Ali Ardalan, director of product and strategy at Sprinklr, told Adweek. "Customers are using them to figure out how the campaign is performing and what the feedback is on the brand and also on the customer service side."

When Twitter introduced emojis last year, Wendy’s was among the first to hop on the bandwagon. The company’s marketers used symbols in tweets that translated into "burger plus burger equals happy."

Currently, Instagram is generating a good deal of marketing buzz. The platform debuted emoji hashtags back in April. An article on MediaPost’s Marketing Daily referred to Instagram as "the social network of choice for young consumers."

Marketing emojis

Source: Twitter

Instagram, according to parent company Facebook, has over 200 million active users on a daily basis and 300 million who use the site monthly. Roughly half of all communications on the site involve the use of emojis.

"Emoji usage is an evolution of how the younger mobile consumer communicates," Noah Brier, CEO of Percolate, told Adweek, "so it’s logical for brands to follow those conversations."

BrainTrust

"Anything to avoid connecting human-to-human. Remember when you’d get upset as a kid and you’d act out in bizarre and hard-to-interpret ways? Many of us will recall our mothers calming us down and telling us to "use words" to let them know what we were feeling. The truth of our mothers’ words ring eternal, don’t you think?"

Ian Percy

President, The Ian Percy Corporation


"I am bullish on using emojis in consumer goods and retail marketing, but only to a point. Use emojis right now and until further notice. However, at some point in time the use of emojis this way will become excessive and lose its effectiveness. Do it now, do it right, and know when to say when."

David Biernbaum

Founder & President, David Biernbaum & Associates LLC


"Mr. Brier is dead on — if brands want to connect with the younger mobile audience, speak in their language. If connecting with the global population, only do it if it’s a natural, appropriate extension of your brand."

Laura Davis

Founder, Branded Ground


Discussion Questions

What do you make of the growing use of emojis and their potential use in retail and brand marketing?

Poll

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Ian Percy
Ian Percy
8 years ago

Anything to avoid connecting human-to-human.

Remember when you’d get upset as a kid and you’d act out in bizarre and hard-to-interpret ways? Many of us will recall our mothers calming us down and telling us to “use words” to let them know what we were feeling. The truth of our mothers’ words ring eternal, don’t you think?

David Biernbaum
David Biernbaum
8 years ago

I am bullish on using emojis in consumer goods and retail marketing, but only to a point. Use emojis right now and until further notice. However, at some point in time the use of emojis this way will become excessive and lose its effectiveness. Do it now, do it right, and know when to say when.

Paul Stanton
Paul Stanton
8 years ago

Shameful that people believe this is the best way to communicate.

Laura Davis-Taylor
Laura Davis-Taylor
8 years ago

This topic is really about where culture should fit into marketing. Smart marketers look at the world around them through a wide angle lens and lean on what’s culturally relevant to connect with people in more human, likeable ways.

For those who use and love emojis, they are on point and very meaningful. For those who don’t, they are silly and annoying. Mr. Brier is dead on — if brands want to connect with the younger mobile audience, speak in their language. If connecting with the global population, only do it if it’s a natural, appropriate extension of your brand.