Emoji Marketing may sound like the newest advertising gimmick, yet nothing is further from the truth. These colorful characters now serve as part of the human language, with 92 percent of individuals online making use of them to express their feelings and more. They have become so pervasive companies are now using them to promote their brands, with many businesses doing so very successfully. But why are emojis so popular and how can a business take advantage of this advertising technique?
The Importance of Emojis in Day-to-Day Life
Millenials remain an important demographic for all marketers. Emoji Marketing plays to this group in a variety of ways, which is one reason this advertising method continues to increase in importance. Forty percent of individuals in this demographic group prefer pictures to text, and emojis have become so commonplace they are now considered an important part of the consumer language. Emoji Marketing has likewise become an effective advertising tool no business should overlook.
Individuals who use emojis state they do so as a way to express their feelings. They believe others can better understand them when they use these characters. Before a business can truly benefit from this advertising method, however, certain questions need to be asked. What does this emoticon mean? How will viewers react to it? Does it project the right image for the business? These are only three questions and, when businesses successfully answer them, they obtain a better return on investment for their marketing dollars.
Companies Successfully Making Use of Emoji Marketing
Bud Light has mastered the use of emojis in their marketing. For a Fourth of July campaign, the company decided to recreate the American flag using emojis. Fireworks took the place of the stars, the American flag replaced the red stripes and beer emojis stood in for the white stripes. The final product was original, creative, and drew a great deal of attention for the company. Emoji Marketing, when used in this way, can truly help to boost a company’s reputation.
In the age of the internet, instant gratification has become of more importance. Dominos recognized this and has found a way to simplify the pizza ordering process. With the help of a pizza emoji, this company has found a way to reduce the time needed to order a pizza to only five seconds. Customers love this and will reward companies who use emojis to make their life easier.
The Growth of Emojis in Business Life
Emoji Marketing has grown by 777 percent since January 2015. This trend does not appear to be changing either. In fact, 2016 saw businesses increasing their emoji use by 20 percent month-over-month. When brands use these characters and execute them effectively, they engage with consumers on a new level. Although it must be said that the usage of emoticons in E-Mails is still frowned upon and should mostly be avoided, as it does not appear to be professional behavior.
Besides that, an emoji-enabled ad receives a click-through rate that is 20 times higher than the industry standard for ads. Additionally, tweets that contain an emoji tend to generate a higher engagement rate, up to 24.5 percent more, than ones that contain no emoji. Overall, a campaign that is able to use emojis to leverage emotional content will do extremely well, performing twice as well as those campaigns with rational content. Emoji Marketing will remain popular for that reason alone.
Emoji Marketing is here to stay. Advertisement dollars need to be wisely budgeted, thus each organization must determine if their funds should be spent in this area. Many businesses find incorporating this technique will benefit them, but that isn’t the case for all. For this reason, companies need to do an analysis to decide whether or not they wish to make use of this marketing technique for greater results. Marketing experts use this type of analysis for most advertising campaigns, and emoji marketing is no exception. As it is very popular, it should never be overlooked.
