With the regular roll-out of new emojis, we’ve seen a rise in brands using them in their social content in recent years. This has brought about the question: how and when is it appropriate to use emojis to communicate your message?
When used in the correct way, emojis can help to generate fun, engaging content. Research shows that users respond better to visual content and posts including emojis have been shown to increase engagement on social media by up to 57% over emoji-free messages.
Emojis are familiar to users. In most cases, people are fully aware of what individual emojis mean, so if you use the appropriate emojis in your content they can help to communicate your message better. For instance, if your post is intended as ‘tongue in cheek,' you can use the winking emoji to indicate this so your humour doesn’t fall flat or run the risk of miscommunication.
In addition, emojis can make your content more personable. When users search for brands on social media, they’re wanting the communication to come from real people. Using emojis can stop your content from feeling somewhat robotic or overly formal (which could run the risk of putting people off making those all-important purchases). You want to create a down-to-earth feel on your social channels to some extent and emojis can help you achieve that.
However, it’s important you don’t get carried away with the use of emojis in your social media messaging. Too often we see posts that feature 5+ emojis which feels a bit spammy and cheapens the look of your content. Emojis should enhance your content, not replace it! Try to refrain from adding an emoji to every other word; one or two in a post should communicate your message just fine and will retain some professionalism to your image.
Also, don’t feel like you HAVE to use emojis in every piece of content you publish on social media. Even though research suggests using emojis will generate more interest in posts than those without, it doesn’t hurt to put a little trial and error into play to see how your audience reacts differently to a variety of different posting styles.
Plus, if your post is already visual and features a good quality image or graphic that communicates your message better than any emoji or copy can, it may be best to simply allow the image to do the talking and keep the rest of your post to a minimum.
Despite most users knowing exactly what the meaning behind every emoji is, that doesn’t stop individuals creating double meanings for them (some of these alternative meanings could be quite inappropriate for use on a professional business account!). Make sure you know exactly what the emojis you intend to use mean before including them in your posts to avoid any awkward scenarios.
If you’re a luxury brand, some of the more playful emojis such as the funny facial expressions may not be for you. However, many luxury brands still opt to use some of the classier emojis, (such as plants and leaves) in their content to make it more visually appealing while sticking to the overall image and tone of their brand for consistency.
You should also be able to identify when it may be inappropriate to use any emojis in your messaging, full stop. If you’re sending out a serious message, such as an apology, then it may be more respectful and professional to leave the emojis out on this occasion.
For further social media advice and guidance, visit our regularly updated blog.
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