It’s currently the digital industry’s language of choice – the popularity of emojis has rocketed in the past year. Around 80% of smartphone owners regularly use emojis and 6 billion are sent everyday. Vyv Evans, linguistics professor at Bangor University recently said “Emoji is the fastest growing form of language ever based on its incredible adoption rate and speed of evolution”. Brands are increasing attempting to speak the language of their audience and at the moment, that is the language of emojis.
Why should you use emojis?
Visual forms of communication are now extremely important, especially on social media. I am sure you’ve heard the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”; emojis effectively allow users to communicate and tell a story with a single image. They can help you convey the tone of your tweet or post and as emojis are based on emotion, they can help your brand show some personality.
Another advantage of the emoji language is that it is native to mobile. Brands are now able to target the lucrative younger generation that communicates almost exclusively through mobile apps. We have seen a variety of huge brands creating and publishing personalised emojis or indeed using emojis throughout ad campaigns. Just take a look at some of the innovative ways that brands are tapping into the potential of emojis.
COCA-COLA
Coca-Cola Puerto Rico recently created web addresses made up of emoji, it then launched a campaign with the emoji URLs displayed on giant billboards. Consumers were directed to a landing page where they could win the chance to design their own emoji web address.
Domino's Pizza
Dominos recently revealed that customers would be able to order pizza by tweeting a specific emoji tweet. To be able to order a pizza in 5 seconds, customers would need to save their pizza preferences to a 'easy order' account, delivery would then be activated once the emoji tweet is sent.
Dogs Trust
In a bid to raise awareness of dogs in need of a new home, the Dogs Trust has launched a specific canine emoji keyboard.
McDonald's
The fast food chain launched a viral video advert which featured a city full of people with emoji heads!
BRIT
Bris, a Swedish non-profit developed "Abused Emojis", an iOS app and keyboard that helps kids and teens communicate difficult situations through images. The app went on to become the 3rd most downloaded app in Sweden.
Hopefully these examples will encourage you to consider the use of emojis throughout your marketing strategy. Need help with your social media strategy? Get in touch with the digital team at Ardmore.
