Emojis are difficult to avoid in day-to-day social media management, as a lot of our communication involves them, from emails and text messages to social media. Whilst they remain popular, does this mean that they are appropriate for businesses to use? This article discusses whether businesses should be using emojis on social media and if they do, what rules they should follow.
Emojis provide brands with a playful, non verbal, universal way to communicate a message to customers. They also allow you to express your message in significantly less characters and there has been evidence that using emojis can potentially increase ad engagement. However, they are often overused or the wrong emojis chosen and this can be detrimental to your social media ads and can lead to customer confusion.
What to consider before including emojis in your social media
Stay on brand
Only use emojis that match your brand, the product and service you sell, and your marketing message. Every company should have a dedicated, specific brand tone of voice and within this you should stipulate what messaging is appropriate. Emojis should be included with this. If you don’t follow this brand tone of voice, your marketing may be at risk of offending your target market or conflicting with your messages on other channels or your website. For example, if you are a lawyer who has a professional tone of voice, using winking emojis will clash with this messaging and impact its effectiveness.
Before using emojis always consider your brand voice, target audience and your brand personality. Brands that are clearly quirky and have tongue-in-cheek messaging will get away with using more emojis.
Split test your ads
Before you commit your entire advertising budget to one message, try split testing, with one version of the messaging avoiding the use of emojis so you can measure the impact. Also consider the age group you are targeting. Younger audiences have grown up with emojis being a standard part of their communication and therefore are more used to them.
Choose your emoji carefully
Emojis are great for expressing certain emotions (hence the name) so they need to be chosen with care. Emojis may be small but they convey a lot of meaning and if you use the wrong one, your marketing message could change dramatically.
There are also certain emojis that some social media channels frown upon and will work against you, especially if you use them in your social media advertising. For example, Facebook have restricted emojis, and using them could lead to your Facebook posts not being shown at all.
Avoid using too many emojis
Whilst using emojis can be fun and effective in small doses, don’t overload your messages with them. Not only will it look worse, they can make your adverts look like spam and can lead to them not shown. Using too many can also be annoying to customers and can harm your brand image.
Emojis can help portray a softer side
Emojis can be used to help brands appear more human which is increasingly important as we move more to an online world. they are fun, relatable and can provide a more humourous side, when used appropriately.
If you do decide to use emojis, we urge you to consider how they fit into your branding as much as you would for choosing the right words. Emojis need to reflect your brand identity, be appropriate and used appropriately.
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