Emojis were originally created in 1999 by a Japanese engineer. It wasn’t until 2010 that they were standardized so they could be used outside of Japan. Today, there are thousands of emojis and it’s hard to imagine text conversations and social media posts without them – emojis have become a standard part of our personal communication. But what about for business? Are emojis a good idea?
Making the case for Emojis in your marketing campaigns.
There is a place for emojis in your communications to homebuyers. In fact, stats from a variety of sources that show using emojis can dramatically improve performance of your marketing in some key channels.
- According to Zazzle Media, Everyone loves a smiley face
and Facebook posts that use emoticons have a 57% higher like rate, a 33% higher comment rate, and a 33% higher share rate. - Split tests on Twitter showed that tweets with emojis saw 25% more engagement.
- On Instagram, nearly 50% of all comments and captions contain emojis.
- Fifty-six percent of brands using emoji in their email subject lines had a higher unique open rate, according to a report by Experian.
- Push notifications with emojis saw 85% increase in open rates and 9% bump in conversions. This is huge for mobile apps!
Still not convinced? Want to find out if emojis will improve your brand’s marketing performance? A/B test and find out! Here are a few things to consider.
- Don’t overdo it. We all have those friends that over overly emojitional – smiley faces , heart
and laughing crying faces 
in every line. Brands that use emojis effectively, use them sparingly to make an impact. One leading expert recommends: Use emojis as amplifiers, not substitutions – great advice! - Leverage emojis to express brand personality. Emojis are a fun and engaging way to express your brands personality in many places where we’ve traditionally used words. Emojis can help keep it real and make your brand appear friendlier, approachable and open up the door for a conversation.
- Tap into the power of images when space is limited. Today, people are overwhelmed with text and they process visuals 600X faster than plain text. Emojis are a great way to tap into the power of images – especially on mobile devices and in those channels where space is at a premium.
- Get creative and try new ideas. Ask your audience to describe your homes with emojis. Or have them vote on two kitchens with a thumbs up or down. Give a phrase made only with emojis and have a contest for people to guess the saying.
- Choose your emojis wisely. With thousands of options to choose from, how do you decide which emojis to use. Do you go with the most popular like the pointing finger
or the winky face 
, or do you grab attention by using emojis that are less widely used. This article from HubSpot might help you decide.
Ready for some fresh material?
2020 will see the release of 117 new emojis including bubble tea, piñata, dodo bird, Italian hands, and more. Check out this video from Emojipedia to see all of the emojis that are coming later this year.
New Emojis Coming In 2020. Source: Emojipedia.
Most of us use emojis in our daily texts and social messages, and there’s strong data to support that using them for business (with guidelines) can help boost your efforts. Need some help with your strategy? BDX is here to help – email us at info@thebdx.com and let us put you in touch with one of our Digital Marketing Consultants.
