How many emojis are many emojis? Which ones should I use? At what level of my campaign should I incorporate them? These questions might sound familiar to you if you want to communicate on social networks and is that emojis have become a key part of the digital ecosystem for giving what we write that “human” or emotional quality.
These expressions manage to humanize brands and that is why we already see them in the subject line of emails even on social networks and WhatsApp, where they are protagonists.
Before telling you the elements that you should keep in mind to know if your messages require their incorporation or not, I want to tell you that a Statista report explains that the emojis “crying with laughter” and “sending a kiss” are the most used, by 56% and 55% respectively.
This report also highlights the fact that 6% of respondents said they did not use any.
Which leads us to ask ourselves: Are these emoticons a core part of modern communication? Let’s see below four elements that you should consider before incorporating them
Apart from developing your avatars very well, you should investigate what types of emojis they use and how each of them is perceived. There are social intelligence tools such as Emojipedia with which you can identify the most used ones.
It is also important that the construction of your buyer persona is accompanied by an understanding of the generational behavior of your audience, since the emoticons used by baby boomers, millennials or generation Z, may not be the same or not have the same meaning.
Each social network has its own personality and understanding it is essential to use this resource assertively. For example, if all your communication takes place on LinkedIn, you can prioritize slightly more professional emojis, such as the green check sign, the idea light bulb or others that invite you to generate an action.
On the other hand, in more casual environments such as Tiktok or Instagram you can incorporate those that are widely understood, always taking care of the meaning of each one and the concordance with the message it transmits.
For example, if your brand communication is humorous or with a humorous approach, the number of emojis available is likely to be much greater than if your brand is a hospital, for example.
Not all emojis mean the same in all countries, in fact, in countries like the United States or the United Kingdom, the woman who dances is simply that, a dancer. While for us in Panama it represents a holiday.
If you still have doubts, ask yourself: What is the intention of the message? Are the emojis I plan to place understood by my audience? Is this social network the right one for that message?
Going back to the previous example, it is likely that on LinkedIn you decide not to incorporate the emoticon that winks an eye while sticking out its tongue, but it seems very good for Instagram. What if I told you that in some countries this gesture is a sign of coquetry?
If that’s not what you want to convey, then it’s time to give it a second look.
Certainly many emoticons will make your communication seem childish and far from increasing participation they will decrease it. Referring to the data, specifically the Statista report (2019), 38% of the participants explained using and feeling comfortable with content that had between 1 to 3.
To conclude, let me remind you of some good practices: Avoid substituting words for emojis, especially since they do not all mean the same to all people, be natural, if your message does not involve food, for example, avoid placing hamburgers or sushi, remember that they exist more than 3,000 emoticons, but also an audience that increasingly has a smaller range of attention, so keeping things simple becomes imperative.
