The power of emojis in marketing

The power of 😂😍🙄😋 {emojis} in marketing

December 6, 2017

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Emojis are a phenomenon because of their power to engage and encourage a positive response. Capabilities to include emojis within social campaigns are old news, but Google has since announced that they will feature emojis in search results when they are considered relevant and fun.

Google is favouring emojis in organic search results, but it is only if they are relevant and useful that they can appear in metadata or page titles.

But Google is yet to roll out this capability across AdWords. We have been unable to replicate any ad results which include emojis during our research, so we’re speculating that Google is just testing this function, or any ads we’ve seen that include emojis are just a glitch. But since emojis are here to stay, there’s a good chance the feature is in the pipeline.

 

So here’s how to use emojis within your SEO and PPC strategies to see an uptick in conversions. 

 

To understand how to successfully incorporate emojis, and actually see an increase in conversions, we must first get our heads around the phenomenon itself.

If you’re rolling out an ad campaign for Le Creuset Griddle pans, it’s not as simple as adding an aubergine to the copy for good measure. Although griddled aubergine is pretty tasty, we all know what the aubergine emoji actually represents, right?

 

The power of emojis in marketing

Understanding emojis 101

We don’t digest emojis like we do words, we read them as non-verbal emotional communication.

We use emojis to complement our language and convey extra meaning. Just like when we register someone’s facial expression and body language, in a face-to-face conversation.

Emojis bridge the gap between text and tone, ultimately their power is in the ability to emulate a real human face and emotion.

They have rapidly developed to be our tone of voice, expression and gestures. They bring our copy to life with no need for grammar or syntax.

They convey what text simply cannot, humanity and personality.

Emojis are here to stay. Apple made sure of that when they released Animoji with the iPhoneX.

 

The power of emojis in marketing

 

This means opportunities are (or will be) everywhere to include emojis in our marketing campaigns.

We’re all trying to stand out, and it’s only by thinking differently to our competitors that we’re seeing conversions across channels.

It may sound too simplistic, but if a message that only includes the English language isn’t enough to make a significant impact, could including emojis in the SERPs be a potential way to increase CTR?

 

The power of emojis

The influence of emojis is easily backed up. In January 2017, Quintly found that Instagram posts with emojis had a 17% higher interaction rate than posts without emojis.😱 😱 😱

WWF had extraordinary success with the first-ever emoji-based campaign #EndangeredEmoji, gaining over 600,000 mentions in the first 3 months. WWF used emojis to increase brand awareness and to inspire a younger audience about the importance of conservation, while also keeping fundraising as the focus point of the campaign.

 

Dominos tagged along in the same vein when they launched the #EasyOrder campaign, allowing customers to order their favourite pizza simply by tweeting the pizza emoji. Talk about convenience… 🍕🍕

So it’s been done. It’s fun, it’s engaging, and it gets talked about. Here’s how you can do it too:

 

How to use emojis in marketing

#1 Understand the emoji, per location, age, gender and social class (avoid 🍆 and 🍑).

#2 Understand how your audience communicates. Is your audience even using emojis in their conversations? Use social listening tools to monitor, and engage accordingly.

#3 Use the emotion in your story and let emojis elevate the message you’re trying to convey. After all, this is what makes emojis powerful.

WARNING: A recent YouGov study found that 58% of consumers think marketers are trying too hard to incorporate emojis into ad campaigns.

#4 Keep it simple, don’t let emojis take the focus away from your campaign. The end goal is a successful campaign and valuable leads.

 

Download Quintly’s 2017 Instagram Emoji Study to see the whole breakdown of usage and interaction with popular emojis.

 

Feeling uninspired by your ad copy? Looking for a fresh approach? Drop us a message and see how we can help you. 🤓

 

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