How to use emojis on social media?

Around 92% of the population that widely use social media add emojis to their posts. Emojis are great: they allow you to sound less serious and relate to your audience. Also, emojis have the ability to draw attention. They add fun to the message that you want to spread on social media. It's fun to use emojis since they make your posts more attractive and bring more people than posts without "expressions". But are emojis effective if you use them in marketing? 🤔

The (Very Short) History of Emojis

It's interesting to learn that the very first emoticon was created by Scott E. Fahlman, an American computer scientist. It would be interesting to know how rich he would be by now if he filed the trademark.

If you want to go create exceptional content, keep up with trends and deliver a message to your audience and potential customers then you should know the right way to use emojis. As you know new things appear on social media very quickly, so the better you know the rules of its users, the more attention you will get.

It's really important to talk to your audience the way they want to hear from you. Personal messages very rarely come without emojis:

Is it appropriate to use them in posts? Yes! You just have to know how to do it. Emojis make posts "alive" or serve as a language on their own.

However, there are certain rules of how you should use emojis in your social media posts. Those little and colorful symbols can complicate your post. Your goal is to make your post attractive, interesting and make people respond. Below we are going to review the main reasons why emojis are important for visual marketing and list mistakes that you may do when using emojis in social media posts.

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Top Reasons Why Emojis Are Important

So, you are using emojis when sending a text to your friend, colleague or partner. You know that emojis help to express mood. Sometimes you don't even have to write a work: a correctly used emoji speaks for itself. Can you use emojis the same way when writing a post on social media? Yes! The number of emojis is really huge, you just need to know when it's appropriate and not to add them. Below we are going to discuss several reasons why emojis are so popular and why they will help you to boost attention.

Emojis Are International

It really doesn't matter where you are from; you understand the meaning of emojis. These little faces and pictures can be understood by anyone. Internet language allows people of different ages and nationalities to understand each other. Just like "LOL", "WTF" or "TGIF", emojis don't need explanation. When you answer a funny message with a smiling or laughing emoji, no words are needed. Emojis can tell much: a slice of pizza tells that you are having a nice meal, a palm tree tells that you are enjoying the weather/holidays, and a heart tells that you are really into something or someone. Domino's Pizza can show you a great example of using emojis. The company has come up with a great idea: lots of pizza emojis built in the shape a big pizza slice. The customers of Domino's can tweet a pizza emoji to the company to place an order. As you can see, emojis speak for themselves regardless of where you are from.

Highlighting Content

Emojis are not the sense of your post. They should flourish not serve as a foundation. These little symbols add liveliness to your content. Emojis certainly help posts to stand out and bring attention. When used correctly and in a minimal quantity, they make writing even more interesting. It's also proven that posts with emojis are more reposted than posts that include just text.

Effective Key to Visual Marketing

Long texts, statistics, and citations are not that interesting compared with infographics, images, and emojis. Visual content tends to gather many more views. This is why you need to focus on visual marketing to draw your potential customers' attention. As we have already mentioned at the beginning of the article, around 92% of consumers use emojis. So, emojis can replace words and express ideas. Visual marketing is all about making sentences shorter and making readers feel engaged. If your post on social media lacks an image or video, use emojis.

Great Way to Reach Younger Generation

Emojis is one of the best ways to reach a younger generation. Millennials take most information through images. They are not interested in reading statistics, research and interviews. If they see something that they can relate to, why is emojis, then they will read a post? Young people engage with each other through emojis, so if you want them to notice your content, speak to them the way they speak to each other: through cute little faces. Your comment will likely be responded if you add an emoji in the end. It's proven that these little symbols help users of social media communication in a much easier, relaxed and pleasant way.

Make Consumers Relate to You

Did you know that around 60 million emojis are sent through Facebook daily while around 300 emojis are posted on Twitter on second? These numbers are incredible! You can use Emoji Tracked yourself to see the statistics. A single emoji makes a post "friendly". If you use emojis in your posts, you will relate to the users much better than if you provide custom content. The recent statistics say that emojis used in marketing content has increased the popularity of brands and helped the business to gain trust among customers. Another interesting statistic shows that using emojis on Twitter increases engagement by 25% while on Facebook by 57%. Isn't it impressive?

Make Messages More Personal

It's recommended to use emojis in personal messages and comments. A text with emoji at the end makes it easier to communicate and help someone who you chat with feel more relaxed. Engaging with the audience is the best thing that you can do. Since more and more people order food, clothes, and devices online than ever, giving them the impression that you care is very important. Consumers choose those companies where they are treated with respect and where they can be themselves. Emojis are perfect for that. Do you agree that receiving a message with an emoji from someone who you have never met in person is nice? If so, then emoji can be used as a tool to gain trust.

From the first part of the article, you have learned why emojis are so popular and why so many people, especially, youngsters use them all the time.

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Top Mistakes People Do When Using Emojis

It's time to talk about how you can make a wrong impression by using emojis in an inappropriate way. You must have seen the lines of emojis expressing different emotions: crying, laughing, heart, flower, Christmas tree, etc. This looks really poor. Each emoji Carrie's a single idea so it's really inappropriate to use various emojis at the end of a text just to make it look funny. Nothing can be worse than using emojis incorrectly in media marketing.

Below we are going to review several common mistakes in using emojis and help you not to repeat the same mistake.

Emojis Must Make Sense

Emojis are not just little smiles, gloomy faces, hearts, etc. They express emotions so when you add them to your post on social media, they must make sense. Many times, customers can't understand what emojis mean under a post. So they get a wrong impression not trusting your product or service. Even though emojis is still a trend, you can use them randomly. If you are not sure how to use emojis, leave a text message only. If you are not sure what each emoji means, visit Emojipedia and read a description to each emoji. When you know what each emoji means, you will be able to create interesting and engaging posts.

Don't Use Emojis Along with Serious Content

It seems like everyone uses emojis whether they talk about holidays or debts. Emojis tend to oversimplify things, so if you are talking about serious issues like loans or disease, it's best to avoid using emojis because it seems like there is no appropriate face that would comply with serious matters. One of the most popular examples of the wrong use of emojis was Hillary Clinton's post on Twitter: "How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in three emojis or less." This was certainly not the best tactic since the topic of the post is serious and could have been painful for someone.

Avoid Clogging Your Posts with Emojis

Another common problem with using emojis is using them too much. A nice way to use emojis is when you use one winking when you post teasing content, smiling one when you share happiness, and a heart when you love/like something/someone. Emojis should be a natural continuation of your thought. If you add emojis just to make your post on social media attractive, don't do it. Some people are very good with emojis; they automatically add an appropriate "face" that seems just perfect for ending up a thought.

You Emojis Should Match Your Brand

If you sell flowers, cakes, and clothes, adding a heart at the end of a message is fine. However, if you are having a chat with a customer of your computer repair company. However, using emojis is down to you. If you want to have friendly and warm relationships with your customers regarding the business you have, then you can choose to use any emojis. However, it's not considered professional and can push some people away.

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Come Up With Unique Emojis

You can even create your own emojis and draw the attention of the audience with your unique content. Think of a little picture that would comply with your brand. Of course, it will take some time and effort but drawing attention will be so easy once it's ready and posted. Such an awareness-boosting technique does work: political organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations, have already created unique emojis that help they capture attention and differ from so many other people on social media.

Conclusion

Emojis are simply great. People often underestimate them thinking sarcastically about those yellow faces expressing different emotions. Adding a smiley face or a thumb up at the end of a message can make a good impression. If receiving a message with an emoji from someone who you have never met in person made you smile, then you know that it works. It's not that difficult to learn how to use emojis in your posts, messages, and comments on social media. Learn the definition of each and add them to text to make it more lively.

It's time to forget about old concepts and learn trends. You may think that using symbols is not serious. However, symbolic language is as important as writing. The best way to start using emojis is by imagining with what facial expression you are saying something. Review the list of emojis and choose one that has the same expression as you. Also, read posts of other people and see how others react to them. Using emojis is a lot of fun just remember that a smiley face or a heart is not appropriate in any situation.

We also believe that our goal was achieved: you know what emojis are for, when you should and shouldn't use them and how these little cute faces can help you grow the audience and make them like you through the screen of their devices.

Bio

Cheryl Hearts is a writer and journalist from Boston, Massachusetts. Her passion for writing started at an early age and evolved during the high school years. She enjoyed creating her own stories, so she decided to make writing her career. After earning a degree in Journalism, Cheryl started running her own blog CherylHearts.com where she’s covering topics of great interest to society.