They say a picture is worth a thousand words – and emojis are the next evolution of communicating, sometimes even complex thoughts or emotions, with simple pictures. If you’re not on board yet, it’s time to hop aboard the emoji train!

You see them everywhere – but what are they?

Emojis are pictograms you can incorporate into text, email, social media and other digital communication to convey an emotion or illustrate a message. A shorthand way to communicate, these tiny cartoon faces further testifies to the use of emojis as language - but is it a language brands can use? And if so, how can you leverage emojis with utility to humanize your messages and connect with your audience?

Key Takeaways on Marketing with Emojis

1. Make sure it’s right for your audience.

Whether it’s Snapchat, Instagram, or the next big platform, brands need to understand which platforms their audience is using to connect, consume and share. Know the meaning and social connotation behind each emoji to ensure you’re using it correctly. A great resource is Emojipedia, which serves as an emoji encyclopedia. You don’t have to be an expert on emojis to use them, but a little bit of research before you start is a good idea.

2. What is your emoji saying?

When looking at the amount of Apple vs. Android users, you may only look at your own circle of friends and make an assumption. In actuality, emojis appear differently across various devices and operating systems. To help you avoid misunderstandings in cross-platform interactions, here are a few examples of nine emojis that appear differently depending on the device from which you are viewing. Bottom line: Be wary of what your emoji might be saying on a different device.

Example between an iPhone 6 and ZTE Axon.

3. Get Personal.

At the end of the day, we all connect with each other through emotion. Tap into emotion to help drive brand messages. Emojis help people re-establish some of the cues that are missing in text, as well as making the text feel friendlier and more informal. This essentially means finding ways to soften the tone over written copy.

4. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly)

If the rise of emojis teaches us anything, it’s that we are looking for more effective ways to communicate more information, faster. Information overload has been a problem for advertisers for years. This is due to a number of things - busy and hectic lifestyles, the increased use of mobile devices and people constantly being switched on to multiple channels. Our overall attention span is lower and as a brand, it’s harder to get your message through to your audience. Focus on delivering concise, easily digestible, simple messages to appeal to your customers.

5. Test everything.

Emojis are becoming ingrained in our society and are not likely to go away anytime soon, but emoji marketing may not be for everyone. Start small, and test an approach that may work for your brand.

Tweet us your favorite emoji @ThinPigMedia. 🐷

Say It With An Emoji