Emoji’s are a language unto themselves, am I right??!!!
I LOVE emoji’s and I can send messages back and forth with my family and close friends, and no words need be typed – and it’s so FUN!!!
BUT I have come across business owners who don’t even know when they’re not using emojis appropriately, (cue part of the population who don’t understand what the eggplant emoji is! ??) so it’s time for everyone to get familiar with the meanings behind emoji and what they’re all about!
What are emoji?
They’re an alternate alphabet, and we can use them in emails, text and social media posts, blog posts, articles and presentations. The list is endless!
They’re best described asa pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversation.
Why do we use them?
We use emojis because they are fun and they say what you want to convey, sometimes better than words can. They can add a pop of colour and personality and can put the fun into a social media caption. They can also be used to shift certain messages and emotions better than text or words.
How to use and understand Emojis?
With technology and platforms today, emojis are already built into the operating systems and are ready to use whenever you want to send text, reply to emails and post content. You can access emojis using the emoji keyboard of your phone. When using your desktop or Mac, you can simply Copy + Paste the emoji that you want to use. Personally, I use the JoyPixels Chrome Extension for emoji’s and I LOVE IT!!!
Here are three reasons why you should be using Emoji’s in business:
(1) Emojis can boost up social media engagement.
This strategy isn’t for everyone, but if the emoji fits, use it! Statistics don’t lie!
- One in five tweets by someone now includes emojis.
- Five billion emojis are used on Facebook Messenger daily.
- Emojis in email subjects and body has shown to increase open and response rate
So, go ahead and get emoji’ing in your posts!
(2) Emojis deliver what words cannot.
We’ve all received text messages and emails that confuse us. Are you guilty (like I am!) of putting too many exclamation marks or “…” after a sentence, to convey emotion? Yep, me too! ,It’s sooooo much easier to display a sentiment or share a feeling with an emoji 😉
“I am so excited!” vs “I am so excited?!”
Emojis don’t necessarily replace the words but they can definitely give a little extra excitement, intrigue and feeling.
(3) Emojis add character and personality to a brand.
Brands have their own personality and distinctive character which help visitors, customers and followers to connect with your brand. If emoji’s fit your brands personality, use them!!! Help your brand attract your ideal customer TO YOU with the language, colours, words, and EMOJI that you use!
Using emojis in your business, in your marketing and in your communications gives an extra level of personality and identity to your brand. It can also add context to your content since adding an emoji conveys emotions that you can’t do with a text or message.
Remember to have FUN with your brand, even if your vibe is corporate and sensible, there are still emoji’s that will fit your brand! BUT be careful what you use … read below to find out the meanings of some of the most-used emoji in 2021, and click PLAY to watch this short video where Matt Shaver explains the latest emoji coming out over the next few months!
Examples of Emojis and their meaning
1. Heart Eyes Emoji ?
Heart-eye emoji means to show your love for something, whether it be a new product or a blog article you want to promote on social.
2. Side Eye Emoji ?
The side-eye emoji is most often used as a smirk after someone makes a sarcastic or ambiguous joke that could seem serious, out of context. It’s a great emoji to use when you want to demonstrate a playful side to your brand, or if you’re making a joke and aren’t sure whether your audience will know you’re kidding.
3. Eyes Emoji ?
The eyes emoji is a simple and fun way to draw attention to a link or image you want to share with your audience. Instead of saying “Look at this”, you might consider using the eyes as a silly substitute.
4. Embarrassed/Flushed Face Emoji ?
The flushed face emoji is a fantastic opportunity for your brand to demonstrate humility or gratitude for an achievement or award. Alternatively, the flushed face emoji is often simply used to express happiness or joy. This is how I most use it, it’s my rosy-cheeked happiness, like really happy!!!
5. Thinking Emoji ?
The thinking emoji is often used to demonstrate someone deep in thought, or pondering the validity of something. It can be used to express a level of doubt, like “Hmm … not sure about that”, in regards to a controversial issue.
6. Sweat Emoji ?
The smiling emoji with a sweat droplet is typically used to express a close call — while the sweat depicts a level of discomfort, the smile alludes to someone who’s thinking, “Phew! That could’ve been bad.”
7. Hand Up Emoji ?
Typically, businesses use the hand up emoji to suggest a level of enthusiasm or participation, like “Sign me up!” For internal purposes, you might use the hands up emoji to get a headcount of people willing to help out. I often use it in an “Oi! What about me?!” (as I often suffer from FOMO ?) way, or “Pick me, pick me!”
8. The Laughing Emoji ?
The laughing emoji is one of the easiest ways to show your humour. If a team member makes a joke on our slack channel, I’ll use the “?” emoji as an alternative to “haha” or “lol” or “oh my giddy aunt that’s hilarious!”
9. Thumbs up emoji ??
The thumbs up is relatively universal, making it a classic emoji to use to either express your business’s approval, or to ask for quick audience engagement. For instance, you might write on Instagram, “What do you think of our new company logo? Give us a ??or ??”. This allows your audience to engage with your brand with very minimal effort on their part.
10. Hand Emojis ??????☝️
- The ? expresses the same message as it does in real life — “that’s a-okay,” or “fine by me”.
- The clapping hands (?) can be used to express congratulations or excitement, such as “Congrats to @Kylie on winning our giveaway contest ????????!”.
- The “????☝️” pointing finger emoji’s are effective for pointing at a link or drawing attention to something. Particularly when there’s a word limit, it’s a good idea to use the pointing finger instead of writing, “Check out this link”.
9. Rude or cheeky emoji’s! ??
Now let’s look at the “rude” or cheeky emoji’s that can so often be used by businesses who don’t know what’s going on out there in the sexting scene! Figuring out what ??? actually means, or that ? or
? are not just vegetables or seafood, can be complicated! No emoji combination is definitive; so as long as it makes some sort of logical sense, you can use any emojis you feel like to communicate your point! For example, could you imagine that ?️?? can translate to, “I would very much appreciate a striptease performance” … I’d personally translate it to “let’s get our tickets for the dance and people watch” ???.
I’m not going to get any further into the sexy-time emoji in this blog, because there are many other blogs you can read to get all the nitty gritty on that, and let’s face it – SEO on all that, I don’t want to have our blog come up when people are looking for something a little more, ahem, sexy! But you can always check out this page on Women’s Health Mag which is quite explicit. Remember though, if you do read it, that many of the emoji they’ve listed CAN be used very innocently with the “right” intention in business, just be conscious of how you’re using them and in what context!
Emojis. The human language has been evolving for centuries, and it can seem like we’ve now gone back to ancient ruins. As with hieroglyphics, however, some of the emojis, like ? are easy to immediately translate, then there are others, like ?️ ~ the levitating man ~ that most of us have no idea how or why you’d need to use it! Future civilisations are going to find us quite a curious bunch, I’ll bet!
Emojipedia has a briliant search engine to decode your emoji, and also see what they look like on different devices. Remember to have FUN with your brand, BUT be careful what you use … it’s an emoji minefield out there!!!
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