6 Tips on How to Speak Emoji in Business Texts

It’s time to expand your customer vocabulary and begin speaking emoji!

Think of an emoji as a modern-day hieroglyphic, only it looks like emojis are here to stay. In a world with an app for everything, we’re reaching the point there’s now an emoji for it all as well. Go beyond the 26 letters of the English alphabet with over 3,300 emojis — and new options continually released.

Why? Because emojis are more than the cute images popular enough to have their own Hollywood film — they can also be the hero of your marketing strategies. They are the world’s most global language — easily accessible internationally with little or no need for translation, and used correctly they boost click-through rates, open rates, and engagement levels. And they’re fun! Inject emojis into your content and brand voice and a whole world of expressive possibilities opens up.

Emojis first leaped onto our digital screens in the late ‘90s and since then have grown exponentially, extending from smiley faces to food, plants, travel, activities, clothing, animals, vehicles, industries, a variety of skin tones, and so much more. Basically, if you can imagine it, there’s probably an emoji that applies.

Why Use Emojis?

Emojis can turbocharge campaigns and engagement by adding energy, humor, emotion, and personality to your communications. Used correctly, emojis can be attention grabbers that resonate with audiences. You’ve probably already seen them crop up in your emails — both in subject line and message.

No matter what your emoji style may be, emojis can translate into big business. Some tips to consider as you get started…

1. Keep Emojis Relevant; Drive Effectiveness & Engagement

With thousands of options to choose from, you have every opportunity to keep your emojis attuned to your brand. Emojis are often used best sparingly and to add a little levity or visual aesthetic. Be sure the situation calls for it.

2. Break Down Barriers, Communicate Efficiently

Cognitive fatigue and brain drain are issues we all deal with to some degree. So many emails, so much content to absorb. A quick emoji image can break up the monotony and grab a customer’s attention. A rose may be a rose by any other name — but your audience may prefer to see it rather than read it.

A picture may still be worth a thousand words, but emojis can translate into big business. A few examples: to boost open rates on urgent notifications, you can quickly cut through barriers with simple alert emojis. Or add an emoji of shoes for a major sale.

3. Great for All ages

Yes, Gen Z and Millennials do love their emojs — but they hardly use them exclusively. Gen X and Baby Boomers speak the same language so feel free to implement for an intergenerational audience.

4. Get Creative & Get Engaged

No, not with the diamond ring emoji [(insert diamond ring emoji & laughing face emoji)] — but emojis add personalization, humor, emotion, empathy, and charisma. Like ancient hieroglyphics, images speak to us on a very human level — balancing out the somewhat impersonalization of digital content.

Play around with new campaigns and seek ways to engage your audience. Subscribers are more likely to respond to you with quick emojis so go ahead and implement a Text-to-Vote campaign with emojis — whether that is asking clients to send different facial expressions, voting on hopeful travel destination, or the simple thumbs up or down approach.

5. Leverage Social Intelligence

Implement smart social intelligence tools and strategies to measure commonly used emojis per industry, holiday, or occasion.

6. Speak Creatively, But Carefully

A word of caution: a few emojis have alternative uses, innuendos, or could be easily misinterpreted — and this could send an incorrect message for your brand. So if you’re new to this language and unclear, it’s always a smart idea to double-check. Emoji analysis from social intelligence tools (or even a quick Google search) can keep you from implementing any problem ones and help you avoid potential pratfalls.