Show an emoji of an eggplant or a peach to an older person and a millennial and you’ll probably get different reactions. Anyone savvy about social media trends knows that an innocent eggplant or peach implies a lot more than a plain old vegetable or fruit. But we’re not going to discuss the cheeky use of emojis here right now!
The ‘Adobe Emoji Trend Report’ of last year gives us insights about the impact of this emerging digital language on our lives, relations, and communications: uncovering where, when, why and how people are using emojis and their thoughts on the future of these digital characters. Here’s our top 10 conclusions:
- Making conversations more fun in the top reason for using emojis among 62% of emoji users.
- Love, happiness and sadness are the top emotions users express through emojis.
- Nearly all emoji users agree emojis lighten the mood of conversations and show support.
- 65% of emoji users are more comfortable expressing emojis, rather than through phone conversations.
- Text messages remain the communication form of choice for emoji use. For social media apps, emoji use on Facebook is much higher compared to Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter.
- Friends are the most frequent recipients of emojis, followed by significant others and partners.
- The majority of users wish there were more emojis available, specifically emojis representing food, drinks and snacks
- Over half of emoji users are more likely to engage with brands using emojis online.
- More than half of emoji users say they are more likely to open emails from brands that include emojis in the subject line.
- Emoji users are interested in purchasing items via emojis, and say they’d be most likely to purchase a meal.
Basically, with the right emojis, you can control the thinking of existing and potential customer in a simple, light and unobtrusive way. It’s easy to trigger certain feelings, reactions and even (commercial) actions for your target audience. Numbers don’t lie: companies that use emojis in their digital communication have a strategic advantage in comparison with their competitors! 📈
It’s time to get your next emailing or Instagram post on point 👌
