Study Finds Emojis Increase Marketing Reach

 Posted on February 28,2017 in Social Media Marketing

Emojis, it seems, are everywhere these days, and not just in text messages from your children. The little icons—evolving from the ubiquitous yellow smiley face in the early days of the internet—can now be found on t-shirts, as plush toys, and even in upcoming feature film. For many people, emojis are associated with casual conversation and informal messaging, but a new study suggests that including them in your company’s mobile marketing campaigns could pay handsome dividends.

The Power of Images

The word “emoji” has origins in the Japanese language and is a combination of “e,” the Japanese word for “picture,” and “moji,” meaning “character.” You may have heard people referring to the little pictures as “emoticons,” but there are technical differences between the two, and the similarity of the two words is entirely coincidental. Without going into too much detail, an emoji is a pictorial representation of a thought, idea, or expression—such as a yellow winky-face—while an emoticon is a text-based display of an emotion—such as ;-).