Is this a familiar sight on your screen? ?

The emoji has become something of a cultural phenomenon in the last few years and a recent update means they aren’t going away anytime soon.

If you think emoji’s are just for tweens, you may be missing a trick (Granddad!).

The emoji began in Japan, naturally the home of all things kitsch and cute. A distant cousin of the traditional smiley face, it was only a matter of time before the emoji went mainstream.

Apple integrated emoji into its keyboard in 2011, followed quickly by Android in 2013. Soon people were substituting emoji’s for conversation all over the world, often with hilarious results.

How To Emoji (for the over 30’s…)

1.  Tell Stories ?

One of the biggest emoji practises is telling a story. Many have gone viral as people share their favourite movies told through emoji’s or popular song lyrics.

Image Credit: Buzzfeed

Maybe you could include this in your social media? Tell your brand story, or engage with users by running a competition like we did for Maxol in summer 2014. Anything goes once it’s done in a natural way. Otherwise you run the risk of looking like an “emomji”.

2.  Do Politics ?

Even the White House has jumped on the Emoji bandwagon!  In a recent report on millennials, Obama and his team gave preference to emojis in order to speak the language of its intended age group. Whether it worked or not leaves a lot to be decided, but the significance of its use is clear. Millenials are a notoriously hard group to connect with, and the White House has always been an early adopter in new ways to to reach out.

3. Emoji Speaks Louder Than Words ?

You can also use emojis for good. Peta ran a campaign recently using emojis to remind people of the consequences of animal cruelty for fashion. Users could opt-in to text message updates about the charity by sending the organisation a message with the heart emoji.

It is clear from these examples that emojis aren’t just for tweens?

Like Snapchat, Emojis are an interesting way for marketers to reach the millennial audience and to share their brands personality online. Emoji can be integrated on most social media platforms and are free to use. Why not try it for your business?

The Next Takeover?

Most social media platforms have already integrated emoji, but this week Instagram took things a step further. It announced users could use emoji in their hashtags, a universal first.

More and more businesses have turned to Instagram recently as part of their social media strategies, so this move is an interesting one. Watch this space!

If you are trying to reach millennials but find your social media strategy isn’t quite there yet, why not get in touch? Our team knows social and we can help you identify the right platforms and approaches that will work for your business.