There’s a holiday for everything these days and a hashtag to match it. National Sibling Day? Puppy Day? National Taco Day (a personal favorite around our office). What would the world be without emojis, though? So naturally, we have to have a World Emoji Day.
What is it? It’s an annual (unofficial) holiday on July 17, intended to celebrate emoji, and is often used for marketing and promotional purposes, particularly those related to emoji. Here are some crucial facts about emoji that you know you were dying for:
- The plural of emoji is, in fact, emoji.
- In 2015 on July 17, it was Twitter’s top trending item.
- Apple typically uses it to announce additions to their emoji catalog on iOS.
- Today there are 3000+ emoji.
So how can your brand, business, or company leverage World Emoji Day? Consider the following ideas as a starting point for you to add to your content calendar.
- Encourage your followers and fans to share their favorite or most used emoji.
- Comment on what emoji are missing or what you wish there was an emoji for (particularly if you work in an industry where your emoji is missing)
- Try sharing your content that day using mostly (or only) emoji.
- Use emoji to share important tips or information (for example, brands have used a combination of water drops, soap, and the hand-washing emoji to share the importance of washing your hands).
- Correlate emoji with other pictures (for example, connect a meme to an emoji, like saying “What you sent/What it means”).
- Show how an emoji can change the meaning of a text, post, or sentence by putting unlike things together (a smiling emoji with a sarcastic comment, for example).
- Some brands allow you to search, order, or purchase with emoji (pizza delivery and shoe shopping are two examples). If you offer that functionality, talk about it!
The sky is the limit! You just have to think both visually and creatively to conceptualize your messaging. As I often tell my marketing students, if you don’t have something of value to say, don’t say it; but also don’t undervalue the importance of entertainment. Think creatively, think outside the box, and think in terms of emoji and how you can leverage a creative idea. If you need help coming up with an angle, reach out to our team to find out how we can create a content calendar that focuses on marketing that will work for your business.
