I must confess, I’m a huge emoji fan. I sometimes ridiculously delay pressing the send button, just because I’m looking for that perfect emoji.?
Why?
Because Emoji does what it’s supposed to do, it adds a lot of emotion to your words.
Digital instant messages are often misunderstood, but now our words come fully supported by a set of 1922 little ‘squares’ on our iPhones. We can express ourselves by using these round yellow faces and a selection of everyday objects literally, suggestively and supportively. Emoji adds loads of flavour to our messages.
Some linguistic purists believe that Emoji will deteriorate language use, but scientists and sociologists are looking at this differently. ?They see Emoji use as a natural communication evolution, bringing needed emotion and tone back to our messaging as we opt for more digital engagement.???
Humans and Emoji have got a good thing going with mobile firmly in the middle. ???? It’s a love affair when we first learn about Emoji, asking over and over where we can find the emoji’s (hi, Grans everywhere!). Then we settle into using it to enrich our conversations with the smiley or crying face, and eventually, we move on to pro’ level, sending emoji-only sentences.
With the latest iOS10 update (September 2016), we’ve seen even more remarkable changes to Emoji; there’s single parent families, more women in emoji’s, i.e., chick surfers and construction workers.
With this update the relevant emoji will also pop up when typing the word, allowing you to add to your sentence or replace the word entirely. See why Emoji is called the world’s fastest growing language?
What does Emoji mean for us foodies and other restaurant and lifestyle communication??
Firstly, we need to understand that everyone’s sharing their moments eating, drinking and being merry with clinking beers, wine and pizza slice emojis.???
The #1 food icon on Instagram is the celebratory Birthday Cake ?, showing us celebration is right up there when we choose to post. Further merriness is that 5/10 top icons used on Instagram are drinks, of which only coffee is non-alcoholic. We all just love using the big beer jug, wine glass or the popping champagne bottle when it’s time for a night out!
If you’re a restaurant, get inspired and include emoji in all your digital messaging. Your Wine & Cheese evening can be a 2-emoji affair, instead of a 2-word affair!??
Use emoji when you post to social or when you respond on social. Using the pizza emoji on your pizza special makes your business relatable and replying to positive comments adding smiles ?, thumbs up’s ?? or other characters gives your words feelings, something very much needed in the world of digital communication.
Explore what stories you and your fans can tell in emoji. Show them how something makes you feel in Emoji, and they’ll soon be responding with theirs.
When we publish for our restaurant brands on social media, we use emoji in almost 70% of all our posts.
Confession; our favourite emoji is a coffee cup and the ‘MacBook’ computer as those two, used together, represent what we do most of the day anyway. ☕️?