Text emoji in SMS marketing

Since a few days, you can use ‪‎emoji‬ in your SMS‬ created and send via ‪‎SMSAPI‬ Customer Portal. Still – not many brands use such a feature, that’s why it’s a perfect way to differentiate your business from the competition. See how to use emoticons and emojis in SMS communication.

What is emoticon?

Emoticon – couple of letters, digits and punctuation marks that together form a new meaning. They mostly resemble gestures, facial expressions, animals or other things. The name is short of emotion and icon. The most popular emoticons indicate smile and different feelings, but there are also more complex ones.

Popular emoticons examples

:) :( :D ;) :P XD :* :/ <3 ^_^ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Alleged first uses of emoticons date back to XIX century, although they weren’t called emoticons back then. It’s even hard to confirm that they were used consciously by authors. Nevertheless, among the first users were writers and even one president of the USA.

Mobile phones and text messaging are the reasons for the surge of the emoticons. The limited character count of SMS led people to shorten their sentences to squeeze more meaning.

Furthermore, emoticons help convey what is usually hard to message – emotions, hand gestures and facial expressions. With the simple 😉 an author can emphasize the humorous character of the message or even add hidden meaning.

Basics of Content Marketing in SMS Campaigns

What is emoji?

Emoji – colourful images that replace emoticons. They are a new iteration of emoticons and they originate from Japan. They expand the idea of turning characters into an image, thus their name translates to e (image), moji (character).

Emoji and SMS character limit

Even one emoji in the body of SMS lowers the character quota to 70 (instead of 160).

Try typing “:)” in Word or WordPress, by default it will be replaced by emoji “?”. Most applications (both desktop and mobile) have their own interpretations of emojis. Colours and shapes vary, but the meanings stay the same.

Displaying emojis on smartphones

Not all emojis are displayed on every device. The support of this technology depends on the device and used application. It’s best to run a test before sending the SMS campaign.

Emoticons and emojis in business communication

Without a doubt, emoticons and emojis are part of modern communication and culture. Funny faces have even their own movie. ? That’s why it’s completely okay to use them in business communication and SMS marketing.

Emojis, as well as emojis, help to make communication more personal. They make messages look closer to real conversation, something that people actually send to each other. Not to mention that colourful icons stand out and draw the reader’s attention.

They cannot be overused, because, like all other ornaments, they can also distract. Too many emojis might even make you look childish or unprofessional, especially if you are talking about serious or important matters. As usual, apply common sense.

Using emojis hints, sincere and personal approach to SMS communication. They work best when communicating with younger generations that use them in their everyday conversations. For one, millennials are an excellent target for such messages. Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself, a well-thought text message with emoji will help break the ice even with the older audience.

Something to think about: certain emojis have second meanings, sometimes completely different from basic ones. For example, look up aubergine and peach emojis. Nevertheless, such emojis might be an excellent idea for a viral campaign or promotion targeting a narrow audience.

Below you can find example emojis that are supported by the newest versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.

Emojis in SMS
Unicode
code point		characterUTF-8
(hex.)		name
U+1F680?f0 9f 9a 80ROCKET
U+1F681?f0 9f 9a 81HELICOPTER
U+1F682?f0 9f 9a 82STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
U+1F683?f0 9f 9a 83RAILWAY CAR
U+1F684?f0 9f 9a 84HIGH-SPEED TRAIN
U+1F685?f0 9f 9a 85HIGH-SPEED TRAIN WITH BULLET NOSE
U+1F686?f0 9f 9a 86TRAIN
U+1F687?f0 9f 9a 87METRO
U+1F688?f0 9f 9a 88LIGHT RAIL
U+1F689?f0 9f 9a 89STATION
U+1F68A?f0 9f 9a 8aTRAM
U+1F68B?f0 9f 9a 8bTRAM CAR
U+1F68C?f0 9f 9a 8cBUS
U+1F68D?f0 9f 9a 8dONCOMING BUS
U+1F68E?f0 9f 9a 8eTROLLEYBUS
U+1F68F?f0 9f 9a 8fBUS STOP
U+1F690?f0 9f 9a 90MINIBUS
U+1F691?f0 9f 9a 91AMBULANCE
U+1F692?f0 9f 9a 92FIRE ENGINE
U+1F693?f0 9f 9a 93POLICE CAR
U+1F694?f0 9f 9a 94ONCOMING POLICE CAR
U+1F695?f0 9f 9a 95TAXI
U+1F696?f0 9f 9a 96ONCOMING TAXI
U+1F697?f0 9f 9a 97AUTOMOBILE
U+1F698?f0 9f 9a 98ONCOMING AUTOMOBILE
U+1F699?f0 9f 9a 99RECREATIONAL VEHICLE
U+1F69A?f0 9f 9a 9aDELIVERY TRUCK
U+1F69B?f0 9f 9a 9bARTICULATED LORRY
U+1F69C?f0 9f 9a 9cTRACTOR
U+1F69D?f0 9f 9a 9dMONORAIL
U+1F69E?f0 9f 9a 9eMOUNTAIN RAILWAY
U+1F69F?f0 9f 9a 9fKOLEJKA NAPOWIETRZNA
U+1F6A0?f0 9f 9a a0MOUNTAIN CABLEWAY
U+1F6A1?f0 9f 9a a1AERIAL TRAMWAY
U+1F6A2?f0 9f 9a a2SHIP
U+1F6A3?f0 9f 9a a3ROWBOAT
U+1F6A4?f0 9f 9a a4SPEEDBOAT
U+1F6A5?f0 9f 9a a5HORIZONTAL TRAFFIC LIGHT
U+1F6A6?f0 9f 9a a6VERTICAL TRAFFIC LIGHT
U+1F6A7?f0 9f 9a a7CONSTRUCTION SIGN
U+1F6A8?f0 9f 9a a8POLICE CARS REVOLVING LIGHT
U+1F6A9?f0 9f 9a a9TRIANGULAR FLAG ON POST
U+1F6AA?f0 9f 9a aaDOOR
U+1F6AB?f0 9f 9a abNO ENTRY SIGN
U+1F6AC?f0 9f 9a acSMOKING SYMBOL
U+1F6AD?f0 9f 9a adNO SMOKING SYMBOL
U+1F6AE?f0 9f 9a aePUT LITTER IN ITS PLACE SYMBOL
U+1F6AF?f0 9f 9a afDO NOT LITTER SYMBOL
U+1F6B0?f0 9f 9a b0POTABLE WATER SYMBOL
U+1F6B1?f0 9f 9a b1NON-POTABLE WATER SYMBOL
U+1F6B2?f0 9f 9a b2BICYCLE
U+1F6B3?f0 9f 9a b3NO BICYCLES
U+1F6B4?f0 9f 9a b4BICYCLIST
U+1F6B5?f0 9f 9a b5MOUNTAIN BICYCLIST
U+1F6B6?f0 9f 9a b6PEDESTRIAN
U+1F6B7?f0 9f 9a b7NO PEDESTRIANS
U+1F6B8?f0 9f 9a b8CHILDREN CROSSING
U+1F6B9?f0 9f 9a b9MENS SYMBOL
U+1F6BA?f0 9f 9a baWOMENS SYMBOL
U+1F6BB?f0 9f 9a bbRESTROOM
U+1F6BC?f0 9f 9a bcBABY SYMBOL
U+1F6BD?f0 9f 9a bdTOILET
U+1F6BE?f0 9f 9a beWATER CLOSET
U+1F6BF?f0 9f 9a bfSHOWER
U+1F6C0?f0 9f 9b 80BATH
U+1F6C1?f0 9f 9b 81BATHTUB
U+1F6C2?f0 9f 9b 82PASSPORT CONTROL
U+1F6C3?f0 9f 9b 83CUSTOMS
U+1F6C4?f0 9f 9b 84BAGGAGE CLAIM
U+1F6C5?f0 9f 9b 85LEFT LUGGAGE

Source: UTF8 Chartable; photo: Domingo Alvarez E on Unsplash.