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The purpose of this paper is to introduce and test a new emoji-based metric that could be used to monitor consumers’ emotions toward brands on social media.

To test this new metric, 720 consumer tweets were retrieved from official Twitter accounts of 18 leading global brands representing 6 product categories/markets. In order to check its validity, the emoji-based metric was correlated with two measures: the percentage of positive emojis from Brandwatch’s (2018) Emoji Report and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for 2017.

The findings of this paper indicate that consumers tend to use more (vs less) positive emojis when expressing their feelings toward Coca-Cola (vs Taco Bell). They also show that the new metric is highly and positively associated with the ACSI, hence supporting its validity.

The new metric is only applicable to brands that have a social media presence.

The proposed metric is easy to implement and interpret by almost every researcher and manager.

While all extant brand sentiment analyses focus on analyzing the words in brand-related user-generated content, this paper considers an alternative source of information about emotions, that is, emojis. Beyond being valid, the proposed emoji-based metric is unique, easy to implement and interpret, and generalizable.

This study aims to analyze the most effective type of emoji for deriving positive marketing results by determining whether the relationship between brand attitude, brand attachment and purchase intention is moderated by the various types of prosocial expression-based brand emojis used.

An online survey was administered to Koreans in their 20s. Starbucks brand emojis were classified into three types: static gesture, animated gesture and a combined animated gesture and displayed word. A moderated–mediation analysis was performed to verify the research hypotheses. Gender, age, region of residence, frequency of Starbucks use and Starbucks favorability were used as control variables.

Animations in emojis were shown to strengthen the marketing effect. Further, combining animated prosocial gestures and displayed words had a more positive marketing effect than merely applying animated prosocial gestures.

This study closely examined the role of verbal, in the form of colloquial words, and nonverbal aspects, in the form of emojis, in the creation of positive business outcomes. Additionally, the positive marketing effect of animated emojis is discussed from a mechanistic point of view by linking research results to those in the field of neuroscience (mirroring by mirror neurons).

In an effort to evaluate if and how emojis might boost customer engagement in email marketing, the current research aims to analyzes emojis' effects and investigates how certain features, such as the type of emoji or the way of emojis' presentation (repetition and position), moderate their effectiveness.

This research comprises four experimental studies. The first two analyze whether the presence and the type of emoji (facial vs non-facial) influence customer engagement. Then, two more studies analyze the influence of the presence and type of emoji, as well as repetitions (repetition vs no repetitions) and positions (left vs right). The data collection is through email marketing campaigns, with two types of brands. The analysis is a fractional factorial design in one- and two-way interactions to identify the influence of presentation features.

Emojis influence customer engagement and can trigger interactive behaviors and increase customer engagement, even in a channel that generally is less prone to interaction. The emojis increase the probability of opening the email, the number of times email gets opened and clicks to access additional content.

The varied results suggest the need for more research to confirm the findings regarding presentation features. This research offers novel implications for interactive marketing and the theory of visual rhetoric because the research establishes how visual stimuli such as emojis can persuade and capture customer attention and increase customer engagement.

Practitioners can optimize email marketing by using emojis strategically to attract audience interest, provoke interactions, build relationships and generate word of mouth, leading to better consumer experiences, loyalty and brand profitability.

Most studies use semantic analysis to analyze emojis; the current study instead tests whether emojis can increase customer engagement in a less-interactive channel and then also considers the moderating role of several emoji-relevant variables. In addition, the authors apply the theory of visual rhetoric to explicate the original findings, which are gathered from a unique data set involving real marketing campaigns.

Emojis are quickly becoming a popular new language in social media and marketing. The capability to express emotions and make message understanding easier is one of the primary reasons for using emojis. The aim of this research was to determine the influence of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust, and involvement on customer engagement due to emojis used in digital marketing communications among Generation Z (Gen Z) in South Africa.

Following the descriptive research approach, quantitative research was used in this study. A questionnaire (self-administered) was utilized to test the effectiveness of using emojis among 1,000 young consumers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.

The findings of the study yielded positive relationships between the variables, namely between trust and involvement; involvement and the perceived ease of use; involvement and perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness; trust and customer engagement; perceived usefulness and customer engagement; involvement and customer engagement; customer engagement and intention to purchase; trust and intention to purchase; and perceived usefulness and intention to purchase.

This study can help organizations in emerging markets use emojis in their digital marketing communications to engage customers and stimulate intention to purchase among young people, especially the Gen Z cohort, who seek organizations and brands that understand and connect with them.

By investigating the effects of emojis in digital marketing communications, this study contributes to the customer-centric process and the literature on emoji usage while also involving a credible digital language when communicating with members of Gen Z. By extending TAM, the findings of this study contribute to the TAM literature by demonstrating that emoji usage in digital marketing communications positively influences various attitudinal associations among Gen Z consumers.

The authors aim to examine how the construal level, either as an individual temporal orientation or temporal distance of promotion, moderates the effects of emojis' emotional intensity on consumers' purchase intentions in social media advertising.

Two experiments are used to test four hypotheses.

The results of two experimental studies show that present-oriented participants reveal greater purchase intentions when low (vs high) emotionally intense emojis are embedded in a social media ad; but future-oriented consumers showed no difference when viewing ads with the two different emojis. In Study 2, participants indicate greater purchase intentions when a social media ad includes a distant-future promocode and high (vs low) emotionally intense emojis and an ad with a near-future promocode and low (vs high) emotionally intense emojis.

The current study advances our understanding how emojis with different emotional intensities can be effectively used in social media ads. This study also provides theoretical implications to construal level theory (CLT) by examining how emojis interact with construal level, either as a chronic tendency or simulated by psychological distance, can influence consumer response.

With the rapid surge of mobile marketing, an increasing number of brands have launched branded emoticons in an attempt to build brand relationships with consumers. Despite the apparent promise of branded emoticon usage, there is only limited academic research on branded emoticons. This paper aims to build on impression management theory and the conceptualization of cuteness to investigate how the effect of cuteness in branded emoticon design influences perceived playfulness in mobile instant messaging (MIM) interaction and the creation of brand engagement in self-concept.

Consumers with usage experience of branded emoticons in MIM apps were recruited to complete an online survey. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data.

Two facets of cuteness – kindchenschema cuteness and whimsical cuteness – can project a favourable social image to consumers that facilitates playfulness in social interaction and enhances brand engagement in self-concept, which leads to their willingness to purchase the brand and stickiness to the MIM apps.

The popularity of branded emoticons represents a new form of social interaction and an innovative way to build brand relationships. The present study is the first to examine the design aspects of branded emoticons and highlights that the cuteness of a branded emoticon may be a crucial factor in engaging consumers in MIM.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship of consumers’ engagement on social networking sites (SNSs) and their brand attachment behavior in the presence of a mediator, brand communication. Further, this mediation has been studied with presence of emojis as one of the significant moderator.

Following a descriptive research design, an empirical investigation was carried out by approaching 252 respondents from India to collect data through online survey forms as well as physical questionnaires. The research instrument was developed using a five-point Likert-type scale and items for the constructs in study were taken after literature review. The SPSS 22.0, AMOS 24.0 and Process (Prof A. Hayes) and Daniel Soper’s statistical tool called “Interaction” for moderation graph were employed for data examination and hypothesis analysis.

It was found that brand communication mediated the relationship between consumer engagement on SNSs and brand attachment significantly. The availability of emojis for a company during a conversation or in digital ad campaigns on SNSs acts as a mediating moderator and its impact on consumers’ brand attachment behavior is very strong through brand communication.

The study is original in the sense it provides insights into understanding consumer brand attachment behavior on SNSs.

The authors aim to examine how emojis interact with assertiveness in social media posts to encourage social media engagement and cooperation in environmental campaigns.

Two experiments were used to test three hypotheses.

Study 1 shows that when assertive Twitter messages include the smiley-face emoji, study participants indicate stronger social media engagement and behavioral intentions to recycle used jeans. In Study 2, participants indicate stronger social media engagement and behavioral intentions to sign a petition for reducing plastic pollution when (non) assertive Facebook messages (do not) include emojis.

The current research advances our understanding about how emojis interact with assertive and nonassertive message tonality in environmental social media campaigns. This research also provides new insights showing that positive emotion is the psychological mechanism underlying matching effects of emoji and message assertiveness.

Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this study aims to explore how digital service communication strategies affected customers’ e-service agent use intentions through perceived warmth and competence.

A 2 × 2 scenario-based experiment was conducted to test the proposed relationships.

Findings indicated when a high-authority conversation party was engaged in digital service communications, customers showed higher e-service agent use intentions through perceived warmth and competence in an emoji-presence conversation style.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the effects of digital service communication strategies on customers’ internal and behavioral responses.

基于刺激-有机体-反应理论, 本研究探讨了数字服务沟通策略如何通过感知亲切和感知能力的方式影响了顾客对电子服务代理的使用意愿。

本研究进行了一项基于2x2情境的实验, 以测试所提出的关系。

研究结果表明, 当高权威的对话方参与数字服务沟通时, 顾客在表情存在的对话风格中通过亲切和能力的认知表现出更高的电子服务代理使用意愿。

本研究调查了对话方和对话方式作为数字服务沟通策略在顾客-数字服务互动中的影响。

本研究是第一个探讨数字服务沟通策略对顾客内部和行为反应影响的研究。

This study aims to add to the understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by using a multilayer perspective that incorporates individual, group and societal contexts.

The qualitative empirical study uses abductive reasoning. Its theories and conclusions are grounded in naturally occurring data from an online brand community. The approach revealed new interactive processes of brand love.

This study extends our understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by adopting a layered perspective incorporating micro- (individual), meso- (in-group), macro- (in-group vs out-group) and mega-layer (societal) social dynamics that complements the predominant focus on individual psychological processes. It challenges the linear, monodirectional trajectory approach to brand love, suggesting that brand love is in constant flux as individuals move across the layers in their identification with the brand.

This study provides data from one destination brand in Finland. Future studies could consider other types of brands and contexts in other countries and cultures.

This study shows brand managers that brand lovers can be divided into subgroups with distinct drivers of their love to which brand managers should attend.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to describe the interactive nature of brand love through interactions between and within four layers of brand love. Furthermore, this study enhances our understanding of the contradictory aspects of brand love.