The way we communicate has changed over the past several decades. Along with new forms of communication like email and texting, new “languages” have emerged. One such “language” is emojis. It seems like everyone uses them – from your 3-year-old nephew to your 92-year-old grandmother, and it’s no surprise that marketers are using them, too. But are they actually effective within paid social platforms? And how do you use them appropriately in Facebook ads? We decided to do a little research and testing within Facebook and find out what all the hype is about!
PUTTING EMOJIS TO THE TEST
Like any new advertising strategy, the best way to know if emoji ads work for your brand is to run a split test. An A/B split test compares the performance of two ads with a single difference between them. Your audience is split into 2 groups and each person will only see one variation of the ad. The “winning” ad can be determined using a range of metrics including cost per result, cost per click, and cost per 1,000 people reached.
You can use emojis in your Facebook Business ads in all 3 ad copy placements:
- Primary Text
- Headline
- Link Description
To test emojis in your ads, you will need to write a control ad that is similar to your regular ads with no emojis and then the same ad with one or more emojis. For example:
Now that you have your creative ready, you can create your test in Facebook Ads Manager. The Facebook Test and Learn function makes it easy!
- Create and publish your control ad
- You do not need to do anything special in this step. Just create an ad as you normally would in Facebook Ads Manager.
- Duplicate your ad
- When you duplicate your ad, you will be asked where you want the ad to go. Select “New Split Test Campaign” and then select “Ad Text” as your variable.
- Click “Continue to Test and Learn” and add the emoji to your text
- In this step, you can edit the test name, test schedule, and test budget and choose which metric determines the winner.
- Make sure your estimated test power is at least 80% after making changes. A test power of 80% or more means you are giving the test a chance to collect enough data to have reliable results.
- Once everything is set up, click “Create Test.”
- View the results in Facebook Test and Learn
- Facebook will give you the winner of the test based on your selected metric at the end of the test schedule.
- Repeat the test using different emojis and placements
- Keep testing to determine what works best for your brand! Remember to only change 1 variable at a time to get reliable results.
If you find that emoji ads are successful for your brand, then you can create more ads using emojis!
THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Found Search Marketing put emojis to the test in our own small study. We conducted an A/B split test in Facebook using the steps above and found that paid social ads with emojis in the primary text had more conversions than non-emoji ads, whereas ads with emojis in the headline did not have more conversions. Click-through rate also increased slightly when using an emoji in the primary text.
We also found success using emojis in another client’s Facebook ads. We added 1-2 emojis to the primary text of each of their ads. The amount of conversions tripled and conversion rate increased by 5 times! Their click-through rates also increased slightly and cost per click decreased by 36%.
Even though we have seen success with emoji ads, results may vary. Like anything, you don’t know until you try, so go ahead and test it out. Who knows – maybe emojis are the future of advertising! ??????????
