Emojis have become commonplace in our online vocabulary since the late 1990’s. There’s even a World emoji day – it’s on June 17th. We use emojis in our texts, emails and social media. They’re a great way to convey an emotion quickly and succinctly.
Why should you use emojis on LinkedIn which is supposed to be a platform for business?
As a visual person, I love using emojis. I encourage you to take a look at my profile to see how I use them 😀https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-clay/
1. TO MAKE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE MORE READABLE 🤓
Using emojis as bullet points or reference points in your about section is a great way to help people’s eyes read through the text. While you have a specific number of characters (2600), you have as much white space as you like. Make it easier for visitors to your profile to read your text by spreading it out and using emojis to break up the sentences and paragraphs.
2. TO SUPPORT YOUR BRANDING 💜
There are 2 ways you can do this:
- To strengthen the messaging of your brand colour/s. It’s important to stand out on LinkedIn so using your brand colours consistently is something you should definitely be doing. You can reinforce your brand colours by using emoji shapes which match those colours. Lucky for me there are lots of orange and purple shapes I can use!
- Using one particular emoji over and over creates brand recognition. If there is an emoji that’s relevant to you or your brand and you use it consistently, you will become associated with that emoji. So whenever people see that emoji, they’ll think of you. That’s a powerful use of an emoji for branding purposes!
3. TO AVOID BOTS 😱
Sadly, people do use bots to target people on LinkedIn. Bots work by scouring LinkedIn for names to target. By adding an emoji in the middle or beginning of your name will make it difficult, or even impossible, for the programme to read your name. This means you’re less likely to receive spammy sales messages.
4. TO ADD PERSONALITY TO YOUR PROFILE AND POSTS 😉
LinkedIn is about building relationships and it’s important that we show our personalities. A small image can say a great deal about who we are, what we feel and our beliefs and values.
5. TO INCREASE THE VISIBILITY OF YOUR POSTS 👋
Recent research has shown that using emojis in your LinkedIn post, increases the probability of getting reactions. You can use up to 16 emojis but even using one emoji can help your posts virability. You can read Dr Schwab’s research here: https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/en/linkedin-effect-emojis-emoticons/
HOW TO ADD EMOJIS TO YOUR POSTS ON LINKEDIN 🤔
So, now you’re set on the idea of using emojis in your profile and your content on LinkedIn – how do you add them? The answer isn’t straightforward and depends what device you’re using.
1. Adding emojis from a mobile 📲
The emoji menu on a mobile is easy to access. Just click the smiley emoji at the bottom of your screen and the menu pops up.
Adding emojis when you’re on a computer is a different ballgame ️. It depends on what sort of keyboard you’re using and even then, the rules seem to vary! Once you know, you know. ????
2. Adding emojis from an Apple Keyboard 🍎
Press these keys at the same time: ctrl + cmnd + space bar and the emoji menu will appear!
3. Adding emojis from a Microsoft Keyboard ⌨️
Press windows logo + fullstop
or
windows logo + colon
4. Adding emojis using an Apple computer with an external Microsoft Keyboard 🍎⌨️
Ctrl + windows logo + space bar.
I know this is a bit unusual but it’s how I work!
When the menu pops up, you can search for particular emojis by typing in the ‘search’ at the top of the emoji menu.
There are apps you can use to copy and paste emojis but using the keyboard is quicker and easier.
Beware of some pitfalls 🫣
In certain situations, emojis don’t show as you place them. In pdf’s emojis can show as # or as a blank space
Emojis count as 2 characters so if you’re short on characters when writing your profile, you may look at taking some out!
A final word of advice 🗣️😉💪
Use emojis at the beginning or end of sentences, as it makes it easier for people with screen readers.
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