The Role Of Memes And Emoji In Enhancing Customer Engagement

The prevalent trend of using memes and emoji on social media has changed the landscape of communication across online platforms. Memes and emoji, despite being a popular online language, have received limited attention in the social media marketing literature. This study aims to investigate how memes and emoji can enhance customer engagement when incorporated into a brand’s social media communications. In the first phase of the study, netnography was used to assess the frequency of emoji across three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and X. A total of 2,800 social media posts and comments were analyzed to categorize the brands that use emoji more frequently. The results identified that the thumbs-up , heart , and smile were the most commonly used emoji among brand categories such as fashion and apparel, food, makeup, entertainment, and transportation. Netnography was followed by a thorough content analysis to explore customer engagement, in the form of reactions, comments, and shares, with the brands’ social media posts, which contained memes and emoji. In the second phase of the study, 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to validate the findings from the netnography and content analysis. The results suggest that the social media audience favors thumbs-up, and smile, over the heart , as they are perceived to convey positivity and warmth. Furthermore, emoji and memes are more likely to be accepted by the youth, especially when the brands’ communication resonates with their personality. Moreover, emoji can be used to express concern during complaint handling, resulting in a friendlier relationship with customers. Keywords: Meme Marketing, Emoji Marketing, Netnography, Customer Engagement https://zenodo.org/records/15857329