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Emoji, Playfulness, and Brand Engagement on Twitter

Author

Listed:
  • McShane, Lindsay
  • Pancer, Ethan
  • Poole, Maxwell
  • Deng, Qi

Abstract

Brands, both human and corporate, are increasingly communicating with their consumers using emojis. The current work examines if and how these pictographs shape online brand engagement on Twitter (i.e., likes & retweets). To do so, we first examine datasets generated by scraping the tweets of the most popular celebrity brands and most popular corporate brands (Study 1). This study demonstrates that emoji presence increases engagement with tweets, with more emoji leading to more likes and retweets. Two controlled experiments then explore the role of perceived playfulness in explaining this effect of emojis on engagement (Studies 2 and 3). We find that the effect of emojis on brand engagement varies depending on the nature of the interplay between emojis and text, and the subsequent effect of this interplay on perceived playfulness. Theoretical contributions and social media practitioner implications are also addressed.

Suggested Citation

  • McShane, Lindsay & Pancer, Ethan & Poole, Maxwell & Deng, Qi, 2021. "Emoji, Playfulness, and Brand Engagement on Twitter," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 96-110.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:53:y:2021:i:c:p:96-110
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2020.06.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    4. Jungwoo Lee & Cheong Kim & Kun Chang Lee, 2021. "Investigating the Negative Effects of Emojis in Facebook Sponsored Ads for Establishing Sustainable Marketing in Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Avneet Kaur & Sujata Khandai & Jones Mathew, 2023. "Mapping the Field of Social Media Engagement: A Literature Review Using Bibliometric Analysis," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(4), pages 368-385, December.
    6. Dušan Mladenović & Kamil Koštiál & Nikolina Ljepava & Ondřej Částek & Yash Chawla, 2021. "Emojis to conversion on social media: Insights into online consumer engagement and reactions," WORking papers in Management Science (WORMS) WORMS/21/13, Department of Operations Research and Business Intelligence, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology.
    7. Li, Yiling & Kim, Hye-jin & Do, Boram & Choi, Jeonghye, 2022. "The effect of emotion in thumbnails and titles of video clips on pre-roll advertising effectiveness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 232-243.

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