How Bitmojis Can Give Your Marketing a Creative Boost
Emojis, stickers, GIFs etc. have all gradually but steadily changed the face of digital communication and marketing forever.
And now there's a new player in the game, not all that different from its predecessors really! Why we are talking about the cartoon-like profiles you most probably have on your Snapchat account, don't you?
If you're unfamiliar with Bitmoji, it enables users to create a virtual image of themselves, similar to a customized emoji but larger and more cartoon-like. This picture is then used in customized doodles, which include everything from personal greetings to pop-culture allusions. It's all really goofy, but it's also incredibly addicting and effective.
A Bitmoji tells it all when there are no words to convey a hangover or that TGIF mood!
Creating avatars can be a lot of fun, and there are a number of 'stickers' to choose from for the avatars that users make.
These are more personal than emojis and maybe a fun, simple method to interact with others while conveying a variety of emotions. Many people love using Bitmoji to express themselves, and using an avatar as a profile image, for example, is a safer alternative than using a real photo.
Given the numbers, 75 countries where Bitmoji has held the #1 spot in iTunes App Store and 50-100 million Bitmojis being installed as of 2017, it is no surprise that brands and digital marketers would soon jump to the chase of this relatively new phenomenon.
What are the developments around Bitmoji being used as a tool for creative digital marketing?
When it comes to supporting online marketing, Snapchat has gone a long way. In terms of entertaining and keeping the audience up to date on the brand's image. Snapchat purchased Bitmoji from Bitstrips in order to maintain the mobile-centric situation at the forefront. This has left a fairly long-term impression on the audience's thoughts. Marketers saw the Snapchat Bitmoji software, as a way to get out of the somewhat muddy waters of social media advertising.
Bitmoji could be your company's secret weapon today, considering that 71% of your internet audience is surfing content (all the time). As a result, to make the most of it without wasting a single dime, for your business, you'll need to stick to a Snapchat marketing approach. They developed the term 'Bitmoji,' which has ushered in a whole new way of expressing your brand while you're online (i.e. social media). For example, you must have lately seen a 3-D chirpy animated female wearing Adidas lowers and thinking it might do you good to explore its buying options.
Turned you into an eager customer, didn't it? Just another tactic of Snapchat, rolling out new features that entice virtual brands to partner with it in campaigning their products!
Did you already jump on the trend of dressing your Bitmoji avatars on Snapchat in Levis' classic looks? "As consumers spend more and more of their lives online, companies must discover genuine methods to operate in the digital realm." Snap's Head of Games and Entertainment Partnerships, John Imah, says, "Bitmoji's ability to establish true interactions with customers in the digital areas in which they live has been welcomed by leading fashion companies such as Levi's. We're happy to bring together the world's most popular avatar with one of the world's go-to denim brands in this fascinating relationship."
You must be familiar with this trend last year of teens dressing their cartoon selves with a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte in fall and adding it to the My Story section on Snapchat? Pretty great use of Bitmoji by the coffee brand for marketing its services, wasn't it?
Pixar and HBO have previously issued customized Bitmoji stickers to celebrate the debut of new movies and TV shows. You must have seen a few of them for yourself, Twitter being the main playground of brands and people!
What kind of advantage do Bitmojis really give to brands?
They have made it simpler to connect with younger generations. According to internal data, 82 percent of Snapchat users are between the ages of 34 and younger. And there's a good possibility you won't be able to reach this audience on any other medium. Keeping up with Snapchat with a primary focus on its animated avatars, on the other hand, is doable.
Furthermore, because Bitmoji is integrated into major messaging systems, including Gmail, businesses may utilize their brands Bitmoji in their email marketing efforts. When establishing a Bitmoji, brands must make sure it reflects their objective, which is especially important if you have a brand persona. You may then use Bitmoji to build interesting and appealing geo-filters for events or the wider area. This is incredibly advantageous since it raises your recognition and expands the market.
Bitmojis let you be persuasive and entertaining with your brand. If your target audience is primarily made up of younger people, this is self-evident. Your brand's message can't come across as solemn or outdated. It should be bright and cheery. It's all over the avatar! Many of its features are tailored to appeal to a humorous, mischievous, but creative audience. And the best purchases are made with a light heart and cheerful mind, aren't they?
It's almost like having a face-to-face chat through SMS when you use an avatar to converse. It's also a fantastic tool for building a personal relationship with customers, and it's something that businesses should take advantage of! Once you've created a relationship with your consumers, it's critical to maintain and enhance it so that your brand not only remains at the top of their minds but also becomes their 'go to' for that product or service. And what better way to do that than to interact with your audience with an immersive animated version of yourself?
Takeaway
It's not entirely sure if anyone can make an accurate call [on Bitmojis] yet. While it's too early to predict Bitmoji's popularity, brands like Taco Bell and Steve Madden have done a fantastic job with their visuals. One use may be layering your customized Bitmoji over a screen snap of a brand's creative product or commercial to give it a new twist. And such a hilarious take on the sensations may be worth looking into.
"Marketers collaborating with Bitmoji should think about how customers generally interact with Bitmojis," Shuli Lowy, TVTY's director of customer success for the Americas, says. "Rather of adding a standard branded creative, partnerships should focus on giving consumers with fun elements to improve their virtual avatars."
Personalized concepts carry a huge cultural impact, whether we're talking about an avatar or your name engraved on a brand product. It's an entirely novel system, the value of which we are just beginning to see with the digital marketing shift and Bitmojis is just one of the ingredients, albeit a major one!