Kim Kardashian's trend-tapping marketing plan continues with emoji app
Kim Kardashian West is continuing to expand her brand image as an integral aspect of pop culture with a new emoji keyboard, which already has fans and consumers abuzz with its racy images.
The Kimoji application launched yesterday in the app store and allows fans to share various images related to Ms. West such as icons of her infamous ?ugly crying? face, a waist trainer, which she is known for using often and her taking selfies. The keyboard not only drums up awareness and positive sentiment through user-generated content, but the app itself is making headlines.
"The Kim Kardashian brand is followed by a very large number of fans, with a demographic that uses emojis often when posting on social media," said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis. "For the Kardashian brand to create an emoji keyboard shows that they are listening to their audience and staying relevant with them to ensure their brand stays front and center on as many posts, conversations and images that fly across social media.
"Great marketing move on the part of the brand," she said.
Kardashian empire
Kimoji is available for download on iOS and provides users the ability to install a keyboard to be used in any messaging app to share images and emojis related to Ms. West. The small icons such as an image of nails being painted, a doughnut, lipstick and a hair dryer, all encompass the Kim Kardashian brand, which her substantial numbers of fans love to celebrate.
Kim Kardashian shares images of her emojis through screenshots on Instagram
Kim Kardashian shares images of her emojis through screenshots on Instagram
Once mobile users install the keyboard within their settings, the Kimojis can be accessed through any messaging app by navigating to the keyboard and which then allows fans to pick an icon by click on it. This will save the image to the device?s clipboard and the user can paste it into the message thread.
The new emoji app allows Ms. West to connect even further with her fans, while giving these users the ability to spread her reach further to friends and fellow consumers. The icons available within the app are highly relevant to pop culture and consumer behavior, making it more likely for users to download and engage with its content.
Amongst the onslaught of emoji content available on mobile, Ms. West?s keyboard has the leverage to make a substantial impact in the marketing space, with her wide range of followers. The announcement of the keyboard was made through her Instagram account, which has more than 55.1 million followers.
Emoji dominance
Recently, the Oxford Dictionary named an emoji as the official word of the year, revealing a major shift in consumer behavior towards mobile and visual communication, which is likely to incite more marketers to incorporate imagery in their messaging (see more).
Holiday Inn Express also attempted to edge out hotel competition on mobile by rolling out its own emoji keyboard to celebrate the brand?s Express Start breakfast bar, featuring food-themed characters such as cinnamon rolls and oatmeal (see more).
"A few best practices in launching an emoji board is to use emojis that will continue their relevance for a decent period of time," Ms. Troutman said. "Be cognizant of the audience on how the emojis will be used across social media when creating the icons.
"Seamless transition between the embedded keyboards in the operating systems and the new keyboard," she said. "A few worst practices in launching an emoji board are creating emojis that only work in one environment and do not translate creates confusion on messaging when only a box shows up from one screen to the next.
"Also, creating emojis that are offensive or do not come across as intended can cause miscommunications in messaging."
Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer