The Best Real Estate Emojis to Use for Marketing

I am fluent in emoji. And as a licensed Agent, REALTOR, or real estate marketer, you should be too, because they are everywhere!

I've even recruited to hire designers using only emojis.

The first emoji traces its origins back to 1982, when a computer scientist created an emoticon or emotion icon. Windings followed shortly after. Since then, a lot has changed. The Oxford Dictionary declared an emoji their “Word of the Year” in 2015. Twitter introduced the ability for advertisers to target emojis. And today (📅 July 17th) is officially “🌏 World Emoji Day“.

The stats on increasing emoji usage are staggering. Twitter has reported more than 110 billion emojis have been tweeted since 2010. Recently, Appboy analyzed 9,359 marketing campaigns and found emojis are used in 777% more marketing campaigns this year compared 2015. And usage in email marketing has increased 7,100% compared to 2015.

While retail, gaming and food & beverage industries have seen the largest growth in emoji usage, fellow Real Estate agents, Realtors, and marketers can play along too. Since some Emojis are still misunderstood, let's start with some basic Do's and Don'ts for using emojis.

When to use Emojis

Every year, Adobe publishes their US Emoji Trend Report, which aims to reveal insights on how Americans use emojis for "self-expression and identity, diversity, equity and inclusion, dating and relationships, workplace communications and more."

The perception that those around us are friendlier, funnier, and cooler when they use an emoji is steadily increasing, as emojis become part of everyday lexicon. And the vast majority of survey respondents report emojis make it easier for them to communicate and express themselves. A staggering number of Gen Z and Millennials are even more comfortable expressing emotion with emojis than with a text-only message. I'd say WOW but I mean 😮.

When NOT to use Emojis

Inevitably, you might have to deliver bad news to your clients. Such is a career in Real Estate. Potentially negative conversations can invoke a lot of emotion. While you might think an emoji will lighten the mood or lessen the blow, it's more professional to be direct in your communication during these moments. So let's agree to not use an emoji when:

• An appraisal comes back lower than expected
• Their offer to purchase was not accepted
• In a formal document, like a listing agreement or contract
• Your client may not fully understand the meaning of an emoji
• Your client is using a noticablly old (pre-emoji) cell phone

A good rule of thumb for one on one communication is wait until your client has used an emoji before you incorporate them into yours.

White House for sale?

With the help of Zoe Mendelson, Better Homes and Gardens got in on the emoji fun by creating an entire listing for the White House, using only emoji! Let's all take a moment to be inspired by her creativity.

The emoji-centric listing includes all the most important information about the presidential mansion, including the number of bedrooms (there are 16), the number of bathrooms (a whopping 35), and the square footage (55,000!). How did she represent square feet? Literally, of course, with the emoji of a square and one of a shoe (close enough).

If an entire listing can be created with emoji, I challenge you to incorporate just one into your next marketing piece.

The best Emojis for Real Estate

So what are the best Emojis to use if you are a Real Estate professional? Here are my personal Top 15 favorite Real Estate themed Emojis, with a starter caption to jumpstart your creativity.

But the power of emoji can be multiplied with combos! That's right, smash together 2 or more emojis and you have even more marketing potential for email, social, blog post, or even just SMS messages to your client.

Learn More

If you are in doubt of what an emoji might mean, Emojipedia is a great online resource to help explain and demystify the nuances of every emoji.