Abstract

Consumers frequently use emoticons when engaging on social media platforms. Emoticons serve as communication tools that help individuals effectively express their opinions and emotions. In response, companies have increasingly adopted emoticons on their brand fan pages as a means to strengthen relationships with consumers. However, despite the widespread and varied use of emoticons by companies, academic attention to this topic remains limited. This study investigates the effects of emoticon usage on corporate brand fan pages, with a particular focus on the moderating roles of product type and brand trust. The results of Study 1 revealed that the positive impact of emoticons was stronger for hedonic products than for utilitarian products, due to an increase in consumers’ perceived hedonic value of the brand fan page. In Study 2, the role of brand trust was examined. The findings showed that the positive effect of emoticons was significant only when brand trust was high for utilitarian products, and when brand trust was low for hedonic products. Based on these findings, the study offers academic and managerial implications regarding the strategic and appropriate use of emoticons in brand communication.