Dive Brief:

• A day after Facebook rolled out its new Reactions icons, marketers around the world are starting to explore the possibilities that the new functionality offer brands. 
• The Orlando Business Journal pointed out that Facebook users will be able to immediately get some insight into sentiment around marketing content based on the different Reaction icons (which include “Like,” “Love,” “Haha,” “Wow,” “Sad,” and “Angry”) used by other visitors and this will likely impact their behavior toward that content.
• Bloomberg BNA legal blog suggests that brands might lure consumers click “sad” or “angry” responses to competitors’ Facebook posts, similar to soliciting negative reviews for the competition.

Dive Insight:

The new Reactions icons represent a major change to Facebook, and marketers are just starting to figure out what it means for them. 

One thing is immediately clear: Brands can now get a more nuanced view of engagement sentiment on their Facebook pages, as users can now express their sadness or anger in reaction to brand posts. 

From an advertising standpoint, Facebook will be putting this new data set to use for ad targeting and placement. For example, an advertiser might not want their sponsored post appearing next to a post on someone’s timeline that is getting a large number of “sad” or “angry” clicks.

Writing in the Orlando Business Journal, guest columnist Unique Michael offered three ways that marketers can leverage the Reaction icons: monitoring brand affinity by tracking the use of each emoji, optimizing content by finding out what elicits the most positive response, and using Reactions responses as a customer service tool and a way to test new product reactions.

Chris Tuff, the executive vice president and director of business development and partnerships for ad agency 22squared, seconded that last idea in an interview with Wired. For example, if someone uses the “sad” emoji, brands can reach directly out and find out what caused that response similar to how brands and consumers currently use Twitter for customer complaints, he said.

Brand can even use the new icons as part of campaigns, as Chevy has already done with a Malibu ad called, “From Like to Love."