2D Animation on 3D Actors?

What is the correct way to do this? For example, a 3D character might have a set of 2D textures for their eyes instead of modeled 3D eyeballs that track to a target. Is there a good practice for working with and animating this type of character in Unreal Engine?

Should the UV coordinates be animated? If so, what is the correct way to drive those values with gameplay/controller input?

Should there be multiple instances of the eye plane mesh?