WhatsApp Marketing for Business

When you think about social networks, sites like Facebook and Twitter can come to mind immediately. But Messenger apps have been updated with social networks, and more and more messaging apps are being used for marketing.

The leader in most regions of the world is Whatsapp (a keyword for “what’s going on”), with 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide.

But how can you effectively use Whatsapp for marketing? Like all relatively unexplored boundaries, early adopters have the same risk and reward measures. Here is our guide for Whatsapp sellers.

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What is Whatsapp?

Whatsapp is a free mobile application that uses your phone’s internet connection so you can chat with other Whatsapp users without SMS charges. The app also allows you to share files and images and supports free voice and video calls.

Its support for a variety of mobile phones has made it particularly popular in areas with high text messaging costs, including Brazil, Mexico, and Malaysia, where 60 percent of the population uses WhatsApp. In fact, it is the most popular SMS alternative in 109 countries, or 55.6% worldwide.

Although Facebook acquired Whatsapp in February 2014 for $19 billion, it has been operating as a separate entity ever since and has not yet seen the same market-friendly features as Facebook Messenger.

How to use Whatsapp

Whatsapp has versions for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and Nokia s40. There is also a web application and a desktop version of a Mac or Windows PC, but first, you need to install it on your phone because each Whatsapp account is directly linked to a phone number.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the app, you’ll need to confirm your country and enter your phone number. To set up your profile, you can import your Facebook information by clicking, or manually add the image and add the profile name (which you can change later).

Whatsapp uses the phone number in your phone’s contact list to show you the most recent directory of Whatsapp users you already know. Anyone who has your phone number in your mobile address book will also automatically see your list unless you change your privacy settings.

There are three basic ways to share messages, photos, and videos using Whatsapp.

Chat one by one

As with other chat programs, you can chat directly with other users in your phone’s contact list. You can also call or video them, or even record audio fragments to send text messages to them.

Broadcast lists

When you send a message to a broadcast list, it is sent to anyone on the list who keeps their phone number in their address book. They will see that message as a normal message, similar to the cc password function in the email. If they respond, it will appear in the chat as the normal one-on-one message screen, and your response will not be sent to anyone else on that broadcast list. Broadcast ads are limited to 256 contacts.

Groups

Group Chat lets you send messages with 256 people at the same time, sharing messages, photos, and videos. Everyone in the group chat can log in and see other people’s answers.

Why Use Whatsapp For Business?

The best reason to use Whatsapp for business is that many of your customers are already using it. More than 6 billion messages are sent daily through Whatsapp.

Surprisingly, users of Whatsapp and similar services are willing to interact with companies. According to Nielsen’s Facebook messaging survey, 67% of mobile messaging app users say they want to use chat more to communicate with businesses over the next two years. Let’s say they are more likely to buy with companies that can send messages directly.

If your customers and prospects are young, they are more likely to use the messaging app in their daily communications. A study by the Pew Research Center shows that 42% of smartphone users use messaging applications like Whatsapp, compared to only 19 percent of smartphone owners who have 50 or more.

Whatsapp may have become a key way for your audience to share content through dark social networks, use to describe when people share content through private channels like email or chat apps like Whatsapp, rather than more public networks like Facebook.

In fact, the vast majority of online sharing (84%) now occurs on private channels such as messaging apps, so even if you’re not using Whatsapp to market your business, your potential customers may already use it to extend the reach of your content.

WhatsApp Marketing Strategies and Tips

Because Whatsapp doesn’t sell advertising space or has company-specific features (but), you have to be innovative in your marketing approach.

While Whatsapp’s scope and features differ from other messaging applications, it is important to develop a Whatsapp strategy along with general messaging app marketing strategies.

First of all, there is no business account, so if your brand is creating an account, you will face the same restrictions as any other user.

Because each Whatsapp account is directly linked to a mobile phone number, you can only send 256 Whatsapp users simultaneously, it’s not a good choice for one-to-many mass-marketing. So when you take advantage of its limits to your advantage, your chances of success are greater.

Remember, as with other mobile messaging services, part of the power of WhatsApp is that it has to do with our phones, which we find more personal than our computers – they are not shared, we take them anywhere. Therefore, any marketing campaign you deal with must reflect (and respect) aspects of the person. This is where consumers interact with friends, so trust and creativity are key.

Not surprisingly, some of the best examples of effective Whatsapp activity come from areas with the highest penetration rates, including South America. Here are some case studies of brands that have made an impact on using Whatsapp for marketing.

Create brand characters to chat with users and create buzz

At that time, Absolute Vodka released its limited-edition Absolutely Unique bottled line Whatsapp in Argentina was a natural place to try to generate buzz, as 84% of the country’s mobile phone users were in the app at the time.

For the launch, they decided to organize a very unique party. Grab? Only two invitations were available to the public. Anyone who wants to win these tickets has to use Whatsapp to contact an imaginary gorilla named Sven and convince him to let them go.

The campaign generated more than 1,000 unique images, videos, and audio messages that people created to convince Sven and built the buzz in the community.

Provide individual help to inspire new uses for products

Hellmann is in Brazil hoping to inspire the perception that mayonnaise is a culinary ingredient, not just a seasoning. So they invite visitors to their website to send their phone numbers along with photos of the contents of their refrigerators. They came up with one using Hellmann and other ingredients in their refrigerator. The chef even taught users how to cook meals through photos, videos, and other Whatsapp features.

The result? A total of 13,000 participants spent an average of 65 minutes interacting with the brand, with 99.5% passing the service.

Careful advice and services for high-value customers

Provocateur high-end lingerie brand agents have been using Whatsapp to provide their main customers with updates on new products and activities in branded stores. Customers can also inquire about Messenger Services’ privacy.

The approach was so popular among VIPs that Agent Provocateur launched a similar Whatsapp promotion called ménage à trois for all customers last Christmas. Whatsapp users can invite individual buyers to have a group conversation with their partners about what they want for Christmas. The team of style consultants answered manual questions, interacting with each couple.

WhatsApp Marketing Tools

It has released a business app that says “with small business owners in mind”. The app is free to download and is currently only available for Android devices. Enables businesses to easily interact with customers by using tools to quickly automate, sort, and respond to messages.

For example, you can save and reuse messages that you send frequently and use these “quick answers” to answer frequently asked questions more effectively. When you can’t respond immediately, you can also set up a message to let customers know when they will receive a response. Customers can join your business.

To start interacting with people, you need them to add your phone number to your phone’s contact list. Email signatures or social media pages so users can easily start conversations with your brand.

Note that the expectation in the message is close to instant response, so make sure you have the resources to manage the chat or, like proxy provocateurs, limit availability to a specific time window.

There are third-party WhatsApp marketing tools and services that offer to set up multiple WhatsApp accounts and groups for sellers, but their use may result in you being temporarily blocked or banned from using the service altogether. In addition, many news in this type of environment can cause a lot of damage to your brand.

While Whatsapp is not as feature-rich as Facebook’s marketing messenger, it is moving in that direction. Sellers who create to work with the unique features of Whatsapp will have the advantage. What really stands out — if you’re doing it right.

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