Using WhatsApp As A Successful Marketing Tool

Published by Temiloluwa Titiloye on

It has been proven according to statistics that WhatsApp has more users than many social media platforms combined.

WhatsApp Stats
Source: SumoMe

They passed the two billion active user mark in mid-February 2020 while they announced it on their blog. The fact that WhatsApp operates like a SMS medium makes it the most engaging social media channel in the world. Even celebrities don’t joke with their WhatsApp accounts. That’s how personal it is to everyone, like it’s your text messaging app. The introduction of WhatsApp status and WhatsApp web increased the usage and reach of the platform, likewise the engagement on it.

IN RETROSPECT

The app hit 450 million active users faster than any other company in the world because of its personal feature and the ease of operating. 1.6 billion users access the app on a monthly basis. That is by far the highest monthly engagement any social media platform has gotten so far. I could call the platform an “engagement mining” platform, since everyone mines one thing or the other these days, lol. As much as this number is, the largest percentage of marketers or individuals generally turn a blind eye to WhatsApp as a marketing tool. Well, I was also a culprit in that department, hehehe. Have you ever wondered why you never see sponsored ads on WhatsApp? That’s talk for another day.

This only means that any advertising that would take place has to be done organically. In case you don’t know, organic traffic is the best kind of traffic any advertiser could ever hope for. News flash! WhatsApp has it in abundance. You obviously cannot track your success on a dashboard, you can’t bring your dollars to the rescue, you can’t search for groups to join and promote like you do on Facebook, but you can build a massive communication and drive consistent and engaged traffic to your website, blog, product or service. I’m about to show you how but first, let’s talk about what the app is.

What is WhatsApp

WHAT IS WHATSAPP?

It is an app that takes out the expenses of SMS texting. There was a time when everyone had to pay for data to chat over the internet and at the same time pay for SMS across the world. It became the destructive company that eliminated the need to pay for SMS by making it possible to text anyone around the world for free with the same use of their mobile numbers. With that, text messaging became free indirectly. They simply substituted the SMS fee with data. So, we pay for texting with the same data we already paid for in the first place. Such a brilliant innovation!

As a marketer, WhatsApp has given you so many ways to communicate with your audience, you can send text, images, infographics, gifs, documents, location, contacts, videos, voice notes, you can make voice calls, video calls, group calls, you can even display contents on your status and your status has the ability to retain web links so you can redirect people to a website or social media page from your status. That’s so many marketing capacities on one platform. The market share for Facebook messenger and WhatsApp accounts for 79% of the entire messaging market.

THE SELLING POINT

WhatsApp’s major selling point is being able to talk to people internationally for free (only your data gets spent). This means that there is no limit to the audience you can build for your business if you build trust and a reputation for your brand. As at now, WhatsApp has passed the 100 million voice calls per day mark. There are 42 billion messages sent through the app every day and about 109 countries use it as their primary messaging app. By age demography, WhatsApp has an average age of 36. By location, over 100 countries.

WhatsApp Age Demography
Source: Experian Marketing Services

WHY YOU SHOULD INCORPORATE WHATSAPP IN YOUR MARKETING

  1. Usage is free
  2. There is freedom to send anything you dim fit
  3. You can use it to communicate with your customers, like sending updates, getting feedback, sending alerts, introducing new products or upcoming events, the list goes on.
  4. It can be used for meetings and group discussions
  5. There is a 90% guarantee that your audience will get your messages even if they don’t respond, they would read them and get the information you are passing.

ADVANTAGES OF WHATSAPP IN THE MARKETING SPACE

  1. High engagement
  2. High open rate
  3. Most direct way of communication
  4. Ability to display anything
  5. Personalized groups
  6. Broadcast list
  7. One-on-one closing
  8. Traffic redirect
WhatsApp Business

HOW TO USE WA BUSINESS

1. FOR TEAM COMMUNICATION

Best thing about WhatsApp is that almost everyone uses it and it does not require any training. It is fast, direct, and fun to use. You can share instant messages for which an email is not necessary, and the team does not need to be forced or asked to check their messages, they would always check for new messages anyway. You don’t have to worry about working on the computer and having the headache of sharing information directly to WhatsApp from your computer. With WhatsApp web, it becomes much easier to type messages using a web browser.

2. FOR CUSTOMER RELATION OR COMMUNICATION

Follow-ups done on WhatsApp yields 40% more response than direct phone calls. Most people don’t appreciate phone calls from unknown numbers but are more likely to respond to personal messages. For example, you advertised a course to a potential customer, but he signed up and ended up not paying for the course. What do you do? You either call him or send a follow-up mail using formal language, right? But instead of doing this, you could just send a short message on WhatsApp asking about the course, and you might get a quick response.

3. FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT

It could be a great tool for customer support because of its wide reach. Your customers would always prefer to send you a message over WhatsApp than calling a helpdesk number or opening a ticket on your website. Although, you should choose it as a customer support tool only if you have lesser number of customer requests, except you create an entire department for this alone.

4. FOR MARKETING AND PROMOTION

WhatsApp can be a very strong marketing tool. It is a good one-to-one platform for direct communication with your audience as it is the new SMS. You can use it to send all sort of content to users across the world, unlike SMS or email that has less restriction on the format. Also, delivery chances are higher. You should be careful not to spam your audience with messages though. To get good response and engagement, you need to come up with creative ways to promote your business using WhatsApp. For example, Colgate invited people to send selfies of their smile via WhatsApp, to a phone number displayed on the toothpaste pack. The lead magnet was a chance to be styled by brand ambassador Sonam Kapoor’s stylist.

5. FOR SERVICE BOOKINGS

You can use WhatsApp as a booking platform. For example, booking a product, booking a delivery or courier service, booking a seat or transport service, making reservations at a hotel or restaurant, and so on.

6. FOR TAKING ORDERS

You can put out a WhatsApp call to action for taking orders to the public, irrespective of your business or market space. You can offer your customers an option to order food, wears, items, or whatever product you sell using a WhatsApp message. They can always communicate their preferences instantly.

7. FOR CONSULTATION

As a consultant, you can use WhatsApp as a medium for consulting. Of course, it can’t replace an in-person visit but it can always solve the quick and minor needs till a major face to face consultation would be needed.

8. GOVERNMENT SERVICES

Governments can render important and quick services via WhatsApp. For example, the Delhi Police launched a dedicated helpline powered by WhatsApp. On the launch day, they received more than 23,000 messages and complaints via this helpline.

CONCLUSION

WhatsApp is a powerful communication tool. It has become widely popular due to its simplicity. And apart from using it for personal communication, you can use it for your business in various ways. It is very effective, and it costs nothing to harness its power. Apparently, you can get started in no time. To know how to tap into the power of WhatsApp and how to use it for effective extensive marketing, read the COMPLETE WHATSAPP MARKETING GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS. But if you want to know how to just drive traffic using WhatsApp, read HOW TO USE WHATSAPP BUSINESS TO DRIVE TRAFFIC. And if you would be interested in taking an advanced course on WhatsApp marketing, click here. The course is loaded with value and it only costs a one-time payment of 23USD.


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