Whatsapp Marketing is one form of marketing you must take seriously in 2022. It is the easiest and most flexible form of marketing that gives maximum return on investment. WhatsApp Marketing is what I call the great equalizer. It affords equal opportunity to both the big brands and the incoming brands.
Now, more than ever, even without big budgets incoming brands can do what the bigger brands can do in marketing.
WhatsApp may not be the first to come to your mind when you hear the phrase social media marketing. Trust me when I say, it is one form of marketing you must not ignore. Simply for the fact that it’s the most popular messaging application and the second most popular social media network in the world after Facebook.
More than 1.5 billion people in 180 countries use WhatsApp. Many of them are your existing customers, and many others can be if you just reach out to them.
However!
Unlike other social media marketing channels, WhatsApp isn’t for mass marketing. It is restricted to catering to limited people as you can’t broadcast messages to strangers.
But the same platform can be used to market your offering to people who have you on their contact list and execute your relationship marketing strategies even on a large scale.
How? you may ask!
Well, here’s a step-by-step guide explaining all you need to know about WhatsApp marketing and how you can start using it effectively.
Here’s How WhatsApp Works
WhatsApp is a Facebook-owned free yet secure instant messaging application. It offers internet calling features and social networking features like adding audio/visual statuses and textual bio.
Often considered as the best alternative to smartphone’s native calling and texting service. WhatsApp turned out to be a boon for Asian and European residents ever since it was launched in 2009. However, it is now that it’s gradually getting famous in the USA. This is because unlike Europe, South America, and Asia, sending text messages over phone lines was essentially free for a long time in the USA, even before WhatsApp entered the market. Hence, there wasn’t much incentive for them to download and use the application.
Who Is on WhatsApp?
Here are some WhatsApp stats to understand its users (and your target audience) better-
- 5 billion active users in 180 countries
- India is the biggest market for WhatsApp with over 400 million users. Brazil is the second biggest with over 120 million users.
- 500 million users add WhatsApp status daily.
- 3 million companies use WhatsApp Business.
- WhatsApp messages have an open rate of over 70%.
- What Is WhatsApp Marketing And How Can You Use It?
Just like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Youtube, brands use WhatsApp to market their offering to their customers. But unlike these social media channels or even SMS channels, WhatsApp doesn’t let anyone mass-market to unknown contacts.
But this hasn’t stopped people from marketing their offerings on the platform. Small businesses market their offering to their special customers by making exclusive groups and broadcasts lists to develop good relationships with them. However, the work is done manually, and more than one broadcast list and groups are created as WhatsApp only lets you add 256 contacts per group and broadcast list.
Medium and large-scale businesses, on the other hand, use the new premium WhatsApp Business API to delight their customers. They do this by informing them about the status of their orders, taking customer feedback, and even sending them regular updates. There’s no limit to the number of users when it comes to WhatsApp API and most of the messages are automated.
Besides this, many also use WhatsApp to reach out to prospective clients as messages on this platform have the best open rate.
Benefiting from WhatsApp Marketing
The task here is to capitalize on the most used social media network while not interrupting the usual messaging habits of the customers.
The opportunity is, you might turn out to be a pioneer of WhatsApp marketing in your industry.
Below is how you can effectively use WhatsApp for Marketing.
Set Up WhatsApp Business Presence
Whatever you do to market your offering, just don’t do it using your personal WhatsApp account.
Ever since the company was bought by Facebook, WhatsApp opened its doors to businesses by launching two add-ons to its service;
- WhatsApp Business Application – For small and medium business to create their own business profiles. Also, showcasing their website, open hours, and email. Also to integrate chatbots, and to automate welcome and away messages. WhatsApp Business Application is completely free to use. However, you might incur some charges if you use third-party services to integrate chatbots.
- WhatsApp Business API – For large businesses and financial institutions who wish to send automatic updates and notifications to their customers. This requires them to join hands with one of the Facebook Business Partners and pay for messages they send. (Yes, this is how WhatsApp makes money.)
Whether you choose WhatsApp Business Application or WhatsApp Business API totally depends on your needs and the size of the operation. Just note that if you can only get a verified tick beside your name if you use WhatsApp Business API.
Make Them Message You First
Unlike other marketing channels, WhatsApp marketing is a pull strategy where the first move is made by the user. This is done by the user making to send a message first. And the marketer only gives him an offer with an incentive to start a conversation on WhatsApp. Some examples of offers are;
- Website updates on WhatsApp
- Job offers on WhatsApp
- Special offers on WhatsApp
- Getting a pass for an exclusive event on WhatsApp
- Getting recipes from chefs on WhatsApp
And a lot more. You too can create a tailor-made incentive for your target audience and invite them to start the conversation with you. But keep these things in mind –
Watch the video below for details on how to run a WhatsApp campaign.
Attract Contacts from Other Channels
The engagement rate on WhatsApp is way more than any other channel. An average user spends 28.4 minutes a day on WhatsApp.
However!
Since WhatsApp marketing for small businesses requires customers to make the first move. Your initial focus should be to promote the campaign on different channels. Channels like websites, social media profiles, and even PR channels to get more people to start the conversation.
Create a WhatsApp click to chat link. You can use the short link feature on the WhatsApp business application or online tools (like this by Postcron). Make sure you mention a default keyword in the link for them to start the chat.
Focus On Exclusivity
Remember that WhatsApp is a messaging application. And people would like to connect only if you’re offering something exclusive. Or something that can’t be offered anywhere else; say personal connect, for example.
If it is offered to everyone, it might lose its charm. Try to market your campaign as an exclusive offer to the target audience.
Use WhatsApp’s Features And Add-Ons
You can build an autoresponder to respond to the default keyword. WhatsApp Business application doesn’t let you do this task but you can easily find third-party applications like this on the Play Store.
This makes the brand look more professional.
Other than this, make sure to add the users’ contacts to your broadcast list. Or WhatsApp group(s) to where you plan to send your marketing messages. Also, ask them to save your number in their contacts list as your broadcasts won’t be sent to people who don’t have your number in their lists.
And never forget to keep a keyword to stop the messages if you go for a broadcast list.
Hint: Proven Whatsapp Marketing Strategies to Make More Sales in 2022
Using A Distinct Brand Voice & Tonality
Remember, it’s not an individual talking to the person, it’s the brand. Make sure you train your team to align with your company’s brand personality in every communication message they send.
The Right Time To Send Messages
Find out the best time when your target audience is most likely to respond and engage with your message and send your messages only at that time.
Train Your Audience To Respond
WhatsApp is a two-way communication channel and you should focus on using it that way. Train your audience to reply to your messages. Make them feel that there is an incentive in replying to you.
Host small giveaways where only the users who reply can take part. Provide insights into matters your target audience is interested in and offer to answer their questions.
This makes them feel that there is more to the brand than product promotion and sales.
Use Variaties of Messages
Since your customers save your number to their contact lists to communicate with you. They will surely be able to see your WhatsApp status and bio. Make sure to update them from time to time and use them to execute your holistic marketing strategies.
Watch the Video below on how to use WhatsApp status creatively.
Besides this, make sure you just don’t stick to text while sending your marketing messages or while interacting with your audience. WhatsApp lets you send images, videos, GIFs, locations, and even files. Make use of them to draft more engaging messages.
You Can do More with WhatsApp API
Even though WhatsApp doesn’t let you do much if you want to market your offering using the free WhatsApp Business application. There’s a lot that can be done using the paid WhatsApp API.
Here are some use cases of WhatsApp API to broaden your marketing horizons –
Alerts And Notifications: WhatsApp API can be used to send mission-critical alerts, like flight notifications, bank notifications, booking confirmations, and delivery alerts. Uber has started using this feature in select countries to send communications like customer support and account updates.
User Verification and 2FA: WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption and API results into a perfect channel to securely protect customer accounts using verification and 2FA. Futterwave is using it effectively in Nigeria to send verification codes.
Customer Support: Many CRM solutions have an option to integrate with WhatsApp and let you handle the customer relationships on WhatsApp.
Recommendations: WhatsApp is also used to send recommendations and suggestions by e-commerce websites according to the user activity. Netflix has been spotted using WhatsApp in India to send account messages and suggestions on what to watch according to users’ activities on the platform.
Many companies like Smooch by Zendesk, Twilio, Messagebird, etc. provide you with an option to use WhatsApp API to your advantage.
Note: WhatsApp API allows you to respond to messages from WhatsApp users for free up to 24 hours, but charges for responses sent after that point on a per-message basis.
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