WhatsApp Messenger is a messaging platform owned by Facebook. It allows users to send messages, images, videos, documents, user location, and other media, as well as make video and voice calls. Initially, many people used WhatsApp as a messaging app, now this messaging app can’t be ignored in business. It’s an easy way to catch up with customers for instant service and a possible way to do highly targeted marketing. Today it has become an integral part of every smartphone user. WhatsApp Marketing is definitely a preferred way to grow business online.
If anyone wants to know about WhatsApp marketing to develop their business and want to increase sales, the essential marketing strategies in this article will give you a clear vision about WhatsApp marketing strategies for business in 2019.
What is WhatsApp Marketing?
Whatsapp marketing is a new-fashioned way of marketing to reach, engage and convert potential prospects using the Whatsapp platform. All we need to have is mobile internet on our devices to get or send calls and messages. If you are planning to launch a new product or you want to inform your customers about your new service, WhatsApp marketing is an easy way to make it possible.
Benefits of WhatsApp Marketing
The main important thing why business people want to use WhatsApp marketing is that it is already being used by more than 1.5 billion users globally. Over 80% of smartphones users use this application. As well, nearly 65 billion messages are sent through WhatsApp daily.
- Availability of Users on Platform
- Most WhatsApp users check it at least 43 times daily
- Quick response time on WhatsApp
- Ability to reach users in Groups
- Subscription-based updates
Whatsapp lets you send media files like catalogs, e-books, and brochures to your consumers. Where in email need to prepare a separate promotional mail with a lot of effort but in WhatsApp, it is an easy process.
Customer engagement is an exceedingly different factor in any business and in WhatsApp, it is an easy factor to reach customers. It helps to build a strong communicative space between customers and business representatives by sending simple clear messages for better engagements.
WhatsApp is the best app to launch new products or services globally. One can easily advertise your business through WhatsApp where it can be reached to more customers in less period. It’s absolutely a good promotional application for any business.
WhatsApp allows creating different groups for specific purposes like an update about daily work, client’s new tasks, timing group for a meeting, discussion about new tasks. This important feature helps the business team members to get updated information to build up an effective business as a team.
WhatsApp Messenger Versions
- WhatsApp Messenger for Users
- WhatsApp Business
- WhatsApp Web Version (Click here to Use)
WhatsApp for Business Owners
I would strongly recommend using the WhatsApp Business because this app is created keeping in mind the business needs of companies.
Following are extremely useful features of the business version.
- Create a Business Profile with all important information about your business
- Organize contacts using Labels (Prospects, Suspects, Leads, Customers, etc)
- Automated responses and greetings when people interact with your business
- Set up working hours and send the automated response in non-working hours
- Quick replies for common questions from customers
- Ability to use WhatsApp Business API
Methods of WhatsApp Marketing
- WhatsApp Integration with website
- WhatsApp Group Strategy
- WhatsApp Automation using API
- WhatsApp Broadcast List Strategy
- WhatsApp Status Update Strategy
WhatsApp Integration with a website (Click to Chat)
WhatsApp chat is one most effective and easy methods to connect with potential customers on a website. With digital marketing our primary goal is to bring the user to our website. From our website, we can easily encourage the users to do a quick WhatsApp chat, and we get the lead for our business.
Read this article about how to implement the click to chat feature on a website
WhatsApp Group Strategy
WhatsApp groups are one of the most widely used features in WhatsApp. Many users join groups related to friends, family, college, office, personal interests. This is the most effective way to build a community of like-minded people. The only limitation of groups is we can only add 256 members in a single group.
WhatsApp groups can be used to engage with prospects or customers.
Here are the essential tips to create a successful WhatsApp group:
- Create a WhatsApp group with a topic related to your industry.
- Invite relevant prospects to join the group (Use WhatsApp Invite Feature).
- Print group QR code and showcase in office
- Assign a unique group name and group photo.
- If you have a brand logo adds that in your group icon.
- Attract your clients with useful content.
- If the group is for updates then you can enable only admin posts to avoid clutter.
WhatsApp Automation using API
This is a feature useful for big businesses that provide the latest updates and regular promotional messages to customers. For example, E-commerce websites can use this API integration to update products status, shipping status and also post promotional messages to target customers.
Using API you can integrate your existing applications, CRM with the WhatsApp system to keep the customer updated with the latest information. Some companies are also developing WhatsApp Chatbots to take full advantage of WhatsApp API capabilities.
To use WhatsApp API options you must get approval from the WhatsApp team. Please apply here.
Note: WhatsApp API has a complex payment structure where the business has to pay per message cost to WhatsApp if they respond to any message after 24 hours. Within 24 hours of time, no charges will be applicable. After 24 hours of the response, the cost will be somewhere between 5 cents to 90 cents depending on various factors.
WhatsApp Broadcast List Strategy
Broadcast List feature which can help you send messages to many contacts (256) at once. Broadcast List is a group of lists of contacts who will receive your message automatically whenever you broadcast the message. Note: Only contacts who have added you in their phone address book will receive your messages. This message communication is One to Many and all the receipts will get your message.
How to Create a Broadcast List
Steps to follow:
- Open WhatsApp and tap More > broadcast lists.
- Tap (+) new at the bottom of the BROADCAST LISTS screen.
- You can type a name of a contact or tap the (+) add recipients to choose from your contacts.
- Tap the Create icon at the bottom of the screen.
When you send a message to the broadcast lists all the recipients will get the message as a normal message and when they reply it will be a normal chat with that specific receipt. Other receipts won’t see any replies to the original message.
This feature will be very useful for Schools, Colleges, Companies that want to communicate the message with many users at once without adding them in groups.
WhatsApp Status Update Strategy
WhatsApp allows users to post stories/status updates that are active for 24 hours. These are similar to Instagram/Facebook Stories. We can post videos photos, text with links, videos (30 secs) in our status. We can use the status updates to promote offers and ask users to take screenshots of coupon codes to avail the offer in-store. We can generate traffic from WhatsApp by integrating links in status updates.
Examples of Top WhatsApp Campaigns
BJP Election Campaign using WhatsApp
BJP is the only party in India that has leveraged the power of social media to the maximum extent. Now coming to WhatsApp their social media team was able to use it exclusively to reach actual voters by using WhatsApp. The strategy followed by BJP was not any advanced API integration or any paid tools, because API has many restrictions regarding content.
BJP is using Whatsapp very effectively since starting its 2014 campaign. Lakhs of volunteers had joined by connecting with these numbers. Now the backend team will easily organize the numbers by pin code, constituency, city, state and use these volunteers based on the campaign strategy. Also, lakhs of Facebook Pages & Groups were used to get volunteers from each constituency across India.
So BJP was able to reach to huge voter base by using lakhs of WhatsApp Group on each level, Country-level, State Level, City Level, and Constituency level. According to sources they have 90,000+ cell phone pramukhs who were responsible to forward the party material to various levels of groups. In WhatsApp we can only add 256 members, but how can BJP election material reach so many voters. They used the Chain System to build the network.
This was a simple chain system followed for main pramukhs by using WhatsApp forwards which reach millions of volunteers.
By using this method we get 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216 members. This way it’s possible to reach every constituency and further the social media worker or volunteer at the constituency level will forward it to further groups to target specific voters.
As per one report, one of the social media convenors was the admin of 1,124 groups in Kolkata. Now you can image how BJP was able to reach the voter directly using WhatsApp. As you also notice in 2019 BJP has gained a lot of seats in many states what was because of a targeted social media campaign and WhatsApp marketing strategy.
Oyo Rooms WhatsApp Marketing Strategy
Oyo Rooms one of the biggest hotel aggregators is using WhatsApp to connect with their customers. Through WhatsApp, Oyo Rooms connect with customers in real-time to ensure the hotel booking process is convenient and easy to use. Oyo Rooms is using WhatsApp API in the following ways:
- Booking Confirmation: Every customer will receive a confirmation message via WhatsApp after booking a room.
- Reach OYO: On the day of the check-in, Oyo will send details of the hotel and directions
- Cancel Booking: If you happen to cancel your booking, we will message you the cancellation details.
Check this Oyo Blog Page for more details.
EaseMyTrip.com WhatsApp API Integration
Easemytrip.com has implemented WhatsApp business API to automatically update the details of the ticket to customers on WhatsApp. This was quite effective and easy for users to track their flight details on WhatsApp because complete details were sent to users as one message and easy to track. Also, EaseMyTrip was shown as Verified Business in WhatsApp to gain customer confidence.
Persil Kufua Expert Campaign
Persil launched this campaign, it was run by a Kenya agency OG+A. Persil’s asked customers to send 15 seconds video washing tips via WhatsApp. This interactive campaign was user-centric and provided importance to customers’ opinions. Users who gave the best tips were rewarded with gifts vouchers and Persil hampers. The important thing about this campaign is its effectiveness and simplicity. Instruction and messages are clearly understandable for the audience to participate in the campaign.
Conclusion
WhatsApp is a powerful social media communication tool. Due to its simplicity, it becomes popular quickly. In order to use WhatsApp for business communication, one can use WhatsApp for business in many ways. You can get started quickly and it is cost-effective as well.
Please share any tips and ideas you use in WhatsApp for marketing and business growth.
