With a total population of more than 7 billion, active social media users account for almost half of the strength. Times are changing and so is the affinity of people towards social media.
The rise of social media is quite evident from the fact that Facebook has 2.4 billion users. WhatsApp has more than 1 billion active users. Twitter and LinkedIn have 330 million and 250 million monthly active users respectively.
This has also led the marketers to jump into the social media space to reach out to their audience better.
With Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and many others already being used for marketing, there is one platform that is yet to be explored. Yes, the unexplored frontiers of WhatsApp.
What really is WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is the most popular free messaging app. It allows you to send messages, images, videos, documents, voice notes, make voice and video calls, share locations, and other media.
An ideal means to communicate with anyone from anywhere and at any time. Since it involves zero cost for messaging, it rules out paying extensive data fees and expensive texting charges.
And not only texts but everything that you send using the WhatsApp platform is absolutely free.
So, with the kind of features and users or market space that WhatsApp has, it provides endless opportunities for the marketers to communicate with a vast audience.
WhatsApp is being used across 180 countries and 65 billion messages are being sent each day.
With immense scope for marketers, WhatsApp came up with a WhatsApp Business Account. This was specifically keeping in mind the small business owners. With this, businesses can have wider access to more customers.
What is Whatsapp Business?
WhatsApp Business is free to download app and can be easily used on your mobile phones. It offers tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages to conveniently interact with customers. It works just like the WhatsApp Messenger and can be used beyond texting.
The only difference between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business is the purpose of both apps.
Source:-https://technosavie.com/whatsapp-business-app-launched-features/
A few features offered by WhatsApp Business Account:
- Business Profile
This would have the company details like its name, address, email-id, and the company website.
2. Statistics
This includes data regarding the volume of messages sent, delivered and those actually read.
3. Messaging tools
This is to sort and respond to the customer messages quickly.
With WhatsApp Business, you can save and reuse messages, often being sent. You can use “quick replies” to answer common questions. And when you are away, you can set an away message so that your customers are aware of your absence. They know when to expect a response.
You can even send a greeting message that invites your customers to visit your business. The offering as of now is less. But to start engaging with people, you need to have them add your phone number to their contact list.
What’s more
WhatsApp offers means to add a click-to-chat link to your business website, email signature, social media pages making it easy to start a conversation with your brand.
WhatsApp business may not have as many features as Facebook messenger, but the focus seems to be shifting with time. Businesses who eye for creating a presence on WhatsApp, as early adopters, will certainly stand out.
So, to create your presence first, what can you actually do?
Here’s a to-do-list to kickstart with WhatsApp Business
- Create a WhatsApp account
This is a straight forward process. Install the app on your phone. Create a name and select a profile picture. Write a status describing who you are.
2. Fill up your WhatsApp contact list
Work on growing your WhatsApp following. And how will that happen? You have to give out your contact number for the audience to add you to their list.
Ensure the same by setting up a default message so that you know for sure that your number has been added. The moment you get a message, you have your prospect’s contact number. You can then add them to create your list.
So, the point is you have to let out your number on various platforms to let more audience reach you.
3. Organize your contacts into groups
As a business, you would definitely want to send out messages to a lot of people at the same time.
So, for this, you have to create groups. You can add a maximum of 256 people per group. You can, however, have any number of groups. So, if all your members do not fit in one group, you can have duplicate groups and add them all in.
Creating groups is the most difficult part of WhatsApp. Make sure you create groups looking at the demography, nature of people in terms of response or how active they are in the group.
Once the grouping is through, the exciting part of the interaction begins.
4. Interact with your audience
WhatsApp enables better interaction with your audience. It can be one-to-many, as well as a one-to-one detailed conversation. Anything shared on WhatsApp has a better chance of being clicked in comparison to emails sent.
You can share your thoughts, ideas, and network with people, all in one place.
WhatsApp Business would just serve right for any small or medium-sized business you take. Since the conversation involved here, formal or informal can be quick and crisp, it makes it more dependable. There is so much you can do here,
- You can seek advice and ask for suggestions
- Demonstrate your product
- Check whether people use and like your services.
- Ask people if they would recommend you to family and friends.
You can have it all. Just think of it, and WhatsApp will probably serve it on your tray.
That’s the power of WhatsApp, there is a lot more to be explored. So without wasting your time, money and efforts on emails and several other modes of advertisement, its time for some more action. Its time to explore and experiment with limitless possibilities of WhatsApp.
To conclude with a positive thought
WhatsApp knows no bounds, a new offering to our benefit being WhatsApp Business. So why restrict ourselves? It is always better to try new things. Because if you never try, you will never know.
So, what are you waiting for?
Its time to take the first-mover advantage and get into action. Let’s get going with marketing on WhatsApp with the all-new WhatsApp Business.