When you say “social networking,” most people think of Facebook and Instagram. But few would think of messenger apps, which in many ways have caught up with social networks. The leader in most countries is WhatsApp, with 1.2 billion users worldwide.
This global spread opens up great opportunities for WhatsApp marketing. Also, it is a relatively new field of activity with unknown risks and unrealized possibilities. This article provides a guide to marketing on WhatsApp. But in the case of your business website, it is also essential to have quality backlinks to reach the top. So, don’t forget to get quality backlinks for your website, which is more relevant than email marketing. These tips are suitable for beginners in marketing as well as for brands.
What is WhatsApp and How to Use It
WhatsApp is a mobile app that uses your phone’s Internet connection to exchange complimentary messages with other messenger users. The agent also allows you to transfer files and supports voice and video calls. In February 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion. But this app functions separately, without the marketing tools of Facebook Messenger.
After downloading the app, you must confirm your country and enter your phone number. To customize your profile, you can import data from Facebook with a single click or add a picture and profile name manually (all of which can be changed later). WhatsApp uses numbers from your smartphone’s contact list.
Individual Chats
As with other messenger apps, you can directly text any user in your contact list and call, send files, or voice messages.
Mailing Lists
You can send a message to multiple recipients at once. You need to create a mailing list for this. You can only send them to users with your contact saved. Each person on the list will receive it in an individual chat. The reply will also appear as personal correspondence. The mailing list is limited to 256 contacts.
Groups
Group chats allow you to join up to 256 people. In such chats, you can exchange messages, videos, and photos. Each participant in the conversation sees all responses and attached files.
Reasons to Use WhatsApp for Business
The main reason to use the app in marketing is the widespread use of WhatsApp. The Nielsen Facebook Messaging Survey found that WhatsApp users are eager to interact with brands. For example, 67 percent of users say they plan to use the app more often to communicate with merchants over the next two years, and 53 percent of respondents said they were more willing to visit the stores where they can immediately and directly shop.
Younger target audiences are more likely to be messaging daily. Data from the Pew Research Center shows that 42% of users aged 18-29 communicate on messengers. For people over 50, those numbers dropped to 19%. Another attractive fact to promote on WhatsApp is the speed of interaction: 98% of messages are opened and read, with 90% within the first three seconds of receipt.
WhatsApp is also one of the primary sources of dark social traffic (traffic from dark social media). This term describes the phenomenon of information flow that is impossible to track with web analytics tools. People exchange millions of links daily in SMS, emails, and messenger apps. Private channels, such as WhatsApp, now send 84% of the links. And if you’re not using messengers to promote your brand, your potential competitors are. To stay ahead of your competitors, we recommend page SEO services.
Strategies and Tips for Marketing on WhatsApp
WhatsApp is different from social media, so you need to develop a separate marketing strategy for this app. There are several limitations to marketing on WhatsApp. First, there is no such thing as a business account in the messenger.
Any company will face the same limitations as an individual user. The app account is tied to a specific phone number, and you can send messages to a maximum of 256 contacts. It rules out using WhatsApp campaigns.
On the other hand, this fact can play a decisive role in forming trusting connections. People perceive phone numbers as part of personal space — more intimate than computers and laptops. Therefore, any WhatsApp advertising should respect the client’s privacy. If you can enter this territory unobtrusively and creatively, you can create strong connections. Get to know some of the techniques of using WhatsApp in marketing.
WhatsApp Marketing Tools
Since WhatsApp doesn’t offer any specific tools for business accounts, small targeted campaigns similar to those described above work best. To start communicating with people, you need to add their contacts to your phone book.
You can add a link to a website, social media page, or email address with click-to-chat. Keep in mind that messaging is almost an instant service. So make sure you have enough resources to manage your chats.
Some third-party marketing tools offer to set up multi-account WhatsApp for marketers, but using them can lead to temporary or complete blocking of access to the app. Also, spamming on this network can damage a brand’s reputation. The good news is that WhatsApp is actively working on features to help business accounts interact with their users. We also recommend learning more about link building at techblot.com.
The Future of WhatsApp Marketing
WhatsApp is not as feature-rich regarding marketing as Facebook Messenger but constantly evolving. For example, the company announced that it is developing new features for professional trades: “In the future, we will think about how businesses and users can interact with each other using WhatsApp. It could be, for example, order information, transactions, delivery notification, the timing of new product arrivals, marketing messages.”
Until then, marketers working in concert with the unique features of WhatsApp have an advantage. The lack of advertising and high competition makes it possible to stand out from other brands — as long as it’s done right.