What is WhatsApp Advertising?

The arrival of the WhatsApp Business App could be good opportunity for businesses to use the tool for WhatsApp Advertising in their marketing strategy.

Every day, more than 1 billion people around the world use WhatsApp.

Mobile has taken over the greatest part of our life and WhatsApp consumes the most of it. WhatsApp is the most popular app on our phones.

It’s added a lot of features like emojis, video calling, day-long status, etc. which makes it an irreplaceable and prime form of communication.

WhatsApp is a mobile application founded by Jan Koum and Brian Action in 2009. It allows people to communicate freely and today it’s the first instant messaging service in terms of users.

It becomes an effective marketing tool and WhatsApp messenger’s messages catch the maximum reader attention. The most attractive point of WhatsApp marketing is that no reader can miss the message.

WhatsApp messenger app helps individuals all over the world to connect with each other using their mobile phone number.

WhatsApp has been identified as the cheapest, flexible and most used. WhatsApp marketing is one effective way to do strategic marketing. WhatsApp helps users to do close range marketing.

It can help to market people within your area. WhatsApp found out that more than 80% of Indian SMEs using the app to communicate and grow their business.

WhatsApp takes advantage of this opportunity and made a new app namely WhatsApp Business to summarize the true potential of customer-brand interaction and relationship.

WhatsApp marketing can help get good results. The app is used by many and it’s a preferred mode of communication.

WhatsApp allows businesses to carry out direct consultation and focus group studies. Brands can push alerts on WhatsApp using broadcast messaging options about new events and sales.

WhatsApp Advertising Campaign –

WhatsApp allows users to share media and pass information for all their contacts. You can add:

• Links
• Videos
• Write-ups
• Images

Features of WhatsApp Advertising –

In September 2017, WhatsApp has announced a free Business App to allow users to communicate with the businesses directly through this application.

WhatsApp Business App was released to establish an official presence of businesses. The app is free to download and currently available for Android devices only.

It allows businesses to easily interact with customers by using tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages. It involves features that improve the experience of customer-business interaction.

Introduction of business Profiles with verification alongside messaging tools delivers quick replies to FAQ, greeting messages and away messages can be done via phone or desktop.

Users can create a business profile containing helpful information for customers such a description, location, opening hours.

WhatsApp will provide messaging statistics revealing simple metrics like the number of messages read, clicked and more.

WhatsApp has recently launched the UPI payment feature. It’s a successful integration of features that open a lot of opportunities for businesses like direct sales, EMI payments, and more.   

WhatsApp is the ideal marketing platform for communication due to its customer-orientation and personalized interaction.

This Business API (Application Program Interface) allows businesses to send messages to their customers with practical information like purchase, shipping information.

Businesses will be charged for sending notifications and it’ll remain non-promotional. WhatsApp Business API is in beta mode and it’s still testing with businesses.

WhatsApp Advertising for Business –

One of the main scopes of WhatsApp advertising is that it helps for a better and strong customer engagement.

WhatsApp for business is available as an Android App which can be downloaded for free for the Play Store.

WhatsApp for business is exclusively for businesses to communicate with customers. WhatsApp marketing is done via WhatsApp channel which is basically a list of registered phone numbers.

Whatsapp marketing for business is very strategic. You can start a marketing group where you add your friends, family and other interested people. WhatsApp Business App allows brands to reply to users who contact them.

You can send notifications like shipping confirmations, appointment reminders or event tickets. Reply sent within 24 hours of the original message will be free.

WhatsApp is one of the cost-effective marketing tools and it’s used as a reliable element.

# Logo – WhatsApp Business App has a different logo with the phone icon being replaced by a ‘B’ for business. The logo is easily recognizable to frequent users and capable of differentiating between the personal and business app.

# Landline Number – WhatsApp Business App allows you to use the landline phone number to register for the app. It’s an improvement over the regular chat tool. You can also include the type of business as a family-owned or corporate business during registration.

# Automated Messages – You can set up automated responses. Your set up will automatically reply when an inquiry comes in for a product or services. You can connect with the customers even if you’re unavailable to chat at a particular moment.

# Verified Businesses – WhatsApp gives your business a green tick as proof of authenticity. This authenticity can reduce the risk of fraudulent messaging. Your users will know that they are interacting with the actual business.

# Message Statistics – WhatsApp provides you with options to see data for the number of messages sent, received, and read.

The data collected from these statistics can offer businesses invaluable information on the value of their message statistics. This information allows them to identify the type of content to engage their target audience.

It can help to come up with more targeted statistics that will vibrate better with the audience. You can keep a track of how well that app works for you.

The current statistics are very straight forward and in near future updates for business might include more detailed statistical tools.

WhatsApp Advertising Strategies –

WhatsApp advertising is simple and it heats up to interacting and engaging with your customers.

# Broadcast Lists – You can create lists that are related to specific topics or audience segments. You can send one-way communications that are tailored to increase engagement like on Twitter.

You can include offers, links or invitations in your messages. You can share invites or links to multiple users at a time.

Any users with your saved number can view your broadcast message. When he reverts, you receive it as one-to-one interaction.

# Group Chat – WhatsApp allows creating a group of up to 256 members. You can create a platform where your customers and employees can interact effectively.

Group messages are shared among all members of a group and it includes responses from group participants. The group feature is the best way to grant exclusive access to specific customers.

Groups enable you to reach masses at a time. It’s a way to encourage customers to interact and introduce existing customers to try a new service or product.

You can group employees in one place and will hold discussions on upcoming products, task updates, arrange meetings, and more.

# Customer Service – It can be challenging to provide an entire customer support desk for your customers when you’re a small business or start-up.

The businesses with a small budget can afford to answer questions their customers might be directed towards this platform quickly. WhatsApp can help you to answer and address customer queries quickly.

Immediate customer service is a luxury for small businesses. The carrying out brand follow-ups on WhatsApp instead of direct phone calls will get more response.

You can provide customer service by using text, audio or video with WhatsApp multimedia messaging features. This app supports all types of media that can provide excellent customer support.

You can provide live-video help or tutorials on WhatsApp which can streamline the customer support process.

WhatsApp has a desktop application and you can integrate customer support software which can provide faster customer service. You can use a keyboard, mouse, or a webcam to maximize your productivity.

# Feedback – You can have a more intimate relationship with your customers that can take interaction and participation to the next level.

You can actively include customers in the creation and building process of the product or services to strengthen the relationship.

You can give them links or options to reply to a survey. This platform can motivate your customers to give more accurate feedback.

You can directly respond to customer’s requests within the app and improve on the products or services when you receive the feedback.

Customers’ feedback is a great value to you and you can reward them with coupons to encourage brand loyalty as a part of a customer retention strategy.

You can get customers to review your products or services by giving a link or options to reply to a survey.

# Personalized Communication – You can personalize your interaction with customers by directly communicating on this platform.   

It’s helpful to small businesses to direct interaction with customers if they need a specific product, question, or any customer support. WhatsApp can be used as a Mobile Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application.

WhatsApp is available on every type of smartphones and it can be accessible from every part of the world. All other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and discussion forums are not as personalized as WhatsApp.

# Brand Persona – You can create an engaging brand persona or character that represents your brand. People don’t like to chat with impersonal company representatives.

The persona can be a fictional character designed to create interest and engagement.

You can put some basic details where:

• You can upload a profile picture that would draw attention and encourage the audience to engage with your brand.
• You can announce your brand USP or new offers and promotions in the ‘About me’ section of WhatsApp.

You can run campaigns on within your WhatsApp groups to keep customers engaged and you can send images of your products.

# Promotion – WhatsApp is an excellent tool for endorsing new products, services, and offers.

You can send small details as the caption to an image or video and can include short directions for users in availing of the product or services.

You can advertise services by sharing eye-opening e-brochures. You can put up offers and announcements in status to draw the attention of users.

Pros of WhatsApp Advertising –

WhatsApp has many features that other social platforms don’t benefit your business and it can improve your marketing efforts.

You won’t have to pay to promote your posts or to get higher visibility with your followers like other social media platforms.

Cons of WhatsApp Advertising –

It’s made for personal messaging and not for brand making.

The sending time is delayed and it’s tedious in WhatsApp marketing software.

Every time you need a dedicated mobile number to send bulk messages.

There are restrictions on how many messages you can send per hour.

WhatsApp was not created for businesses and it doesn’t have in-depth analytics. It only shows that messages have been sent and received.

WhatsApp Marketing Tips –

WhatsApp Business App is currently available for Android users only. It was built with the small business owner in mind and it has advantages over the normal chat.

# Status – You should continuously update your status with relevant business quotes, ads, events, promos, and links of videos published on social media.

It’s an easy way to frequently reminded of your business and its purpose. You should make your status short, original, and catchy for the audience to share it further.

WhatsApp Status update feature allows you to widely share special promotional offers for customers. You can use images, location feature to distribute the promotion codes in your groups about the special promotions.

# Profile – Your WhatsApp profile picture should be either the business logo or image related to your business.

You can also add business information like an address that can be viewed directly on Google Maps under business category and business hours. You also get the option to add an email address and 2 websites URLs.

# Greetings Messages – With WhatsApp Business App, you can set the welcome messages and away message that can be triggered automatically.

You can set automatic custom greeting messages when a customer sends you the first message. You can also set an automatic away message to your customers while you are away.

# Labels – You can easily find your chats or messages and organize them with labels. You can create labels with different colors. You can add labels to an entire conversation or specific messages within a chat.

You can divide customers into different categories like:

• New Customer
• New Orders
• Pending Payment
• Paid
• Order complete

Conclusion – WhatsApp is the ideal tool to reach your audience, build a connection, promote brand, or product/services, and communicate with the audience in real-time. WhatsApp advertising provides a brand persona to your company and improves customer interaction. WhatsApp marketing is now opted by huge number of businesses as a digital marketing strategy. WhatsApp advertising might become a powerful marketing tool for the future. WhatsApp Business App allows you to interact with your customers with advanced marketing tools.