WHATSAPP MARKETING STRATEGY
By: Sanmi Matthew
Tags: Social Media Marketing, Marketing, Digital Marketing, WhatsApp, Social Media

WhatsApp has been getting more attention since Facebook bought this messaging service application. The service has revamped the way phones have been utilized for advertisement. Taking advantage of WhatsApp, communications are becoming more targeted and distinctive between businesses and customers.

Using customized messages, WhatsApp is a great way of advertising for brands to maximize the benefits of their marketing efforts.

WhatsApp for interaction:

WhatsApp can be adopted as a tool to directly communicate with the persons whom you already know. You can take advantage of WhatsApp to send images, video and text messages of new products to your current clients.

The interaction needs to be one to one, as the audience doesn’t like to be part of a WhatsApp group. One-to-one communication makes them feel special and builds the trust of the customer in your brand.

Create mutual communities of like-minded people:

Take the initiative and create WhatsApp groups of distinct audiences. You can create groups on the basis of their geographical location, interest and demographics. You can also limit the room of your WhatsApp groups such as how many people will be in one group. After doing the complete process, start sending messages to the group.

WhatsApp to organize people:

WhatsApp is most favored by users to communicate with people they know. Take benefit of this fact and use WhatsApp to gather people for a specific cause or an event. Invite people to join the event by sending an invitation on WhatsApp and request them to share it among their WhatsApp group to increase your audience. The more people share the event, the more your audience will grow.

Display a product as profile picture:

To advertise your product via WhatsApp, you can send a news alert but you can make it much better by uploading the product image as profile picture and updating the status so it provides some information about the product. Placing a website URL in the status can also works great to promote your brand.

Revamp the WhatsApp content.

Before sharing an image or a video file via WhatsApp, you need to ensure that the size of file is small so that more users are able to download the file. Because people are more likely to watch a short video on WhatsApp instead of watching a lengthy video.

WhatsApp’s impact on social media marketing

WhatsApp is really an important part of your online social advertising. It is an instant messaging application to communicate with your audience. Social marketers always look for a compelling method to get the attention of their existing customers as well as find new customers.

This App allows real-time two-way communication with the audience who matters the most to you and your business. The main objective of WhatsApp marketing is to engage your prospective audience. WhatsApp is a multi-purpose, user friendly application which helps you to attain your business goals.

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Here are some business objectives where WhatsApp can yield great results -

Broadcasting:

WhatsApp permits its users to create groups to communicate and text anything to a group of people at once without having to send it individually to every user. It is a direct and instant way to send the messages and reach your potential customers.

Messages are sent to the user’s mobile, which is really important for marketers and businesses. The message is viewed within few minutes, as people like to check their phones when any kind of notification appears on the screen. Broadcasting can modernize the communication with your customers.

You can update new product launches and services by sending them text and news alerts instantly to make audience aware about your business.

Boost Customer Engagement:

The Audiences don’t like to see a list of promotional emails in their mobile inbox. But WhatsApp is not only about advertising your products and services. You can do much more with WhatsApp such as sending text, images, videos, audio, emoticons, vouchers and GPS location to your audience.

WhatsApp also provides audio and video calling features for better communication. It is mainly based on one-to-one communication which is the prominent method to make your customers happy, boost awareness and ROI.

Low cost brand management:

Small ventures and local businesses have low budgets for advertising their brand and products on the internet. WhatsApp works great for these kind of businesses. WhatsApp uses mobile internet data to send and receive messages. This application is free for one year, after that you need to pay an annual subscription fee of $0.99 USD, where other online marketing technologies cost you much more money.

Businesses can utilize WhatsApp to communicate internally or with customers and thus make communication more effective or keep in touch with your existing audience. You can resolve their queries via WhatsApp and ask for feedback, reviews and testimonials.

Including WhatsApp in your online advertising campaigns will assist you to increase your brand’s positioning and improve brand management.

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Marketing with WhatsApp can be an effective way to connect with your potential customers and promote your business. Local businesses can use WhatsApp as a communication tool to hook up users in real-time.

Facebook allows you to connect with your potential audience, and WhatsApp takes this connection to a next level. WhatsApp provides various features, which can be used effectively for promoting small businesses. These features are enlisted and explained briefly as follows:

Messaging:

WhatsApp is not limited to sending text messages for reaching your target audience; it can be used for promoting products and services through text, audio and video formats, so that you can transmit an appropriate idea about your products and service to prospective clients. You can also target your audience in masses by using the WhatsApp broadcasting feature.

Group Targeting:

WhatsApp enables marketers to do group targeting and also allows the creation of groups according to similar interests and start discussions with users of the group. This helps targeting clients with similar interests and demands. It also increases the chance of going viral thanks to the sharing of content by participants of the group amongst their contacts.

Campaigns:

WhatsApp enables marketers to run innovative campaigns. You can ask your recipients to share their images while using your products and services or posing in front of your billboard or store. In return you could offer them various coupons through WhatsApp. This allows you to grow your database through relevant contacts and increase your business reach.

WhatsApp for customer support:

Because of its wider reach, WhatsApp can also be a very helpful tool for customer support. Your customer may prefer contacting you over WhatsApp instead of calling your support numbers or writing emails. You can solve customer problems or provide product or service information and advice through this medium.

Since a large number of people use WhatsApp regularly, it is easier for marketers to approach their prospective clients. WhatsApp is becoming an affordable mass communication tool that can be used by small businesses creatively and innovatively.

The above features enable small marketers to promote their business with great ease though WhatsApp. These features are advanced marketing tools for promoting any business.

Local businesses and WhatsApp

A business or company that provides its services in a specific geographical area is called a Local business. The term Local business is also used to define a franchise in a particular region. If you are running your business in a local area, consider adding WhatsApp to your online marketing toolset to boost your campaign performance and profits.

WhatsApp is a great tool to send massive text messages, video and audio clips without any cost. And it works with every smartphone platform such android, iOS, Windows, Symbian, and BlackBerry etc.

Local businesses could advertise their WhatsApp number and tell their audience that they can purchase via WhatsApp. Share images of your products or services in a WhatsApp group of potential customers. Local marketers may also send their geographical location to their customers, so that customers can visit the store anytime.

Here are some reasons why you should include WhatsApp marketing in your advertising strategy

Advertise your products:

WhatsApp is the new way to send SMS among your family and friends. But you may also use it as an advertising tool. You can promote your products to either a WhatsApp group or individual users. This marketing tool is the best way to establish one-to-one communication with your customers. There are less sending and receiving restrictions than with SMS and Emails.

But be aware, to not send messages to everybody and make sure you target those customers who are in your contact list, because people hate messages from unknown people/companies.

Low cost:

Local marketers and businesses can send text, images, audio and video messages free of cost. WhatsApp only consumes internet data to send messages. During the first year WhatsApp is completely free for all users, including businesses, but once the first year is over every user needs to pay a minimal annual subscription fee of $0.99 per year. So there are no hidden charges, and it is much less costly than other online advertising channels.

Distinctive communication:

Most users don’t like communicating trough groups, as they receive notifications each time group members send messages. But this does not mean that you can’t use WhatsApp for sending promotional messages, banners and videos to individual users. Personal messages will assist you in building a strong relationship with your customers.

Instant reply:

Local businesses and marketers can ask their customer to provide them feedback via the WhatsApp messaging feature. Request them to send their queries via WhatsApp, and reply to them as soon as possible. Resolving their issues regarding your product and services diligently and in a timely and personalized way will build up their trust.

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AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Some links in the post content are affiliate links. Should you decide to go through them, and make a purchase, I will earn a commission. The decision is yours.