WhatsApp marketing for businesses: everything you need to know before getting started

There are very few apps that can be found on almost every smartphone, in every age group, and in every (okay, well almost) every population group. WhatsApp is one of those elite applications, counting over 2 billion users worldwide with a message opening rate of 98%. WhatsApp gained ground due to ease of use and the fact that it was free thus making it not only a wonderful communication interface but also a fertile ground for marketing for businesses.

A bit about marketing on WhatsApp

Meta, who currently owns WhatsApp, only recently started focusing on marketing on WhatsApp. You must be wondering – how come they didn’t do it up until now? Well, alongside the potential hidden in marketing, the company advocates a strict policy when it comes to spam according to its users. Only recently, they started easing up a bit on certain privacy and spam policies, which opens a new marketing channel for various businesses.

Advantages for marketing on WhatsApp

Wondering if WhatsApp is the next marketing step of your business? Allow us to present some of its advantages so that you could decide if the platform is indeed the right one for your business.

• Extremely popular: the tremendous amount of users makes WhatsApp highly effective in its marketing skills. You can reach huge amounts of potential clients by using it.
• Available and instant: WhatsApp is an easy, accessible, instant application. Thanks to these characteristics, it is comfortable transferring and receiving content quickly and easily.
• Light and informal: the at-ease and non-binding nature of WhatsApp will bond nicely with similar messages. Marketing messages can then be formulated in a more friendly way, accompanied by Gifs, photos, sound, and a variety of elements that would make them more interesting.
• Business profile: You can open business profiles, with the company logo and a designated phone number, which would make the conversation more professional.
• A two-way documented conversation: WhatsApp is based on a conversation where both sides are active, while the entire written conversation is documented and stored, which also makes it extremely compatible with the concept of client service for example.
• Providing responses from a number of representatives: on the aspect of the User Experience, WhatsApp will also generate wonderful results as it enables scenarios where a number of representatives can simultaneously answer to various clients.
• Fast share and virality: WhatsApp messages can be shared quickly and easily which provides them with great viral potential. For example, try to think of a marketing concept in the shape of a sophisticated and funny meme that as soon as your clients see it as a WhatsApp message, they’ll be more likely to choose to transfer it on their own.

Things to take into consideration when considering using WhatsApp as a marketing tool

Alongside the various advantages, there are a number of things that we must keep in mind before integrating it into our business.

• Approving the account: legally connecting to the WhatsApp system as a marketer takes up to two weeks, during which the company reviews your account. It is important to make sure that you’re legally sending marketing content, just because in case you don’t – you’ll risk having your account blocked.
• Price: though WhatsApp marketing is much cheaper than social media, it is more expensive than emails or text messages.
• Gradual activity: WhatsApp starts by limiting the number of messages sent. Only once the business earns a reputation and that it is trustworthy to WhatsApp, will it accumulate “rating” points with WhatsApp, thus allowing it to send more and more messages per day.
• Strict spam policy: WhatsApp is very strict with marketing profiles, as each marketing message sent undergoes approval procedures while putting its fate in the hands of the recipients which in fact determines its destiny. If messages you send are blocked or not opened, that increases the chances of you being classified as a “Spam” business by WhatsApp.
• Attention disorders: we are all bombarded with an incredible amount of WhatsApp messages each day, which makes following them not an easy task. WhatsApp messages tend to get overlooked and disappear and that should be taken into account when sending marketing content.

Bottom line: WhatsApp marketing is great, but it’s important to know all its aspects before getting started. Our tip – try to go over the pros and cons list, examine your business accordingly and this way receive the full and accurate picture of whether it’s better to integrate WhatsApp into your business or not. 

To learn more about sending WhatsApp messages with inwise, click here