WhatsApp is more than just a messaging tool for people. In addition to communicating with existing customers, it is a great platform for businesses to reach out to prospective customers.
How? Let’s figure that out in this blog.
When we talk about social media marketing, social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest are usually the first to come to mind. However, social media channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, and Telegram are also important for your marketing strategy.
Many brands have already started using WhatsApp Marketing in their marketing strategy to improve their customer service. WhatsApp is also starting to become a popular tool for small businesses with its app WhatsApp Business.
WhatsApp Business enables you to offer personal customer support to your audience with automated messages and chatbot-like capabilities. So, if you’re launching a new product, WhatsApp can automatically send the messages you’ve created to the customers you select.
Why Use WhatsApp for Your Small Business?
You might want to reconsider including WhatsApp in your marketing strategy if you haven’t already. Let me tell you why: it has over 1.5 billion monthly active users! In fact, it has even surpassed Facebook! What’s even more valuable is the number of times people utilize the message feature. Approximately 60 billion messages are sent every day by its users, according to recent statistics.
Another interesting fact about instant messaging-based social media apps is that 53% of people say they are more likely to do business with a brand they can directly communicate with.
Lastly, it has an awesome engagement rate. Almost nine out of ten messages are opened and read, and 90% are opened within three seconds of receiving them. The prospect of what that could mean to your customer service might make you a little bit excited. By using the WhatsApp marketing strategy, you can provide your customers with a direct line of communication that makes you more accessible and convenient for them.
In addition, WhatsApp Marketing gives you the freedom to communicate with more people than you would be able to do with text messaging. You can create broadcast lists or groups and send the same message to all your customers if you’d like. You can even send videos, photos, and audio messages via WhatsApp.
Using the WhatsApp Business App, you can harness the popularity and easy-to-use tools that WhatsApp provides to reach your customers and really connect with them.
How To Use WhatsApp Business for Your Marketing Strategy?
The first step involves downloading the free WhatsApp Business app on your device. Once you have that downloaded, you’re ready to get started.
Create a Business Profile and a Catalog
WhatsApp Business requires you to create a business profile and provide your customers with relevant information. You can add a short description of your business, your address, email address, and website URL. You can also create your own product catalogue to showcase your products and services!
Automatic Replies
This offers you Quick Replies, which is a tool that lets you save and reuse messages you often use with just one click. You can also create automatic replies for when you’re not available.
Link to Your WhatsApp Business Account
When you create a Business Account on it, you will get a short link for your account. This means that you can share this link on other social media apps and even in emails and on your website. When users click on that link, they will be redirected to it so they can message you directly.
Add Labels
Another awesome feature is the ability to add labels to your WhatsApp contacts. You can create labels to differentiate new customers from customers with pending payments, and so on.
Green Tick for Verified Accounts
When you verify your business account on it, you receive a green tick. This shows your customers that your account is the official account of your business. This helps them feel more comfortable reaching out to you, and they’ll know that all your contact information is correct.
Broadcast Lists
You can send messages to a broadcast list using it for Business, which could be a powerful marketing tool. However, there is a limit, you can only send messages to up to 256 contacts.
Statistics
One of the coolest features of the business app is the statistics feature. You will be able to see how many messages were sent, delivered, read, and received based on the analytics they share with you. Access to this kind of data is a great way to create a more successful WhatsApp customer service plan.
Use a Different Phone Number on WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business
One of the greatest advantages is that you can now have two numbers on your phone without needing a dual-sim phone. You do need to have two sim cards since you need to verify your phone number, but you only need to have your “business” number on your phone to verify it. With a number on your regular WhatsApp account and a different one on the WhatsApp Business app, it’s much easier to keep your personal and business messages separate.
Tips for Crafting a Killer WhatsApp Marketing Strategy
Create a Customer Persona
Every marketing strategy ought, to begin with, a customer persona. The more detailed persona you have, the clear marketing communication you will have.
Read More: How to create a customer persona for your brand
Share Relevant Content – for Free
Content marketing works anywhere, including WhatsApp. This is something small businesses often overlook. As with any social media channel, you need great content in order to create a successful WhatsApp marketing campaign.
Read More: Content Marketing
Improve the quality of your customer service
It helps you to be there for your people. If you want to respond quickly or urgently to a customer’s question, it is the perfect tool. People don’t like to wait, especially when they are ready to buy.
Your business can use it to connect with your customers and make them feel valued. Get to know them, ask questions, engage, and use their valuable feedback to improve your products and services.
Create contests and campaigns
Due to its instant messaging feature, it is a great platform for brand-related contests and campaigns. The key to a successful campaign is encouraging your audience to engage with you directly on it.
Collect customer testimonials for social proof
In order to understand the needs of your customers, it’s very important to get customer feedback. While bad reviews help you pinpoint the gaps, great reviews provide social proofing that can get you more business. Using it to collect customer feedback can deliver much better results than email.