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Effective ways to run a WhatsApp Marketing Campaign for your business
Since the introduction of WhatsApp application, people all over the world have caught up to its user-friendliness. Started with a simple idea to make messaging free to users via the Internet, WhatsApp has now become the mogul of messaging platforms. Over the years, the user base of WhatsApp has fuelled its popularity globally. With over 2 billion active users, WhatsApp has managed to surpass its social media counterpart - Facebook - in terms of user percentage and revenue.
Considering its massive potential, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a little over 19 billion dollars in 2014. As WhatsApp penetrated into global markets, it saw a steep increase in the users. Besides being based in the U.S., WhatsApp’s growth didn’t attract the American users that much. However, it was compensated with the alarming rise in users in Europe, India, and Brazil.
Especially, in India and Brazil, where standard network rates are way higher, WhatsApp was the boon that brought the people close. Brands who have been observing the growth rate of WhatsApp had been scratching their heads. The reason? To tap their target audience through WhatsApp.
But, WhatsApp, specifically, put off all opportunities to come in favour of businesses to market and advertise their products. Until recently, in early 2018, WhatsApp launched it's yet another flagship product - WhatsApp Business app. This app came at a point, especially in India, when small businesses and startups were cropping up. Since growing businesses were desperate to connect with customers at any cost, WhatsApp Business became the answer for them.
With an easy-to-use interface like the WhatsApp application, WhatsApp Business was loaded with additional features specific to the business owner. Businesses have been largely benefited by being able to connect with customers and cater to their queries through close interaction
The entry of WhatsApp Business API
Seeing the success of WhatsApp Business application, big brands also wanted to have a piece of the cake. WhatsApp, realising this demand, launched its WhatsApp Business API application. Unlike WhatsApp Business, WhatsApp Business API is a totally different way of operation. Not your typical download and start messaging kind of application. WhatsApp Business API was created for large companies who wanted to engage with their audience
Although large companies were able to market their products through multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, these platforms didn’t promise the conversion rate. The engagement to conversion rate was quite low. Since their promotions are mainly limited to news feeds and stories, it’s likely that users will scroll through it without paying attention.
WhatsApp Business API proved to be effective because it had many competitive edges over other platforms. The open rates of WhatsApp messages are higher than CTAs through news feed and/or stories. Once customers are engaged, WhatsApp communication is purely interpersonal and minimal. That makes the customer feel less pressurised into buying a product or take a CTA.
This allowed companies to grow and nurture their user base steadily by also communicating their business. Two birds in one stone. But all this can bear fruit with a proper and well laid out marketing strategy and a campaign to work out the strategy.
Running a marketing campaign in WhatsApp
If you’re new to WhatsApp Business and have no idea about running a WhatsApp marketing campaign, don’t worry. It's always a good start for something great. Before diving into the tips for campaigning, let’s dig some history.
Prior to the introduction of WhatsApp or even when it was in use, the go-to marketing channels by brands were Facebook and Google. Both of them are revenue generators predominantly through website ads, in-feed ads, etc. There were obviously a need for extensive and well-thought campaigns to sustain marketing efforts.
However, WhatsApp does not comprise all those fancy features like advertising spaces, in-feed ads etc. The only hope to reach your audience is through the chat room. Companies, without choice, leveraged this constraint into something positive. Let’s take a look into how companies make the best out of WhatsApp through their creative campaigns.
Create a brand persona - Absolut Vodka’s infamous Sven
If you haven’t heard of Sven yet, it’s not too late. Absolut, a Swedish liquor company struggled to attract global audience during their launch of Absolut Unique vodka products in 2013. Not many people in the world knew the brand.
It was right around the time when WhatsApp messaging was catching with the teens and youth. Absolut, in an attempt to be heard far and wide, created an imaginary bouncer called Sven and a WhatsApp account. Sven had two exclusive passes to offer for Absolut Unique’s launch provided people convinced him as to why they deserve the passes.
The engagement that Sven created was nothing short of surprising. As a result, close to 700 people contacted Sven in just three days.
Irrespective of how small your brand is, a strong and engaging brand persona will do wonders for your business.
Provide value through phone database - Delhi police anti-corruption hotline
Nothing beats the stellar act of providing value and engaging people for the same. People will not give their phone numbers without an expected return. This remuneration depends on their interaction with your brand and the ensuing behaviour within that.
The Delhi police is an example of value addition to the public. At the height of corruption and criminal activities, Delhi police created a WhatsApp hotline by promoting the same offline. Since it was a social responsibility, people reported corrupt activities caused by the Delhi cops wherever seen. This immense engagement created a stir and led to charge six policemen for various activities. In return, the police obtained a WhatsApp user database of over 23000 people.
Offer free and relevant content
You might’ve heard of the saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” In some contexts, it is true. Even here, you aren’t offering free content for nothing in return. By providing free content to your audience based on their preferences, there are likely to subscribe to more of your content. Furthermore, they could be the ones creating traffic to your website than external audience.
You can first understand your audience likings through online surveys and start with sending free content periodically.
Be responsive with customer support
A brand is recognized better for its rapport among the audience. Businesses can happen only if communication is two-way and this applies to customer engagement as well. Customers feel the need to come and ask for queries only when the customer support system is agile and responsive.
Think about running a feedback system with a restaurant. People who visit the restaurant take the numbers and leave honest reviews about your restaurant. If your WhatsApp support system is paying heed to the customers and fix upon it, customers will likely leave a bad review.
Make the best use of WhatsApp Marketing tools
WhatsApp, as we know, is suited for interpersonal communication. You need to have a dynamic set of people who know how to handle customer traffic or announcements or anything similar to that. Ultimately, WhatsApp limits your marketing creativity just by helping you create groups or broadcast lists. Which is fine, if you are just sending periodic updates on your brands’ products.
But WhatsApp marketing tools like Bulk WhatsApp sender and WA Panel allows to you schedule messages and automate your replies whenever needed.
WhatsApp marketing campaigns takes more than just creating message templates and scheduling replies. From the above examples, it is clear some brands make the best use of technology even with limited features. Now that WhatsApp has grown to the extent of helping businesses, it should be easy yet challenging to run a WhatsApp marketing campaign.
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