To utilize WhatsApp for brand presence, you have to think about your goals, pick the right WhatsApp provider, send personalized messages, and automate your interactions.
Since the internet became publicly available and increased digitalization, businesses have begun shifting to an online platform to provide their offerings. Hundreds, if not thousands, of e-commerce brands, have come into existence, and new ones are popping up every day.
If you are also an online store, you need to find a way to stand apart from these competitors. Traditional channels like SMS and email newsletters can help you engage with customers but you need something different to completely stand out from the crowd.
With multiple avenues present to make yourself different, the answer relies on establishing an online presence for your business, where customers can immediately distinguish between you and your competitors.
To do that, you will have to create a solid brand identity across multiple channels including social media sites, communication apps, and the organic search engine results page. However, one of the channels that is somewhat overlooked by many brands is WhatsApp.
WhatsApp might be a part of most of your outreach and marketing initiatives but its brand-building capabilities are, to some extent, hidden.
That is why, in this blog post, I will take an in-depth look at how you can utilize this amazing communication channel to create a brand presence to drive long-term business success.
So, without wasting any time, let’s get started!
In simpler terms, building a presence for your brand on WhatsApp revolves around leveraging group marketing or chatting features to establish a loyal customer base.
In addition to that, since WhatsApp comes in multiple formats, like WhatsApp Business App, WhatsApp Web, and WhatsApp Business API, you need to figure out which one you have to utilize to build a presence for yourself.
Now you might think, “Why does it matter which form of WhatsApp Business I use”?
Although all of them are a component of the WhatsApp Business Platform, they all have unique features that allow you to achieve different things. Below are some key features of WhatsApp Business App and WhatsApp Business API:
WhatsApp Business App is a free-to-use communication app that is similar to WhatsApp Messenger but developed for businesses and includes additional features to let you engage customers in a better way.
The Business App is a quick way to engage customers if you are a small business or a startup with a limited number of contacts. Additionally, the WhatsApp Business App allows you to set up basic automation, such as away messages, prebuilt messaging templates, and prompt responses.
Having said that, if you are looking for robust outreach features to create a solid brand presence, the app has multiple restrictions to limit your efforts. This is why, to help you make the most of WhatsApp outreach, you have to use the WhatsApp Business API.
WhatsApp Business API is the bigger and better version of the WhatsApp Business App that comes with advanced messaging features and dynamic automation capabilities to help you make a name for your business.
The first big upgrade you get with the API is the ability to engage thousands of contacts at the same time, build powerful chatbots, and provide timely customer support. Plus, unlike the app which can be used on a single device, you can integrate it with a platform that can be accessed on various devices.
WhatsApp API is also a great option if you want to run personalized promotional messages. This way, you can expand your reach while increasing the chances of getting sales.
When it comes to WhatsApp, there are numerous benefits of utilizing it as a channel to establish standing for your brand. Having said that, below are some of the reasons why you should consider WhatsApp for expanding your reach and scaling your marketing efforts.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging channel, used by billions of people around the world. This fact gives you the ability to establish a global presence for your business. By running these international outreach campaigns, you can ensure that your brand is not only recognized but also give you access to previously untapped markets for better opportunities.
What makes WhatsApp different from other channels is its quick engagement. Have you ever received a WhatsApp message and not instantly opened it to see what it contains? Yes, me neither, and so is the case with your audience.
This is why, WhatsApp boasts an outstanding engagement rate. For instance, it has an amazing 98% open rate. When comparing it to other channels like email with engagement rates ranging from 20-30%, WhatsApp is clearly a superior platform.
Pair that with the real-time engagement aspect of WhatsApp, and you get the perfect recipe to build a brand preference.
Gone are the days when you can send random messages containing equally random products and hope to get a sale. If you try to do that today, you might be on your way to get your account suspended or maybe banned.
Customers these days want tailored messaging, one that is relevant and includes targeted marketing offers. Also, WhatsApp lets you interact with customers in a 1:1 setting. These kinds of features enable you to create trusted relationships for long-term business success.
Although WhatsApp is a complete channel in itself, you still need to connect with additional platforms to streamline your engagement. By utilizing the WhatsApp Business API, you can link WhatsApp with your existing infrastructure without any hassle.
Furthermore, if you want to incorporate a multichannel messaging strategy, you can connect WhatsApp with your current marketing system or build a WhatsApp CRM to manage your initiatives from a single solution.
By now, you might have understood the importance of WhatsApp and how it can let you make your business completely stand apart from your competitors. That being said, let’s see some of the ways to leverage WhatsApp to do the same.
As is the case with any kind of process, before you can think about creating a foundation for your business, you will need a plan. Without a solid roadmap, you have a higher chance of wasting your resources or not maximizing your ROI.
That is why, you have to determine your goals beforehand prior to implementing them in real-time. These goals can vary depending on your business and the industry you operate in. For example, if you are an online business, you have to ask yourself what it is that you want to achieve if you were a well-known brand.
Once you have the answer to that question, you have to define the metrics you need to measure to ensure you are on the right track. Once again, depending on your goal your metrics may vary. However, if you want to create a presence for your brand, you have to track key engagement metrics to figure out how your audience interacts with your outreach. These include:
WhatsApp Business API allows you to monitor all the essential engagement KPIs you need to run effective outreach campaigns. You can utilize this data to modify your messages or find the right match using A/B testing for prolonged success.
After you have got a clear idea of the end goal, next comes figuring out your audience. Identifying aspects like your audience’s interests, preferences, and how active they are on WhatsApp will allow you to tailor your messaging the right way.
For example, if you found out that your customers like to get personalized offers on WhatsApp, then sending them relevant marketing messages would be a great way to get your brand across and also boost the likelihood of getting conversions.
You can only do this if you have a solid idea of who your customers are. So, start by finding out:
These are some of the usual aspects that you should be aware of about your customer base. In order to get this information, you can conduct surveys or ask for these basic details when a new user signs up for your website/ platform.
Now comes the most important step, deciding on which form of the WhatsApp Business Platform you want to use.
For small businesses or startups, WhatsApp Business App can be a go-to choice. It is free of cost and does not require much technical knowledge to get started quickly. You are limited with the features you can access with it though.
On the other hand, if you want to access advanced messaging, automation, and marketing features of WhatsApp, you can opt to go for the WhatsApp Business API.
Since the API lacks any front-end support, you will have to partner up with a WhatsApp API provider that can offer you the required capabilities to expand your reach using WhatsApp. With so many solutions present in the market, it can be a difficult task to find out which one works best for you.
That being said, if you want a single engagement software that includes dynamic automation and an in-built customer data platform, then Zixflow is the one designed for you. With Zixflow’s communication capabilities, you can interact with thousands of contacts at once over not only WhatsApp but also via RCS, SMS, and email.
It is quite simple to get started with Zixflow to kickstart your WhatsApp outreach. Just add a WhatsApp account to the system, import contacts, create a messaging template, and effectively engage your audience. Here is a video to walk you through the steps of linking your WhatsApp account with Zixflow:
Now you have all the required technical aspects in place, it’s time to finally start building a customer base using WhatsApp. Again, there are a couple of ways to do that. First, you can create a WhatsApp Group and add all of your contacts to engage them at the same time. The groups allow members to interact with each other, enabling you to create a strong customer base where the participants know each other.
Another way to build a community on WhatsApp is to leverage WhatsApp Channels. Using these channels, you can keep your customers in the loop with one-way communication to update them about recent news, product launches, or your company updates.
The difference between a WhatsApp Group and WhatsApp Channel is that the participants can message each other or you within a group chat but this is not the case with a channel. In a WhatsApp Channel, only you can send the message and the members can react to it using emojis.
Lastly, you have the option of good old-fashioned private messaging. By adding all the contact numbers in the WhatsApp API provider, you can send bulk messages to connect with each customer individually. This requires a higher degree of personalization as what might be interesting for one user might not be so for the other.
That’s why, it’s better to segment your audience into smaller groups and run outreach campaigns for enhanced communication. If you are using Zixflow, you can build custom lists depending on your needs and perform list-wide actions from a single button.
By choosing the prebuilt list in the campaign editor, you have the ability to interact with all the contacts simultaneously without needing to manually reach out to them separately.
Continuous messaging and constant follow-ups are crucial for making your brand known across your customer base. However, you cannot be available 24/7 to respond to customer queries or send follow-ups manually.
WhatsApp chatbots are a great way to automate your customer interactions, giving you the capability to resolve common issues without needing any human intervention. Additionally, you can send welcome messages to new users automatically after they sign up for your website or initiate a conversation with you over WhatsApp.
Once again, to let you streamline your engagement, Zixflow comes with a powerful automation builder that you can use to set up a WhatsApp chatbot for seamless communication. This chatbot can be designed without requiring any coding skills, and you can put in place custom triggers to send predetermined messages.
The process of building a chatbot is super easy. Don't believe me? Here is a video to prove it to you:
A chatbot can help you shorten your response time, provide meaningful information to your customers, and reduce the workload on your support teams.
No matter whether you are an online retailer, physical store, or a mix of the two, having a foundation and presence business can let you scale your business like never before.
When you pair that factor with the expansive user base of WhatsApp, then you have a solid platform that can help you reach out to customers all over the world, and that too, without the hassle of switching between multiple channels.
So, craft a roadmap for your brand awareness efforts, decide on your goals, design the outreach strategy, and start sending messages at scale. Sending branded messages can greatly increase your brand’s presence and get your company’s name across the industry.
Having said that, you will need the right platform to provide you with the correct tools so you can go about running your WhatsApp marketing campaigns smoothly. Zixflow understands the necessity of having a unified solution and how difficult it can be to jump across multiple platforms to manage your operations.
You can start by signing up for a free 7-day trial to get firsthand experience of the platform. You will not need another solution for handling your outreach communications.