Social media has become an integral part of our lives. On average, an individual spends at least 2 hours 24 minutes on social media platforms, and this duration is increasing year on year. As our engagement on social media increased day by day, it makes sense for businesses to devise a marketing strategy for social media platforms and see it as a potential channel to reach out to their audience. Of all social media platforms, WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging platforms and has recently stepped into commercial space with the launch of WhatsApp Business.
WhatsApp Business is widely in use by businesses to reach out to their audience on a personal level and build a strong brand presence. WhatsApp Marketing Campaign is one such approach used by businesses to create a buzz among large audiences.
What is a WhatsApp Marketing Campaign?
WhatsApp marketing campaign is the strategy of using different WhatsApp features to optimize reach, generate leads, get conversions, or create a brand presence.
Being the most popular messaging app, WhatsApp acts as a powerful means of connecting, interacting, communicating with potential customers in the most convenient manner possible.
WhatsApp has various incorporated features such as text messaging, audio and video calling, file, image, and contact sharing, making it a viable campaign tool.
Why Businesses need WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Strategy
WhatsApp messaging app is one of the most widely used apps in the world and has over 1.5 bn active users. WhatsApp is also known to have the highest message open rates and 74% of people check their message within 30 seconds of receiving it.
WhatsApp gives businesses the advantage to reach out to people through a platform they are already active on. Through WhatsApp, businesses can connect with a large group of people quickly and engage with them on a personal level.
WhatsApp marketing campaign makes it a two-way communication strategy. This gives businesses higher engagement from people and improves the chances of converting them to customers.
Methods of WhatsApp Marketing Campaign
WhatsApp offers diverse methods for carrying out marketing campaigns. Here are a few of them:
1. WhatsApp Integration with Websites
For any business, the website plays an essential role in sharing vital information with customers. It can also be used to carry out a WhatsApp campaign by integrating a click-to-chat widget. Through this widget, businesses can collect basic information about the customer, such as their name and contact number, and use it to invite them to the WhatsApp campaign.
2. WhatsApp Group Strategy
WhatsApp groups are one of the most widely used features in WhatsApp. Many users join groups related to friends, family, college, office, personal interests. This is the most effective way to build a community of like-minded people. Sharing relevant, useful, and engaging content with users is inevitable to make your WhatsApp campaigns productive. WhatsApp groups can be used to engage with prospects or customers faster and effectively.
3. WhatsApp Automation using API
WhatsApp offers a unique automation feature that allows businesses to WhatsApp messages to a large group of people automatically. This is a feature useful for big businesses that provide the latest updates and promotional messages to customers.
For example, E-commerce websites can use this API integration to update their customers about product status, shipping status and also post promotional messages to target customers.
4. WhatsApp Broadcast List
WhatsApp broadcast feature allows businesses to send messages to multiple contacts at once. By adding contacts to a broadcast list, businesses can send product updates or notifications to the entire list at once. Unlike group messaging, the broadcast feature keeps the identity of every member of the broadcast list hidden from each other.
Large businesses can use this feature to send recommendations or offers to customers and make them feel special.
5. WhatsApp Status Update Strategy
WhatsApp status update is a great way to share information with the entire contact list effortlessly. Businesses can use the status updates feature to promote offers and ask users to take a screenshot of the coupon code to avail the offer in-store. Businesses can generate traffic from WhatsApp by integrating links in status updates.
5 Best Whatsapp Marketing Campaign Strategies
Marketing campaigns are effective only when they are executed well. Using the right marketing strategies can help businesses gain a huge response in no time. Here are some of the best WhatsApp marketing campaign strategies to follow:
1. Create an Engaging Brand Persona for Whatsapp
The first step to create an engaging WhatsApp campaign is to create an engaging brand persona or character that represents your brand with its WhatsApp number. Customers do not like talking to automated machines. Having a real human engage with customers and be available at all times can help create a positive impact on customers.
2. Offer Great Value to build a phone database
In order to bring people to your business and build a strong user base, you as a business have to offer something of value like a promotional discount, free gifts, or similar benefits. By offering something that people might be interested in, businesses can build a strong phone database.
3. Offer Always On Relevant Content for Free
Post building a large phone database, businesses should aim to keep their members engaged with relevant information. Sharing useful information on the group can ensure that customers show involvement and maintain brand loyalty.
4. Deliver Speedy Customer Service
Good customer service can contribute a lot to building a positive brand image. Leaving them hanging on customer queries can cause businesses to lose valuable customers. WhatsApp enables businesses to deliver fast and effective customer service.
5. Consumer Research
Whatsapp has so far been used extensively for research and offers an easy-to-use, inexpensive, and quick platform to run some quick research. Businesses can ask consumers about flavors they like, ask them to choose between options the brand is proposing to launch among other things. Also, WhatsApp is highly relevant for conducting some quick discussion internally within your company.
5 Examples of Effective WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Strategy
Here are some of the best examples of effective WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Strategy:
Hellmann’s
Hellmann’s is a well-known name in mayonnaise brands but it earned a lot more popularity because of its unique campaign ‘WhatsCook’. Through this campaign, Hellmann’s invited people to send them a picture of the ingredients they have in their kitchen on WhatsApp and a chef would suggest them a recipe using Hellmann’s mayonnaise and also guide them with the process. This campaign turned out to be a huge success and got the brand global recognition.
This campaign generated 13,000 sign-ups and it got 99.5% of users’ approval that made it a huge success in Brazil and then was launched in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka created an exclusive party and had all tickets sold out except for two. It then announced that those who wish to join the party would have to come up with a convincing reason and send it to ‘Sven’- a virtual doorman via WhatsApp.
The campaign received a huge response and in just 3 days, Sven received over 600 contacts, generating more than 1000 multimedia content.
BuyaGift
Online gift retailer Buyagift launched a WhatsApp Marketing Campaign for informing its customers about deals and discounts on the site. The company started sending alerts direct to WhatsApp which was a way of prompting immediate responses from customers. Getting a personal message on mobile became more exclusive than an email.
It was a sales-driven campaign that was interesting and more interactive that customers also found highly useful in getting personalized services.
Banco Santander Bank
Banco Santander Bank created Open Bank, a WhatsApp customer service number where you can chat with the bank, post queries, solve issues. In a test pilot done with 17000 customers, 99% of consumers found the service very useful and 98% said they would continue to use it.
Reliance Brands
Reliance Brands, which handles luxury brands like Diesel, Kenneth Cole, and Zegna in India, offered customers the choice of remaining engaged with the brand via Whatsapp. Consumers lapped it up, finding out about promotions, new launches and getting brand information like pictures and video. In some cases, the conversion rate of consumers who were on the brands’ WhatsApp list was as high as 80%.
WhatsApp is a powerful social media tool and has huge capability in establishing a strong bond between brands and customers. WhatsApp can be used in multiple ways to carry out WhatsApp marketing and help businesses get leads and build a strong brand presence. WhatsApp when integrated with SCRM tools can help brands in providing effective customer care services and add value to WhatsApp campaigns.
