What's Up with WhatsApp Business

For those who think that WhatsApp is just another way of sending text messages or for having family chats about birthday parties, think again!

As if there weren't enough platforms for you to get your head around, along comes WhatsApp for Business!

Don't worry though, this app wont require a great deal of maintenance from you in a regular and consistent way as Instagram and Facebook do but it could prove very useful as a quick and effective communication channel between you and your customers.

How WhatsApp for Business works.

When you download the app from either Google Play store or The App Store you can easily set up and sync your phone to WhatsApp for business. Create your business profile adding as much details as you can, aspects such as your opening hours, location, the industry you're in, anything that will help your customers to engage with you.

You will then have the ability to create a short link and a QR code that you can use to allow your customers and prospects to scan to gain instant access to communicate with you via WhatsApp. Now that may sound a little too much, you might think that you don't want people to be able to send you messages any time they feel like it but actually you do. The key is having your business hours set up and clearly visible and having auto-responder answers to FAQ's set up, which is straightforward to do in the app.

By setting up your auto-messaging and generating auto-responses to FAQ's your customer can feel as though they have an instant connection with you and your business while you carry on working. Audiences are increasingly wanting to personally engage with the businesses they are choosing to spend their money with, especially the local small businesses, and it matters to them that they matter to you. Make them feel special, we all like to feel special!

Don't worry about auto-responses feeling cold and distant, the fact that you've taken the time to set them up is often enough for most customers and if their query is answered, all's good!.

Share live updates

A bit like Facebook and IG stories, WhatsApp for business allows you to share a full screen update with your connections. This could be anything from 'Today's special offer it....' to 'Look at us all set up at the Craft Fair'. These stories are more likely to be seen by your audience as they don't have to go and look for them, they will appear in the WhatsApp notifications.

Catalogue / Store Front

With a little time spent upfront, you can also set up a catalogue in WhatsApp for business allowing your customers to directly view your products (maybe only upload your best sellers or the ones you have on special offer rather than you're whole product range), create a basket and then submit this to your usual online store for how to complete the purchase. At this stage customer can't purchase directly in WhatsApp but I'm sure that will come, it did for Instagram!

Using Facebook Ads to drive WhatsApp traffic

By connecting your WhatsApp for Business to your Facebook Business profile you can also use FB ads to drive traffic to WhatsApp. By selecting the CAT (Call to Action) as being 'WhatsApp' you can send ad responses to WhatsApp rather than anywhere else.

Now this may seem a bit counter intuitive but within WhatsApp for Business you can easily categorise your customers, your conversations and effectively manage your responses. These categories or segments can then be used within your communication strategy as to who to send what marketing messages to. For example, if you have a category called 'Local Customers' who you know live within a certain radius and you're attending an event not far away, you could quickly and simply within WhatsApp for Business send them all a message or a quick video message telling them you'll be at the event and for them to pop on down to stock up.

Give it a minute, it'll make sense!

It's new and we know what happens with new features...

Think IG stories, IG Reels, think FB Groups - when they were new, the platforms treated them like the golden child, as though they do no wrong and anyone using their new feature, their new toy was to be rewarded. It's likely that this will be case with WhatsApp for Business (and any other new features that the platforms develop for us) so it could be beneficial to get on board now and make the most of it while it's still a bit different, a bit daring.

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