Marketers all over the world have caught on to the popularity of messenger communication today. Messaging applications like WhatsApp have gradually emerged as leading channels for content marketing.
The days of using e-mail marketing and traditional advertisement formats to circulate content are long gone.
The thing with messaging apps like WhatsApp is that in essence, they are a personal messaging platform. They do not really have very evolved business versions like Facebook and Instagram.
Therefore, using content marketing on WhatsApp is not as straightforward as you might think. It will require you to think outside the box.
In this article, we will discuss some ways in which you can optimize messaging apps like WhatsApp for great content marketing.
Designing a content strategy for WhatsApp
Any seasoned marketer is bound to be aware that when it comes to content marketing across various communication channels, it rarely makes sense to use one kind of content strategy across all channels.
For optimal results, you need to develop a content marketing plan that will specifically work for WhatsApp.
These are some questions you may want to ask before you settle on a concept for marketing on WhatsApp:
- Who is this content for? What is my target audience?
- What am I looking to achieve?
- How can I create more value for my customer specifically by using WhatsApp?
- Is my content suitable for WhatsApp?
- Can the content be sent, received and opened without much effort? Is the content shareable? Can it potentially become viral?
In other words, every company should develop its own unique content strategy by taking a good look at their KPIs and adjusting their communication on WhatsApp suitably for their target group.
7 Tips for successful content marketing on WhatsApp
When it comes to marketing on WhatsApp, there are two factors that will decide the success of your content marketing efforts on this platform:
- Shareability
- Attention
People are more likely to share information and links on WhatsApp than any other platform.
Therefore, marketers must ensure that the content designed for WhatsApp is highly shareable.
Photos and videos shared on WhatsApp have literally determined the fate of government elections in some countries.
You must also factor in that people rarely ignore a notification on WhatsApp. It may not be wrong to assume that WhatsApp dominates a user’s attention more than any other app on their phone.
Users are also generally more likely to allow push notifications on WhatsApp than any other application.
Over time, WhatsApp has been able to gain its users’ trust and has occupied a privileged position on most smartphones.
You must design your content to hold the user’s attention.
While it is all about shareability and attention on WhatsApp, here are some tips for marketing through WhatsApp:
1. Pay attention to the timing of your content
This one is a no-brainer yet marketers often lose sight of just how important timing is when it comes to sharing content with their target audience.
Your messages must reach your audience when they are most likely to react to them. The most compelling content can have a less-than-desired effect when it is not timed well.
You must, therefore, think carefully about when you want to send your messages.
Understand when the click and open rates are generally higher among your targeted audience.
For example, recipients may be more likely to act on a message that announces an end-of-season sale at an outlet closer to the weekend, when they would actually have the time to visit the outlet.
2. Do not spam
This is the tricky part. You may start out by sending a few messages.
Encouraged by a favorable response, you may soon find yourself sending out more messages, more often and eventually spamming the receiver.
Or you may send a few messages once in a while. With so many brands reaching out to customers on WhatsApp, the receiver soon fails to recognize you at all.
Therefore, it begs to be asked: how many messages are too many or too few?
Finding the correct balance can be challenging.
Here it helps to take a look at what the other players in the industry are doing and how it has worked for them.
Stick to the standard best practices within your industry.
3. Keep in mind the days for different content
The day of the week is also an important factor to consider, whenever you share content with your audience.
A message announcing a discount or a deal may not be as effective on a Monday, as it would be closer to the weekend, which is when prospective customers would be more likely to shop.
At the same time, a news report shared on WhatsApp may find more readers on a Monday morning, when people are gearing to go out and work through the week.
4. Find the right tone to use with your customer
This was also one of the teething problems that came with marketing through WhatsApp. Think about how you want to talk to your customer.
Do you want the tone to be formal and almost email-like?
However, over time, it has been established that a friendly, informal tone works best more a messaging platform like WhatsApp.
It goes without saying that while an informal tone is recommended, an informal tone does not mean an unprofessional one.
You may also use a few emojis.
Again, use your judgment and do not go overboard.
5. Harness the power of multimedia
WhatsApp supports so many types of multimedia- photos, animations, GIFs, videos, audio, the works! Keep your content interesting.
Get creative with all these options that you have on hand to create attractive content that engages your audience and even leads them to share it.
For example, videos and photos can extract a far more emotional reaction of the receiver than a simple text that lists some facts.
6. Explore WhatsApp marketing tools
The rising popularity of marketing through WhatsApp has also seen the gradual emergence of WhatsApp marketing software and tools.
You may want to consider using them for more streamlined WhatsApp marketing efforts.
For example, the bulk WhatsApp sender tool allows you to send personalized messages to a large number of people at a time.
Instead of broadcasting an impersonal message to a large set of people, you may use such a tool to message many people at a time with a single click while also referring to them by their individual names.
7. Keep your texts short and simple
The length of your message is also very important.
Nobody wants to read along, seemingly unending message, and find themselves searching for details that may interest them from a sea of words. Keep your messages short, but also adequately informative.
In an effort to keep communication by text short, you may find yourself leaving out crucial details that may matter to the customer.
Again, you must try to find a balance between a text that may be too short or too long to decide on a suitable message length- something that is short and effective.
Conclusion
More and more businesses are realizing the power of WhatsApp as a means to grow closer to their customers.
Going by recent success stories in business, there is no denying the fact that once you have an engaged audience on WhatsApp, the opportunities to grow and flourish as a business are immense.
Keeping these few tips in mind might just help you strike the perfect chord with your audience on WhatsApp.
Sawailal Jangid is Digital Marketing Executive and Content Analyst at SoftwareSuggest. He do researches and analyzes software to educate and advice to the business managers to streamline their business. In spare time he loves to do sports activities.
