WhatsApp for business – should you be there?

WhatsApp for business is a new App.  Although launched in early August (we wrote about how to utilize it a while ago) has really taken the Social Media Marketing world by storm. It is reported that major companies like Uber and Netflix have joined dozens of other major brands in utilizing this long awaited utility.
In the interests of always keeping our valued customers (and potential customers) well informed we thought you may like to know a few interesting facts about its progress. So this article begs the question ‘WhatsApp for business – should you be there?’
Well there’s not a lot of reasons not to be there, but there are of course some costs and conditions. The API lets companies respond to WhatsApp users’ messages for free within 24 hours before being charged a per-message fee – and your business needs to apply to gain access to it. This is after all how WhatsApp will generate some income because the company abandoned their subscription fees a while ago.
So it’s not for free like the social media service, but the coverage is impressive! According to reports, WhatsApp has 1.5 billion users worldwide. This makes it one of the most popular mobile apps in the world together with owner Facebook and other platforms it owns like Messenger and Instagram.
With a massive user base like that WhatsApp is seen as a potentially powerful communications platform between businesses and customers.
Therefore, there is no question that it’s a great place to be and the smaller businessman will be happy to know that although the WhatsApp business API is geared at larger businesses, smaller businesses have access to it and with that kind of volume it is fast becoming one of the preferred social Media Marketing platforms to be placing your ad spend.
That being said, it should also be noted though that WhatsApp and Facebook are facing growing competition from companies like Apple with other excellent similar apps like ‘Business chat’ for I-phone users!
So, it’s never just cut and dry and there are always many choices. Whatever choices you are making, Social Media Marketing is essentially about having a great overall marketing strategy.
We write these articles to assist you to make better choices and we hope this one on ‘WhatsApp for business – should you be there?’ has been helpful, but we also strongly advise that you contact us to talk about you best options.
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