Imagine a small or medium business owner who is looking at ways to grow the business. It is not that a small business has limited options for promoting the business but for promoting events such as limited-time flash sales it would be very important to let the customers know about the event in a timely manner.
The sheer number of customers and the approach of sending messages one by one to the customers can be extremely tedious and time-consuming. It is here that WhatsApp blast messages come to the rescue of businesses. WhatsApp is one of the most widely used social media platforms.
As per the recently available data in public, WhatsApp has more than 2 billion active users across the globe. The number itself is intimidating. There is something for everyone if the right approach is adopted.
Businesses can use the feature of blast messages to reach out to a large customer base in a limited period of time. WhatsApp blast messaging helps the business to grow as a wide target audience can be reached without there being the requirement of contacting every customer on an individual basis.
What is a WhatsApp blast message?
WhatsApp blast message is a powerful feature offered by Meta. It is especially beneficial for businesses using the WhatsApp business API. The main function is that the message can be sent to a large number of people in the contact list in one go.
It provides a convenient platform for businesses to share information related to promotions, deals, and other relevant information with the help of WhatsApp blast messages. It is one of the fastest ways of reaching out to a large number of people. All that is required on the part of the businesses is that they should respect the privacy of the users who are being contacted.
If businesses are able to follow the guidelines and terms of service issued by WhatsApp, they can make good use of the feature of blast messages offered by WhatsApp to grow their business. Businesses also must make sure that they have selected “opt-in” to receive messages from the business. Most importantly, the content sent to the businesses must be relevant and valuable to the customers.
Strategies to grow your business with WhatsApp Blast Messages
Creating exciting and call-to-action-oriented WhatsApp blast messages
Time is a valuable asset at the current time. People have a limited attention span. The attention span of most of the users of social media platforms such as WhatsApp is limited to a few seconds only. It is important to grab the attention of the customers quickly.
Otherwise, they can not be expected to engage with the message delivered to them, no matter the amount of effort that went in creating the message. The blast message must be designed in a manner that the blast message grabs the attention of the target audience right from the start.
There is also a requirement of keeping the message concise and to the point. It is important to tell the customers what is being offered and why they should be caring about it. The use of words in the message such be such that there is maximum use of call-to-action words such as “Hit subscribe button”, and “Hit like now”.
Identification of the target audience
Customers can not be expected to be interested in all the messages they receive. It is important to target the customers in a manner that there is a high level of personalization touch in the messages sent to them for the purpose of promotions. So, it is important that before sending the messages, businesses make an attempt to understand whom they are getting in touch with.
It is important that they make an attempt to understand the needs, preferences, and interests of the target audience. This would not only be beneficial in understanding who would be most interested in the offerings made by the business but also in providing the offerings that are actually liked by the customers.
Personalized content and Customization of blast messages to grow the business
The demands of the customers are evolving every passing day. Businesses should make attempts to understand the demands of the customers to target them in a better way.
Businesses could adopt the strategy of using blast messages to grow the business. One important approach that businesses can take is that they can address the customers with their individual names. This would help in adding a personal touch to the promotion.
This is a really amazing feature of the WhatsApp blast message, especially considering the point that the promotional message is being sent to a large number of recipients.
It is important to mention that the WhatsApp blast message should be capable of being configured in different versions so that different versions of the WhatsApp blast message can be delivered to the required target group depending upon their interest, location, or language.
Use of multimedia
It is important to create engaging content so that customers feel engaged and connected with the business. There are multiple multimedia options available for businesses.
Businesses can use multiple multimedia options such as audio, images, and videos which can be added to make the WhatsApp blast message more attractive to the target audience.
Adding multimedia options such as relevant messages also makes the message more exciting for the target audience. If the WhatsApp blast message is regarding a product, adding an image could be better in keeping the readers engaged.
The addition of a multimedia option such as an image could provide a clear view of the appearance, benefits, and features of the products offered by the business so that it is easier for the recipients of the promotional WhatsApp blast message to visualize the offering presented in the blast message. While images add to the appeal of the message, the addition of videos could be even better.
Promotional videos could be added to the promotional content to make the recipients sign up and make the promotional WhatsApp blast message a memorable one for the recipients. It is important to highlight that it is not always essential to add lengthy promotional videos.
Short videos can also be added to demonstrate a particular product or highlight a particular event to the audience. The addition of videos, short or long, could help in making the WhatsApp blast message stand out and attract the attention of the customers. In recent times, attempts have been made by businesses to make use of GIFs to add to the fun aspect of the promotional message.
Benefits of using WhatsApp blast messages to grow your business
High Opening Rate and Engagement Rate
Creating promotional content is worthwhile only if the target audience at least opens the messages sent to them. The choice of an appropriate platform for promoting content is very important for businesses. It is here that WhatsApp stands out in comparison to other messaging applications. The average opening rate of WhatsApp messages is around ninety-eight percent.
The sheer number can act as a motivation for businesses to select WhatsApp for promoting their products or services. This high average opening rate is significantly higher than other forms of digital communication such as Telegram.
Businesses target engaging the customers to the maximum possible extent. This would ensure that not only interest of the customers is developed in the product but they also end up experiencing the services offered by the business repeatedly. WhatsApp is one platform that is used by multiple customers on a repeated basis.
Most people keep their notifications turned on for WhatsApp messages. This can work to the benefit of the businesses. This would ensure that the target audience is alerted instantly to the WhatsApp blast messages. This increases the engagement of the customers with the business.
Instant Communication
WhatsApp blast messaging provides a quick and direct method for businesses to communicate with their target audience and existing clients.
It is important to note that smartphones usually is at arm’s length of the user. This ensures that when the promotional message is sent, it gets delivered instantly to the smartphones of the audience.
This prompt and quick method of communication ensures that the messages are sent quickly and seen promptly by the target audience. This is a significant improvement over emails and other social media as methods of promotion.
While promotion emails can land in the spam folder, the social media posts shared by the business could end up buried among the feeds. WhatsApp blast messages could help the promotional content of the business gets noticed almost instantly. People prefer using instant methods of communication while communicating with businesses.
As per the results of a study published recently, more than ninety-eight percent of the respondents were of the opinion that the use of text messages for communicating with businesses was better in comparison to other methods of communication such as emails.
Cost Effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness is one of the most important criteria considered by businesses for deciding the appropriate channel of communicating with the target audience. The channel of communication should be such that the business is able to reach a large audience with a limited amount of resources.
Growing the business using WhatsApp bulk SMS is one such cost-effective option. Significant financial investment is not required. WhatsApp business account is required to be purchased.
Investments are also required for messages. There are separate charges for user-initiated messages and business-initiated messages. There are separate charges for user-initiated messages and business-initiated messages.
More importantly, free service communications are also provided per month to businesses using WhatsApp business API account. WhatsApp business account is mostly used by small and medium businesses.
In the case of users, the use of WhatsApp blast messages removes the costs related to printing and other distribution-related costs. Blast messages on WhatsApp is an exciting option for businesses operating with limited budgets.
Conclusion
WhatsApp is one of the most widely used social media platforms in the globe. Some two billion people use it across the globe. The WhatsApp platform has having very high opening rate and engagement rate for the messages circulated on the platform.
These high opening and engagement rates offer an opportunity for businesses to engage the target audience in a limited amount of time. There can be multiple advantages associated with using WhatsApp blast messages for promoting the business for growth.
One of the most significant advantages of using WhatsApp blast messages for promoting the business is the cost-effectiveness associated with using WhatsApp blast messages. The cost-effectiveness part is particularly beneficial for small and medium businesses.
Investments are required only for subscribing to WhatsApp business API and charges related to messages, such as the charges for user-initiated messages and business-initiated messages. Large investments are simply not required to be made. This cost saved could be utilized for other productive purposes.
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