I started blogging on this website in February 2019. With zero impact from SEO, SMM, or any fancy terms, I adopted Whatsapp marketing to get my initial readers.
If you landed on this page from our Whatsapp group, you are awesome! ❤
And if you are connected to me for more than 1 year, thanks for staying 🙂
And those who reply to me privately on my posts on the group, you are too special 🥰
Do you remember how I started with a broadcast list in 2019? You received my updates in your personal chat window and still, you never complained about it. Thanks for bearing with me and becoming initial support.
But how does Whatsapp Marketing affects businesses?
We recently completed 2 years of Whatsapp marketing. I started sending daily updates on 28th March 2019. Since then, we never missed a single day. Yes, that’s the consistency. 🔥
Fast forward to 2021, Whatsapp marketing doesn’t even form 10% of the total traffic now but we have a family of 1000+ Whatsapp members.
Every night, this is what happens!
PS: In case you have not joined any of the groups, I am linking both the groups at the end. Kindly join if you are interested.
This is the best strategy for any business.
First of all, Whatsapp members are the most loyal people in any community. Secondly, engagement from the replies of such members is priceless. It builds a strong connection.
Mind you, I never used those automation tools. I am purely talking about organic and genuine growth.
If you are just starting a blog or business, I would say that Whatsapp marketing is the easiest way to start.
Pros of Whatsapp Marketing
1] Highest Open Rates
If you are a marketer then I am sure that you are aware of open rates. It’s the percentage rate at which emails or messages are opened.
For email marketing, the average open rate is 15-25% and anything above that is great. However, I get an 85-95% open rate for my Whatsapp messages and that’s insane.
2] Easiest Reach
It’s very obvious to get such a high number of open rates because almost everyone uses Whatsapp. According to Statista, there are more than 340 million daily active users of Whatsapp in India.
Do I need to mention that Whatsapp is the most frequently used app on almost everyone’s phone?
People might not check emails or social media accounts in a day but missing Whatsapp is almost impossible.
That’s where you, as a business, reach your audience.
3] Direct bonding with loyal audience
As soon as I post daily tech news, there are a bunch of people who reply to me privately. It’s actually good to discuss stuff with similar-minded people.
Not only people interact with you but also ask out for help when they need something in your industry. It creates a strong brand in the subconscious of your members.
For instance, I can’t even count the number of such messages that I get on a regular basis. It eventually helps me with my affiliate business or digital marketing services.
In short, building a strong brand and establishing your expertise in an industry is important.
4] No regulations till now
Unlike email marketing, Whatsapp has no regulations as of now. You don’t have to fear that your messages will not reach your subscribers because they landed in the spam folder or promotional folder.
I don’t predict that this is never going to change. I am sure that Whatsapp will make some changes as marketing gets mainstream here. But it’s important to change your strategies with time.
With the recent policies of Whatsapp, I am sure it is going to hamper Whatsapp marketers. So it is important to have an omnichannel approach for your business.
Don’t rely on a single channel. Even I do email marketing and using all channels possible. In fact, I am a person who tested out 19+ online platforms for my marketing.
5] Easy Opt-in
If you notice, I placed Whatsapp buttons on all of my blogs and at several spots on my website. It’s a one-click opt-in.
No need to fill your details. Just hit the button and you are in.
That has some disadvantages as well but let’s discuss them later on this blog.
This channel has its own disadvantages
1] No Direct SEO Benefit
Since I am an SEO person, I always check the metrics that affect the results. However, Whatsapp is simply not recognized by Google or any search engine. It just counts as a direct visitor.
There are ways to track your Whatsapp campaigns but it adds no value.
The only benefit you will get – loyal users reading your posts will increase your session time and that gives an indication that your posts are good.
Unlike Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest, Whatsapp adds no influence on SEO ranking directly.
2] Imposters and non-serious people might create a mess
Since the entry barrier of opting-in is negligible, we end up getting several non-serious people.
As soon as they join your group, they will exit. This is a good point as well. Such members were never your potential customers. So it’s always good to ignore.
From my experience, new groups are unstable. Many people join and leave. As the group grows older, you are left with a bunch of loyal subscribers and they are your real supporters.
So, a group is like a wine. Older the better! 😉
Another issue arises when some imposters will try to personally message other members. Make sure that you remove such people as soon as you get complaints from other members.
Multiple reports from several members automatically leads to suspension of their Whatsapp account.
3] Whatsapp is too personal
Not everyone is comfortable with sharing Whatsapp groups with hundreds of people or getting regular updates on a particular business. It’s fine.
I have made a separate broadcast list for such people. That’s “Pritesh Pawar Digital #1” 🙂
My Personal Tips For Whatsapp Marketing
If you are a new blogger or a small business owner who is just starting with online marketing then I would say that no option is better than Whatsapp. Follow these tips and you will be good with your strategies.
1] Consistency is the King
I started in March 2019 and I proudly say that I never missed any update. I would do anything but show up to my subscribers because they are expecting something from me.
Even big marketers who tried to use this strategy but failed at it. Because consistency is underrated.
2] No Spamming
Avoid sending stupid links and unrelated messages on your groups or broadcast lists. It loses your credibility. Strictly stick to your original purpose.
If you happen to change your model or business, make a separate list for that.
3] Value first, Promotion later
I can’t tell my subscribers to buy my products right on the first day. Make sure that you deliver value first.
Give a reason to your subscribers to stay with you in long term. Create a bonding as a priority.
4] Avoid Keeping an Open Group
Unless you are forming a community or group of similar-minded people, avoid opening a group for everyone to message. Keep your settings to admin-only mode.
Why?
First of all, many people join and spam. In my 2 years of Whatsapp marketing experience, I have seen several people miserably failing here. Even large brands failed here.
In fact, we had an awesome Quora community but it got attacked by spammers from Pakistan. I have explained the complete story on one of my Quora answers. You can check the link and read the whole story.
No doubt you had a great intent. But it takes too much efforts and filtering.
Secondly, your competitors might try to feast on your audience. You would not want that. Genuine followers anyway message you personally.
5] Never use bots or automation tools
My Whatsapp business account is suspended because I used an in-built Whatsapp bot. Don’t commit the same mistake. Whatsapp is strict with its policies.
If I sum up the whole strategy of Whatsapp marketing in one line – give value, solve problems and sell your products.
That’s the whole game.
Why Not Telegram Channel?
I know many of you might be wondering why I don’t make a Telegram channel instead of maintaining so many groups?
Well, I tried. It failed. For obvious reasons.
Some niches and businesses work well on Telegram but it’s still not a effective channel. There are several reasons.
- We all know why people use Telegram. Most of the users join hundreds of Telegram channels and mute them. So, my channels would be another addition to the collection of muted channels. I don’t want that. I want people to consume my content.
- I don’t want numbers. I want a quality audience. People who would DM me to discuss stuff or ask for recommendations. Handling thousands of people on Telegram would be overwhelming for me.
- Do I need to tell you that Whatsapp is the closest app to reach people? 😉
If I post some update, there are high chances that almost all of them will view my message within the next 5 hours. - Finally, not everyone is using Telegram. It’s mostly used by Generation Z while I target Millenials and Generation X.
These are some major reasons why I use Whatsapp 🙂
Currently, we have 2 types of groups on Whatsapp:
Pritesh Pawar Digital = All updates from priteshpawar.com + Daily News about Tech, Gadgets & Tech industry
Chopping Tech Startups = All updates from choppingtech.com + Daily News about Tech Startups
