Who Really Uses Whatsapp Marketing

WhatsApp! A cool messaging service with more than 5 million users. Wouldn't that sound great if you are in marketing? 5 Million users to spam with ads! I am not kidding. With whatsapp you got some real users to your audience list. As it uses personal phone numbers to identify individuals, no bot could have an account but for a marketer who wants a schedule post periodically at rhythmic intervals. All right now Who really uses WhatsApp marketing? I am not talking about business which are curious to send out broadcast messages but about people who actually manage those Whatsapp broadcast messages stead of those businesses who don't want their hands wet.

I really wonder who really uses the Whatsapp Marketing? With few incidents in this week, I feel some kind of new comers who failed marketing exams took up the job for the business. Really laughed out loud at the manner in which they did WhatsApp marketing.

See Also: Whatsapp Marketing Strategy

I really fought my dilemma either to freak out or laugh at those WhatsApp Marketers! Some kind of stupid thing which no marketing strategist would have preferred for any product! 

To my fellow marketer who use WhatsApp as a platform to get things done. Take this, never do what was done by this amateur Whatsapp marketers. Never!

To be make it clear, even the dummies involved in the marketing wouldn't have preferred this method. All right, now show time for the blunder which I witness myself in my Whatsapp account.

WhatsApp Marketing

Creating Group For Marketing: The dumbest idea followed by the marketer was to 'Create a Whatsapp group for particular localities'. By adding all the known numbers to the group, he has made mocked himself in public. 

First rule of marketing, never embarrass yourself. The reason is simple, there are others to embarrass you in public. So at least avoid embarrassing yourself my doing such a blunder.

The fellow who started this 'WhatsApp Marketing 5040TN' was not selling any product but making ads for himself and his business of Whatsapp Marketing. But you may wonder, he may not be the first to start such a business in your locality! Yet, this entity is the first to start a separate group for marketing. Really wonder what made them to try this trick!

Welcome Message: Awful to watch that! The one started the group posted a welcome message. It was too much revealing. Remember, a car buyer need to know only about accelerator, clutch, brake and gears. The buyer really do not care about the internal workings. But this marketer has reveal what this group comprised of. But stating the telecom company name in the welcome message, he has made clear that some one in the telecom company is involved in making the numbers public.

Though, the agreement between the telecom companies and individual users might allow telecom operators to divulge information to third parties, it will be considered unethical and unprofessional to do so. Not to the blame the telecoms for making the numbers public. It might have been some insider job to get the work done. For corruption has breached the corporate firewalls? I guess so.

To add insult to the injury, the marketer is ready to negotiate a deal over the personal information collected from the telecos. By stating the telecom companies name, the Whatsapp marketer appears like the one who has authority to trade on information.

See also: Flipkart quits Airtel Zero

Privacy Matters?

Right To Privacy: Even WhatsApp desist from marketing or advertisement as policy document states so. But with increasing penetration of smartphones and tablets, the user base of WhatsApp increases exponentially until last man on the Earth on day will have Smartphone with WhatsApp installed. 

Does this type of messages hurts privacy? This would be debate without an end. So starting it right now will not end this blog post. But as a personal opinion this hurts WhatsApp user privacy. As marketer, we don't own licence to stalk at someone's home. So the personal device!

By creating a WhatsApp group, the marketer not only showed up all the mobile numbers which he had but would have created a bad impression on about his marketing co. I left the group within 2 minutes of creation. By then, 21 other users have left the group. Most positively with bad impression upon the marketer who created the group. As most users feel insecure in a group where most of them are completely strangers to each other. This is one of the important factor play the game of marketing messages in groups.

Note: I did not black out the marketer number. If anybody feel to block this market can do at there own wish. I do not recommend any action to done right now. In other words, your account, your wish.

Setting WhatsApp Marketing Right: Now, not only to this particular marketer, but to all, it would be always wise to use 'Broadcast messages' than the group messages. For the broadcast messages would appear personal than a public announcement in groups. Whatsapp or not, as long as internet lives, spammers live. So to be look like a genuine marketer, create 'broadcast list' than groups where everybody would run away. 

Moreover, people, who are not interested in your advertisement, will ignore simply if it look as a personal message. I am not totally against Marketing but against marketer who lack strategy to market. Marketing is not stalking with products or services. It is novel thing getting users and products/service personal. Building relationship between the product/service and consumer never should be irritant to both the business and consumers.

Comment your opinions on WhatsApp marketing. Found interesting, share on facebook or

Whatsapp Marketing: New Marketing Strategy

How many of you reading this post is without smartphone? I would like to know what is your popular and most used personal messenger! If was early 2000, I would presume Blackberry messenger is the most used personal messenger which topped the list of best personal messenger in smartphone. That was the time when word Smartphone would only mean Blackberry or HTC device. Rarely Microsoft Window found itself in few pockets. But such devices are often seen with either a business executive or top executive of any organisation. The aim was to make sure that vital assets of the company or organisation are in the boundaries of the corporate even off the work.

Now, the definition of smartphone was redefined. The Advent of Android OS has reached wide range of world population than expected. With Apple iPhone, Google Android devices vied for the market share, the then popular Blackberry Smartphones were sidelined by the corporate. The Apple and Google raced against each other to attract large user base. Being Open Source, Android gained popularity. Than being a premium device, Android catered to the need of budget smartphone specification which augmented the Android User than the competitors such as Apple, RIM, Windows, Symbian.

See also: Who uses Whatsapp Marketing?

But the penetration of Smartphones has brought the pleasure of personal messenger to all its users without any discrimination either they work for corporate or doing the homework. The smartphones have provided unlimited choice when comes to selecting software and service compared to the traditional cell phones which are limited to SMS, MMS and voice calls. The Technology has brought 3G, 4G which added value to messenger service unlike the conservative data packs of early 2000. 

Why Whatsapp so Popular?

If we have to install a most popular and well used messenger service into our smartphone, it would be 'Whatsapp'. The popularity was Whatsapp is well known among any smartphone user. Whoever don't have Whatsapp are frowned by their colleagues or business partners.  The very success of the Messenger Service is due its policy towards end-users. Whatsapp had policy not to display or provide with pop-ups to the end-user and to provide clean and neat intelligible interface unlike other free application available on the store which are supported by ads for revenue. 

Though, Whatsapp free service is limited to first year, it charges about $1 or so per year to avail the service for the subsequent year. Yet, users find no fault with the service. An application which understands requirements of end-user find its place in the podium of the market. To our surprise, many users are willing to pay advance subscription for the subsequent year use of the world's most popular Smartphone Messaging Service. It had surpassed many other messenger. Even Google's Hangout opined to have less popularity than Whatsapp when it comes to Smartphones.

Whatsapp Marketing: A New Way To Find Customers

For World's Most Popular Messenger, one must have register one's phone number with Whatsapp. Once done, we can start directly pinging our friends and family or the one who is in our contact list. The idea of Group messaging help us connect with friends and families. We can have light moment virtually through Internet without any hindrance. Whatsapp identify us using our phone numbers. So anyone who posses our phone number could contact us through the Whatsapp service. It will open for all whoever have your number and whatsapp installed on smartphone to contact you at their will. So do the marketing companies have started campaigns to market product through Whatsapp. 

Worst part is marketing companies which have previously collected large list of mined data regarding targeted users have now vast array of phone numbers at its disposal. With Whatsapp service and unlimited WiFi connection from Internet Service Providers (ISP), marketing through whatsapp is walk in the park. Either you like or not, they will be sending queue of messages. 

The traditional SMS marketing was limited by the telecom operators and controlled by the regulating agencies of the concerned country. But with Whatsapp which uses internet as the medium of communication is unregulated. If it to be regulated, it must be done either by Facebook or the Regulating Agencies of State. In this case, both are nonviable options as Facebook regulation would spark contention over privacy issues while state regulation will cause concerns over net neutrality.

Whatsapp policy was not to store messages that are through its servers. And it does not monitor activities of its users. With huge broadcast list, Ad companies send unlimited messages for small annual subscription fee.

Economical Marketing:

It is economical and innovative strategy to use Whatsapp to advertise business and product. Some really benefited from the marketing. With less than $2, you can make your product ad reach thousands of users. It is most viable than the SMS marketing. Whatsapp marketers charge pennies for 1000 messages while traditional SMS marketing could escalate cost. 

Moreover, Whatsapp is not limited by territorial boundary of state unlike SMS or MMS. This strategy was availed by email marketers which is a cheap option if one decides to market beyond one's own state boundary. So if your target is local or international audience, the charge for using the service remains same irrespective of the locality. 

The era of smartphone has brought world under single roof. Message across the seas are free and reliable considering the advancement of technology and abundant bandwidth under sea Fiber optic cables. For marketers, it is a boon. And with Whatsapp web, composing and drafting a marketing message make simple.

Drawbacks:

Though, Whatsapp is viable and economical marketing option for those experienced and new start-up Ad agency, it is not free from defects. With Facebook and founders of the Whatsapp have turned against advertisements, such ad free experience is taken away by these marketers. 

Blocking Ads in Whatsapp:  

Those unsolicited message if you find annoying, user have option to block those numbers from which such ads were sent by the Whatsapp marketers. As user don't have other known mechanism to stop ads being send from unknown numbers, it is a make shift solution to stop receiving ad messages from known advertisers phone number. Further, users can block any other numbers from which user receive messages.