As a business owner, do you know how to use Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp for marketing?
Instant Messaging (IM) is a real-time, text-based, online chat between two or more participants via the internet. Instant messaging allows for an immediate acknowledgement of receipt of the message and reply.
Today there are several instant messaging apps available, the most noticeable among them being Skype Chat, Google Hangout, WhatsApp and Android Messages.
One exciting thing about IM apps is that tech giants invest a lot in instant messaging apps and video chat.
Microsoft owns Skype; Google owns Google Hangout and Android Messages. Facebook has WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. These findings show the importance that these tech giants place on instant messaging apps.
Also, many consumers who use messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook messenger want to contact businesses via social media apps or messaging apps.
The number of users of these instant messaging apps runs into several million. Business owners cannot afford to overlook instant messaging as a marketing channel for their brand.
In this post, I focus on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Why? No particular reason other than these two messaging products or messaging apps seems to be on the mind of many business owners in Nigeria when someone mentions instant messaging.
Use Facebook Messenger as a tool to improve your customer service. Click To TweetSo how can you use these instant messaging apps for marketing? Let’s take them one by one in more detail.
How to Use Facebook Messenger for Marketing
With about 2 billion active users worldwide, people use Facebook Messenger to send text messages, exchange photos, videos, stickers, audio, and files, react to other users’ messages and interact with bots. It also supports voice and video calling.
From all indications, Facebook’s future as a social platform lies in Instant Messaging! They want to create a better platform for messaging. Therefore, it is necessary for business owners and marketers to take advantage of it for our benefit.
You can use Facebook Messenger for marketing in the following ways:
1. Auto-Reply Feature
If you have a Facebook business page, set up Facebook Messenger to auto-reply anyone that sends you a message via your business page when you’re not online.
Then when you get back online, you can reply to your fan’s message at your convenience.
2. Messenger Ads
You can create Facebook ads and direct them to your Facebook Messenger. Creating an avenue for you to converse with consumers on a platform they’re familiar with and comfortable with.
3. Customer Service
With its massive active users worldwide, using Facebook for customer service is a straightforward decision for any brand thinking of being relevant today. We have written extensively on this blog about how to use Facebook for customer service.
4. Find a new Customer
To use Facebook Messenger to find new customers, you must be active on your business page.
Having an active page with your fans engaging and interacting with your post will make them curious about your brand and want more information.
Their curiosity about your brand opens up opportunities for meaningful conversations that could lead to you finding new and loyal customers from within your existing Facebook fan base.
How to Use WhatsApp for Marketing
Famous for being purchased by Facebook for several billions of dollars, WhatsApp is another top-rated instant messaging app. It boasts an active user base of over a billion people worldwide.
WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile messaging app that uses your internet data plan to send and receive messages, so there is no cost.
According to recent reports, WhatsApp intends to charge businesses. They will start charging businesses for sending marketing and customer service messages.
Besides simple text messaging, WhatsApp users can create groups and send each other unlimited images and video and audio media messages.
Here are the three major ways that you can use WhatsApp for marketing. Which of these have you tried? Click To TweetNowadays, it’s as if everyone knows how to use Whatsapp, as we can share unlimited text messages, photos, videos, and audio messages for free. Users can also create and join infinite WhatsApp groups and keep Whatsapp group names.
So how can you use WhatsApp for marketing? Here are the three major ways.
1. Customer Communication
According to CNET, the daily engagement rate of WhatsApp’s monthly users is 70%. With considerable daily engagement, every business owner must master some WhatsApp marketing strategies. It will help to increase your user base, customer engagement, and sales.
With its 70% engagement rate, most of your customers will read your marketing message as soon as they receive it.
However, it’s also crucial for you to realise that your customers expect instant replies to their queries with WhatsApp.
So, ensure you have adequate human and technical resources to handle customer communication via WhatsApp. The last thing you want to do is to make your customers frustrated by answering their questions several hours after they send it.
Sending prompt replies to WhatsApp messages was one challenge I faced when using WhatsApp for our customer service and marketing.
It was exciting but became an additional chore I wasn’t ready to handle.
You can also create a group of interested people for your brand. Use the group chat feature on WhatsApp to reach out to the group to keep them abreast of the latest news about your brand.
2. Customer Support
Since WhatsApp is compatible with desktop devices, you can use it with your other desktop applications to create a robust customer support system.
The more avenues you create for your customers to reach you, the better your chances of winning new customers. Your customers will know that they can get fast customer support.
How To Share Facebook Video To WhatsApp?
Facebook has integrated all the apps it owns together. Therefore, some people want to know how to share a Facebook video to WhatsApp.
Are you one of those looking for a tutorial on how to share a Facebook video to WhatsApp?
Here’s a detailed guide to sharing a Facebook video on WhatsApp on Android.
Follow the guide below to share your Facebook videos with your WhatsApp contacts on an Android mobile device:
Step 1: Open the Facebook app on your Android smartphone to share videos.
Step 2: Browse through the timeline and find the video you want to share with your WhatsApp contacts.
Step 3: Tap on the “More” button at the top right side of the video.
Step 4: Then tap on the “Copy Link” option.
Step 5: Now, open WhatsApp and paste this link into WhatsApp chatbox.
You can also share your Facebook video to your WhatsApp contact by downloading it. Follow the steps below:
Step 1: Right-click on the Facebook video.
Step 2: Click on the “save video as” option.
Step 3: Select the location on your computer where you want to save it.
Step 4: Open WhatsApp and send your downloaded video to your contact.
How to Send from Facebook Messenger to WhatsApp
According to this article, Facebook’s CEO announced that Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram users will now be able to send messages to each other.
The merger of three platforms would allow users to text each other without switching apps.
This article notes that Facebook’s Messenger app was the company’s fastest-growing platform in 2015.
On sending money or payments between apps, according to this article, payments on Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram will fall under Facebook Pay.
But now, there is no way to send video content from Messenger to Whatsapp directly. If you want to send Any Video from Messenger to Whatsapp, you first have to download that video. Only then can you share it over Whatsapp.
To save the messenger video, hold on to the video and tap on the ‘save video’ option.
Over to You
Whether your business is in Lagos, Abuja or any other African city or worldwide, using Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp for marketing is essential.
This article discusses how you can use Facebook and WhatsApp Instant Messaging Apps for marketing. Are you using any of these ways in your marketing?
Alternatively, is there another way you use Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp in your marketing that I have not mentioned? Let me know in the comment section below.
