Setting Up A Lead Machine Through WhatsApp

WhatsApp is fast emerging as a go-to platform for communication between brands and customers. With over 2 billion daily users and 3 million business users, this app has become a great tool for brands to use as an official communication channel.

But the market for this app’s growth is still vast. The numbers are proof. While C2C users are over a billion, there are only over a couple of million businesses who are using this app as a tool to communicate with their audience. It makes a world of difference when brands start using popular channels to tap into their target market, and the difference can sometimes be bottom line altering.

And it’s even more important to understand what type of businesses this app can help the most. While big brands already have CRM systems and pre-set communication channels in place, smaller brands need to stay in touch with their customers more often. And thus, this platform works best for them.

But even for small businesses, it isn’t enough to give their WhatsApp number in a CTA and wait for messages. You have to be proactive while using the platform.

So what are the ways that businesses can use WhatsApp as a lead machine for their brand? And how can they use customer data to further grow their business? A few simple steps can show you how.

Integrate WhatsApp into your communication everywhere

For small businesses and home-based brands that lack official helplines or call representatives, WhatsApp is the next best thing. Yes, Facebook Messenger is a good option too, but it doesn’t hurt to have multiple channels of communication. And WhatsApp can be more natural as a communication channel than Messenger.

So the first thing you should do is set this app as a primary communication channel on your social channels and redirect all messages to it. Being part of the same app family, it’s very easy to add a WhatsApp button to your Facebook page, and by doing so, you can easily add a WhatsApp button to your Facebook ads. How? Here’s a short tutorial.

First, select a campaign that supports WhatsApp for Business in ads.
One of such campaigns is Messenger, but you can also select Brand Awareness, Reach, Traffic, Engagement, Video Views, and Conversions.

In the Messages and Traffic objective, you get the option to select WhatsApp for Business as your ad’s destination on the ad set level.

Once you select WhatsApp for Business, you’ll have to select your page and move on to creating your audience and ad.

If you don’t have WhatsApp for Business set up on your page, you can always do it when you select your page.

Once done, you can easily set up WhatsApp for Business as your ad’s CTA start receiving messages as your ads begin.

Use broadcasts and stories

WhatsApp broadcasts allow you to send bulk messages to people without creating or managing groups. This can help you forward new offers and discounts to customers who have already bought from you or contacted you for queries.

Stories are yet another popular WhatsApp feature that’s used by over 450 million users across the world, surpassing Snapchat stories.

This means that along with Facebook and Instagram stories, you should also be using WhatsApp stories to attract your audience. This integrated campaign is the only way you can create a 360-degree campaign – especially if you only use Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp as your primary channels. These three channels alone are enough to create qualified leads for your business.

Create exclusive offers and referrals

One strategy most brands miss out on is creating exclusive offers by having people join your WhatsApp broadcast or group. The benefit of such campaigns is simple – you voluntarily get a large customer base on WhatsApp, while also making impactful sales numbers that cost a minimum amount but last longer.

Such campaigns are usually used by email marketers to increase their subscriptions, but as a small business, it’s understandable if you don’t use platforms like Google or email. But then too, so what? The good thing about digital marketing is that it’s adaptable, and thus, you can take successful examples of email marketing or other such case studies, and apply them on the platforms available to you! And the low-cost, high-value ads on digital give you room to experiment – making it a win-win situation.

What are the next steps?

Now that you’ve selected WhatsApp as your main communication channel and are successfully running campaigns while talking to your end-users – does it end here? Absolutely not.

After creating a successful lead generation portal through WhatsApp, you can now collect customer data with ease which you can use to create custom and lookalike audiences on Facebook and run laser-focused ads to reach the same people who have shown interest for your brand. This is a great way to build brand awareness, create engagement among your audience, and generate immense sales – creating a lead and sale machine that result in the growth of your business.