Welcome to the age of WhatsApp Business.

In recent years there have been multiple businesses that have been run primarily on WhatsApp.

One of the most well-known brands being DeepLeague which has been running for more than 5 years now.

With the lockdown here for the long haul, it’s a good time to look at the WhatsApp Business platform, what it can do for you and your business and how to use it.

With 1.5 billion active users per month, as you take your business digital this is one platform you need to utilize.

Created to work just the way WhatsApp works, it’s easy to use with all the additional features that you need to use to help take your business further.

1. The Basics of the WhatsApp Business

As you create an account, WhatsApp business allows you to input your business name, phone number, business description, address, email address, categories, and my personal favorite, the business hours.

For many people, the lockdown has meant working 24/7 and having people having unprecedented access to you.

But with WhatsApp business, you can send an automated away message after working hours letting your customers know that they will be able to message during business hours.

Other automated messages include a greeting message for your customers when they send you a message.

Quick replies are an extremely useful tool to answer quickly about your product or services and the frequently asked questions.

WhatsApp Business allows you to add a message, attach a photo or a short video, create a shortcut, and add up to three keywords that allow you to find the quick reply.

2. Labels

If you are like me and you run or manage multiple businesses then labels are your best friend.

Labels allow you to put up your contacts into multiple different categories.

These can be: Orders, Paid, Payment Pending

Or even different labels according to interest such as the below example.

• Digital Marketing Certificate
• Digital Marketing Diploma
• Social Selling

Labels allow you to keep track of which contacts you need to contact at each stage of your business.

3. Catalog

WhatsApp Business also allows you to add catalogs of your service or products that you set up once and can easily send to your customers or prospectives with just one click.

You can add different prices, descriptions, and even a link to your website relevant pages to facilitate the faster and more convenient sale process.

Additional Features of the WhatsApp Business

1. Verification

Just like Facebook and Instagram, WA Business awards verification to select businesses with a green tick.

This is kept for select businesses and brands with a recognizable brand but definitely something to aspire to as you build your business.

2. Minimal Analytics

Marketing is essential in the marketing world and although the analytics are minimal, WhatsApp does allow you to track the number of messages sent, delivered, received, and those read messages.

3. Video and Messenger Group Chats

As a business, you can also undertake important business video chats and calls at a much cheaper rate with customers and colleagues straight into the platform.

With your customers already on WhatsApp. WhatsApp Business is the next logical step as it makes interacting with the customers easy by providing tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages.

Want to learn more about how digital marketing help businesses thrive across the region and the globe, enroll in one of our digital marketing courses today!