In the competitive atmosphere of the business industry, using any viable means to promote one's business has become a necessity for survival.
There are platforms that let you manage your business like a professional, such as WhatsApp Business.
While the app is completely free to use, it does have its pros and cons, which I'll detailed later in this post.
As a sole business owner that operate independently online, I've found it hard to do some things due to some limitations I encounter while depending on some online platforms to manage my business.
While I'm not complaining, since most of them are free to use, I wish they can be better. Some are getting better with each update release and that's a good news.
WhatsApp Business was officially launched in 2018 when META realized that most of its users were using its app to conduct business.
It was a step in the right direction for the company, and a win for business owners that relied on it to transact.
The app differs from the standard one in the sense that it offer additional tools that can help businesses to showcase their products.
WhatsApp Business, unlike the standard WhatsApp app, can be freely use to market and manage varieties of product. It has cart, label, catalogue, just to mention few.
For those that are unaware, you can also link WhatsApp Business to META's other platforms like Facebook and Instagram, to connect and interact with your customers across its ecosystem.
Google Business operate much alike, although it is much more powerful.
Sometimes, I do wonder if META motive for creating WhatsApp Business was for it to compete with Google Business (formerly known as Google My Business), but that's just me and my thought.
As a WhatsApp Business user, the app has really helped me to put my product and the service I offer in front of people that were not aware of what I do before.
Just a click on your name or on your profile picture in a chat or in a group chat will lead people directly to everything you offer as a business.
The best part is, it is easy to set up. There are no minimum requirements to use WhatsApp Business; all you need is your phone number, and you are set.
Took me few minutes to set up.
However, there are some limitations that can make it not really worth your time as a sole business owner. For people to get to know you and your business, they must have your number!
Perhaps, one of the major drawback of using WhatsApp Business is that it is tied to your phone number.
People must have your phone number before they can contact you. Not only that, without your phone number, people cannot view your product or the service you provide.
Your ID and username is your phone number.
The only key to access your catalogue is your phone number.
People must have your number saved in their phone before they can reach you. Without your number, you are completely invisible.
Of course, I realize this shortly after setting everything up. Sometimes, in your pursuit to push things forward, you hardly have enough time to pay attention to details. That's what happened to me.
After everything is set and running, I faced my second challenge. I must have my clients number saved on my phone before they can see my status update.
WhatsApp Business is a two-way thing - for people to reach you, and for you to get people to see what you offer, you must both have your number saved in your contact.
As a business, only the numbers saved in your contact can see your status update.
It is not enough for clients to have your number; you must have theirs saved in your phone as well if you want them to see your status update.
To be able to draw people's attention to your business catalogue, they must have your number.
It is a good practice to have a separate number for business apart from your personal number. I suggest you do the same if you have not, especially if you are running an online business.
There are several ways by which people can get to know about your business. These include ads, posters, and web search. If you are looking at the third option as a WhatsApp Business user, you're out of luck.
You cannot get people to see your WhatsApp Business profile directly on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines. Search engines do not index WhatsApp.
The best you can do (like I did) is to create a website and put your WhatsApp Business contact details on it.
Likewise, you can add your website address to your WhatsApp Business profile.
Pros
• There are no requirements
• It is easy to set up
• It is completely free
• Catalogue and label are huge bonus
• Can be linked to Facebook and Instagram
Cons
• Your account is tied to your phone number
• People can't reach you without your number
• Only contacts saved can see your status
• You can't be found on search engines
WhatsApp Business is good for business that wants to start small and then scale up later. It is good for people that are just entering into business and don't have much option.
What's there to complain about? It's completely free.
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