WhatsApp, the world-famous instant messaging app, announced on April 14, 2022, a slew of new features planned for its global user base. The most significant of those features, especially for businesses, was “Communities,” which will allow users to create a community based on similar groups. The move is intended to make messaging more direct and allow community admins to have more control and convenience in terms of sending messages to multiple groups with a single click.
Now, where does this move leave businesses in terms of security, convenience, and return on investment (ROI) generation? What exactly can the feature do for companies? Can companies make use of the feature to their advantage, or is it a lost cause? Let’s explore all of this, beginning with a comprehensive understanding of WhatsApp Communities.
What are WhatsApp Communities?
The Communities feature will allow similar WhatsApp groups to be included in a larger group—called a Community—with a custom description and name. Once a community is created, users can create new WhatsApp groups to link to them or directly link with existing WhatsApp groups.
Each Community will have an announcements section that the admin can access for sending messages to all the participant groups in the WhatsApp community. Using the feature, people can stay updated on what the entire Community is up to and organize smaller discussion groups based on their interests.
In a blog post, WhatsApp’s parent company Meta explained,
“At the center of every Community on WhatsApp is a description and menu of groups that people can choose to join. This provides a structure and organization to conversations among larger and more complex groups that allow people to focus on what matters to them.”
It is also worth mentioning that any kind of message attachment can be sent in the Community, including voice messages, doc, mp3, & zip formats, photos, and videos as well. The Communities feature, which WhatsApp began testing on April 14, will be gradually rolled out in the coming months.
Why WhatsApp Communities holds huge potential for businesses
According to the Employee Workplace Technology Survey 2022 from CCS Insight, 31% of employees already use WhatsApp for work purposes. As a result, WhatsApp Communities, which can unite multiple team chats in a single location and offer real-time communication capabilities to employees, is a boon for companies. Also, the feature promises streamlined administration and management of the different groups, making it highly useful, especially when it comes to WhatsApp GDPR and WhatsApp security.
Aside from that, businesses can leverage WhatsApp Communities to drive massive value due to the following benefits:
Secure real-time communication for large scale announcements and personalized group conversations
WhatsApp already guarantees end-to-end encryption of its messages. Going further, WhatsApp Communities will limit the message forwarding capabilities of users, eliminating the risk of spam.
Besides, users can’t search for Communities, meaning that membership to a Community will be invite-only. Another noteworthy aspect that makes WhatsApp Communities a great feature for business users is the limitation on who can send messages to all Community members, leading to a reduction in noise. Only admins can make announcements, and initially, they can do it to several thousand users at the same time.
For communication within teams, Community members can chat in smaller groups created/ approved by the admin. For heightened safety, admins also have the option of removing Community members and unlinking groups.
Scale up your promotional activities
With WhatsApp Communities, businesses can reach an increasingly larger and more global audience. The best part is that the promotion is free and personalized!
Companies can utilize their admin accounts to share links to blogs, YouTube videos, marketing copy, product updates, press releases, links to social media posts, etc., to a huge number of people who are already interested in your company. This can have a major impact on conversion rates, boost visits to your websites, and generate a huge return on investment.
Another excellent way WhatsApp communities can be used to bolster your company image is by addressing user complaints in a single, public, and highly accessible forum.
You can further delight your users by cultivating thriving WhatsApp communities that have users who are experts in your product and can instantly help fellow users of your product with tips, how-to guides, and answers to pertinent questions.
Since you can have Communities that are truly global, your users will be able to get help 24/7/365. Crucially, this level of interaction with your Community can give you deep insights into their needs and perceptions about your company, which will lead to informed decision making for marketing and developing products.
Create a sense of belonging with customers and potential buyers
Businesses can employ WhatsApp Communities to keep their audience and users engaged and loyal, with giveaways, interesting posts, and even product information. By doing so consistently, businesses can increase the trust their audience has in their products and eventually make them paying customers.
The Community feature will further help people in your target audience with similar interests interact with each other and find a sense of belonging, which is the key to maintaining customer loyalty. Having a positive experience with your brand in such a personalized manner will even motivate customers to go on other social media or review sites and leave positive feedback.
Conclusion
Since instant messaging has come to dominate business communication—both internally and with external customers, stakeholders and target audiences—businesses need to be prepared to fully exploit WhatsApp Communities. The new feature has a wealth of potential benefits that far outweigh any issues with mass communication, such as spam and harmful content. Importantly, the feature also comes with enhanced controls that help businesses mitigate these problems.
To make your transition to WhatsApp Communities smooth, TeleMessage has several offerings that will simplify and secure communication compliance on the instant messaging platform for both desktop and mobile devices.
Using TeleMessage’s WhatsApp Archiver, you can comply with all the latest regulations and stay safe with WhatsApp call recordings and the archival of all activity on WhatsApp. Learn more about how the cloud-based solution can keep you safe and compliant without the need for any extra app installation.
