Facebook launched WhatsApp Business API

People around the world use WhatsApp, one of the popular messaging applications, to connect with each other. To expand the user base not limit just the personal conversation, Facebook launched a new service called WhatsApp Business API to help businesses having a message communication with their customers. It allows the companies to send the end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messages to the customers who initiate the chat or request the information. The business can customize the response such as shipping confirmation or appointment reminder to notify the customer as well.

WhatsApp Business API is free of charge if the businesses reply to their customers’ message within 24 hours. If more than 24 hours, the business sides will get charged with the fixed rate which is significantly different in each country. (The range is about $0.01 to $0.09 per message). The time count will restart a 24-hour cycle in each replied message from the customers.

With this service, WhatsApp has become one of the most significant sources for the inbound marketing, and it is also the powerful impact for both businesses and customers.

Reference:

https://marketingland.com/facebook-looks-to-monetize-whatsapp-with-new-business-api-ads-that-open-chats-in-the-messaging-app-245311

Word of the Year

As companies scramble to catch up with the wave of increasing social media usage among their consumers, many marketers are turning to tweets.

Twitter, named the 2009 word of the year by the Global Language Monitor, is proving to be a new way for companies to flex their experimental marketing muscles. When Twitter first became popular, companies were using it to monitor buzz and strengthen customer service. Now, many companies are using it as a core component in their overall marketing campaigns.

In our social media discussion in class, Professor Kagan spoke about the importance of keeping unfinished content in new media to create a dynamic environment where users can experiment and discover new ways to use the media. Twitter appears to have adopted that philosophy, as it is largely letting its users decide what to use it for and how to use it. It recently opened its free application programming interface, and already companies are using it to create their brand applications.

In class we also referenced Amazon's popularity due in large part to the consumer-reviews function, as consumers are more likely to buy products if they see what other consumers think about the products first. Marketers are finding that Twitter is increasingly being used in a similar way, as people are tweeting about what they like and don't like about various brands.

With its low barriers to entry and open-ended "What's happening?" motto, marketers are finding new ways to listen to and engage with their consumers through Twitter.

Read more here:

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i21640ce071c3e4ce8104011a6045e77a