How to Use WhatsApp Stories for Your Small Business

whatsapp for business

It’s hard to imagine a time before WhatsApp. The popular messaging app currently has more than 1.5 billion active users worldwide, with 65 million messages being sent every day.

WhatsApp has become much more than the go-to app for group chats and connecting with friends and family. It has also become a valuable tool for small businesses – with three million companies already using it. Notably, in 2017 WhatsApp introduced WhatsApp Status – its own version of social media stories.

Let’s explore WhatsApp Stories and discover how the tool can benefit your small business.

How can businesses use WhatsApp?

Before we delve into WhatsApp Status, it’s important to know about the various features of WhatsApp Business. In 2018, WhatsApp launched the WhatsApp Business app to help small businesses communicate with their customers more easily.

If you already use a WhatsApp personal account, the business version isn’t all that different. For both versions, in order to engage with users, you must be in possession of their mobile number and have their consent. This usually comes in the form of inviting a user to join a group.

WhatsApp Business is free to use, making it highly-coveted with small businesses around the world. Check out our guide Should You Be Using WhatsApp Business? to learn more about its specific features, including:

  • Business profile and hours
  • Automated messaging
  • Quick replies
  • Chat labels
  • Short URL to start WhatsApp Chat

whatsapp for business

Grow your audience

As a small business, you should always be looking for new ways to grow your audience and stay connected with them. WhatsApp Business is a great tool for scaling your business, especially if your’s meets the following criteria:

  • Your business is small
  • You only need one person responding to customer inquiries
  • Your customer base is comfortable using WhatsApp
  • Customer interactions are relatively simple (i.e., setting an appointment or placing an order) and can take place via text or voice notes)

Evaluating your content

WhatsApp Business allows you to gain insight into user statistics. You can access information about the messages you send, and whether they are delivered, read and received. If you’re looking to track consumer engagement, this is a super handy way to measure the effectiveness of your content and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Background to WhatsApp Stories

Formally known as WhatsApp Status, WhatsApp currently sees 500 million daily stories. As the second-largest story-sharing product in the Facebook Portfolio after Instagram, WhatsApp is rising as an inexpensive way for brands to engage with leads and customers. For brands using WhatsApp Business—including the likes of Netflix, Hellman’s, and Absolut—the Stories feature has proved incredibly effective at engaging with customers.

You can share content to WhatsApp Status from your personal account or from WhatsApp Business. Like other social stories, with Status you share an image or video with your contacts that lasts for 24 hours. This is a great way to engage with your connections on a personal level.

Here are 6 types of content that work well for small businesses on WhatsApp Status:

  1. Compelling visuals
  2. Motivational quotes
  3. Images that promote the going-ons of your business from event flyers to a quick video promoting an upcoming sale
  4. Exclusive access to promotions, or advance notice of sales or competitions.
  5. ‘Behind the scenes’ content – this can be ‘a day in the life’ or for celebrating a new product launch
  6. Informational content, such as an infographic

In many ways, the content that you create for WhatsApp Stories is similar to the content you would create for Instagram Stories. For further inspiration, check out our 50 Engaging Instagram Story Ideas.

Add some personality to your WhatsApp Stories

Nowadays, consumers are seeking authenticity from businesses and brands. Make sure that your brand’s WhatsApp Status content is authentic, while also showing off your brand’s personality.

WhatsApp Status allows you to add text, drawings, doodles and emojis to your stories, which enable you to bring your them to life. While most social platforms are about well-polished and planned-out content, WhatsApp Status allow you to get creative and post the content you want, whenever you want.

Generate more sales with WhatsApp Status

We’ve already covered WhatsApp as a sales funnel in great depth. Simply put, if you’re using WhatsApp Status effectively, you can help to drive desirability, awareness and ultimately, sales. Think of it this way – all it takes is a click from one of your customers, sharing your content with one of their friends. WhatsApp Status is an exceptionally strong tool when it comes to creating viral content.

Overall, WhatsApp Business is becoming a popular and extremely useful tool for running a small business. We highly recommend utilizing WhatsApp Status and all of its features to help grow your brand!