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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

At its essence, marketing is all about your audience. Peter Drucker, one of the 20th century’s most influential thinkers on the subject of corporate management, once said: 

The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.

The marketing approach you take can vary widely depending on many factors, but your marketing strategy largely depends on whether you are marketing to a B2B or B2C audience. Here, we’ll unpack what you should know specifically about B2B marketing.

How is B2B marketing different from B2C marketing?

Like every other business-related topic, marketing comes with its own alphabet soup of acronyms, and “B2B” is one of them. What does B2B mean? B2B stands for “business to business.” So, B2B marketing refers to business-to-business marketing – any strategy or marketing campaign that one business or organization aims toward another business or organization. Similarly, B2B sales are sales made from one business to another business. 

B2B marketing definition: any marketing strategy that one business uses to target another business.

Companies that purchase services or products from other companies (For instance, think of SaaS companies that sell their  subscriptions to large corporations, or a small parts manufacturer that sells parts for use in manufacturing to a larger manufacturer.)

Non-profits or for-profit institutions like schools or charitable organizations that purchase products or services from other companies

Government agencies that purchase products or services from private companies

Wholesalers that purchase products for resale

Whether you are one of millions of small businesses that cater to other businesses or a large B2B enterprise, B2B marketing is important for building brand awareness, for differentiating your business from that of your competitors, and for lead generation that results in sales. 

B2B marketing, when done correctly, keeps your business top of mind for customers and helps you maintain a long-standing conversation with the companies you are cultivating as potential customers. This is particularly important for B2B companies because the sales cycle for B2B can often be much longer than the typical sales cycle for a B2C purchase. That means that there are more opportunities for potential customers to be distracted by your competitors in a B2B environment. Maintaining a strong relationship with your audience through good B2B marketing strategies will keep them focused in the right direction – toward your product or service.

Business to business marketing has grown in importance, as the B2B buyer journey has evolved over the years to a more research-intensive approach. According to Gartner, 67% of a B2B buyer group’s time is spent on research and internal discussions, and only 17% is spent with potential suppliers. With this change in customer behavior, providing B2B marketing materials that inform and educate potential prospects attracts more leads and results in better ROI for marketing campaigns. (Be sure to check out these 20 Brilliant B2B Marketing and Digital Business Stats and Facts to read more about how the B2B buyer journey is changing.)

Just how does B2B marketing differ from B2C marketing? These are the main ways:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>&nbsp;</th>
<th>B2B Marketing</th>
<th>B2C Marketing</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Target Audience</td>
<td>Small group of decision makers in target businesses</td>
<td>Large and broad customer base</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Buyer Motivation</td>
<td>Logic</td>
<td>Emotion</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Content Needs</td>
<td>Education</td>
<td>Entertainment</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sales Cycle</td>
<td>Potentially lengthy</td>
<td>Fairly short</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Decision-Making Process</td>
<td>Multiple stakeholders and steps</td>
<td>Single stakeholder</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The main difference is the target audience, of course. Business-to-business marketers have businesses or organizations as customers and buyers, and their target audience is a small group of decision-makers within those organizations. B2C companies, on the other hand, have an individual consumer as a customer, so their target audience comes from a large potential pool of people. 

But the differences go somewhat deeper than that. B2B businesses typically have different motivations to buy than B2C consumers. For instance, it is not unusual for B2C consumers to be motivated by emotion or impulse. (That’s why candy bars are strategically displayed at the checkout counter in your local grocery store, right?) On the other hand, B2B buyers are less motivated by emotion and more likely to be motivated by logic, financial concerns, or business goals. The messaging for B2B marketing, then, is quite different from the messaging for B2C marketing.

The content needs of B2B and B2C audiences also vary. For example, B2C audiences may enjoy a more lighthearted, entertainment-style approach to content in the form of memes or social media posts, while a B2B audience may value a more educational approach in the form of whitepapers, case studies, and webinars. These general principles are not set in stone, of course, and may vary according to the product or service you offer. However, as a general rule, the content needs of B2B and B2C audiences are different.

As noted earlier, the sales cycle for B2B may also be quite a bit longer than the B2C sales cycle. For many B2C purchases, the research, consideration, and purchasing phases of the buyer journey may all happen in a very short time frame. In the B2B world, however, that is rarely the case. Most purchasing decisions in a B2B environment may take weeks, months, and in some cases, even years to finalize. The longer B2B sales cycle necessitates a different approach to marketing than the short B2C sales cycle requires.

The B2B sales process typically includes a different decision-making process on the part of the buyer. In B2C sales, the consumer may be one person, who only needs to consult, at most, a checkbook balance before making a final decision. A B2B purchase, however, may need approval from a complex assortment of organizational stakeholders, each with their own opinions and agendas. Understandably, that added complexity lengthens the decision-making process and alters the marketing strategy involved.

Volumes have been written about B2B marketing strategies, and there’s no shortage of advice about which ones to use. What is the best B2B marketing strategy?

The best B2B marketing strategy for your business is the one that resonates with your target audience the most. Yes, we know that may sound like a cop-out answer, but it is the truth. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for creating the best B2B marketing strategy. 

There are, however, some general puzzle pieces that are a part of every successful B2B marketing plan. Once you understand how B2B marketing works by fitting these puzzle pieces together, you can design your marketing strategies to align with your target audience. 

Gather demographic and psychographic information about your audience to define buyer personas. Think of this process as putting meat on the bare bones of your idea of who your customer should be. Take time with this step because it will inform all your other business marketing decisions. 

Once you have your buyer personas clearly in mind, you can map out the buyer journey more easily. What steps will your customers likely take as they look for solutions to their problems and make their purchase decisions? Think each step of the process through, from the initial stage down to the actual purchase and beyond. 

No marketing strategy is complete without a thorough competitor analysis. What are other brands in the market doing that is working to attract your target audience? What are they missing? Where are the areas where you can differentiate your brand? 

Establish organizational and campaign goals

The old adage goes, “if you aim at nothing, you’re sure to hit it.” That certainly holds true in the case of marketing campaigns. Establishing what you hope to achieve with your campaign and how that achievement will support larger organizational initiatives will help you to design campaigns that align with identified success metrics.  

Create marketing plans that align with buyer journey stages

Armed with your personas, your buyer journey maps, and your goals, you are equipped with everything you need to build marketing plans designed for success. Be sure that your plan includes content for every stage of the buyer journey and that each piece of content, no matter its form, adds value for your audience and strengthens your relationship with potential customers. Evaluate each part of your plan under the lens of value to the customer.

Analyze results and optimize your campaign as needed

Track campaign metrics against your stated goals and make adjustments to content creation and planning as needed.

Where do B2B marketers put their content? How do they get their content marketing message to the right audiences? Here are some of the most common channels for B2B marketing:

Want some examples of B2B marketing worth emulating? Look no further than HubSpot. Long recognized as a leader in inbound marketing expertise, HubSpot demonstrated its agility in 2020 by taking its must-attend annual conference, INBOUND, virtual. Unlike many B2B events that were simply canceled in the wake of the global pandemic, HubSpot pulled out all the stops and created a valuable virtual experience for attendees. The company ramped up excitement for INBOUND 2020 with email planners and calendar integration prior to the event, heavy social media promotion over a month prior to the event, a strong social media presence on Facebook and Instagram during the event, and on-demand access to the content after the event.

For a great example of a B2B email newsletter, take a look at CB Insights. You might think that a newsletter about venture capital, tech trends, and startups would be a bit bland in your inbox, but this content is a refreshing combination of impeccable research, clearly expressed insights, and humor. That’s likely why over 700,000 subscribers keep tuning in to read. CB Insights is a perfect example of a newsletter that provides value to readers because its marketers understand the audience well.

Another great example of B2B marketing content done right comes from Deloitte. The brand’s Deloitte Insights series unabashedly provides thought leadership across several industries in multiple content formats to appeal to various buyer personas. From deep-dive analyst reports to articles, videos, and podcasts, Deloitte provides something for every stage of the buyer journey and every type of stakeholder with a final say in the decision-making process. It’s an example of a fully visualized marketing plan.

Marketing and selling your products and services to another business requires a different mindset and approach than marketing to individual consumers. But business-to-business marketing is more important than ever before. 

Once you have a deep understanding of your customers and the steps they will take in their decision-making process, you can create high-quality content to distribute across multiple digital marketing channels including email, social media, blog posts, virtual events, and more. If you keep your eye on your marketing goals and your fingers on the pulse of your customers, your marketing plans will be successful.

What is B2B Marketing and B2B Sales?

From Coca-Cola's "Open Happiness" and Dove's "Real Beauty", to non-profit organisations like Stop the Money Pipeline, successful marketing campaigns have a way of sticking with us long after an impression or purchase. 

The reason is that effective campaigns make companies personable, relatable, and memorable. And the best ones do even more than achieve quantitative results and increase sales — they have the power to change consumer perceptions, drive change, and impact societies. 

However, the question is: how do you create a successful marketing campaign, one that is innovative enough to leave a lasting impression and attract so many of your customers, and remarkable enough to drive sales long after the ad has aired? 

While there is no one-size-fits-all method, there are a couple of criteria that the most successful marketing campaigns have in common. Here, we break it down.

Converting Customers Through Your Marketing Campaign 

What Marketing Campaign Metrics Should You Monitor?

What Makes a Marketing Campaign Successful?

Marketing campaigns promote products or services through different types of media, like television, radio, print, and digital platforms. They don't just rely on advertising and can also include live demonstrations, social media, and other methods to reach their target audience. 

Marketing campaigns are crafted with different goals in mind, such as building brand awareness and a brand image, introducing a new product to the market, increasing sales of a product or service, or reducing the impact of negative news. 

How you define the campaign's goal will usually determine the strategy you need to execute the campaign effectively, and what media channels you'll need to get the campaign in front of your audience's eyes. 

Correct planning correctly will ensure you know how to measure campaign success and guide your marketing team to do more of what's working, and get back on track when it's not. 

Ask yourself these questions to plan effectively for your next marketing campaign:

If you’re having trouble defining your campaign's purpose, start broad. Take a look at the marketing goals below and see which ones make sense for your own brand. Which one is most aligned with your own? This is hardly a definitive list, but it gives you an idea of some general business goals that a successful marketing campaign could help you achieve.

Now, take your broad goal and turn it into a SMART goal: one that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. An example of a broad goal is "My goal is to gather customer feedback or content on our brand."

To make that goal SMART, would sound something like: "The goal of my marketing campaign is to gather user-generated content from 100 customers from a branded hashtag on Instagram featuring our new product line by the 30th of June." 

Depending on the goals you've set out to achieve, your marketing campaign might be measured by the number of leads generated, the amount of sales revenue in a given month, or new followers you gain on a particular social media platform, for example. 

Decide what milestones and metrics you want to track is important for gaining and keeping momentum, as they will be key indicators on the effectiveness of your campaign strategy and tactics.

The first step to answering this question is figuring out what stage of the buyer’s journey your marketing campaign is targeting. Are you trying to bring in new customers, or are you attempting to gather feedback from existing customers? Are you marketing your brand to those who recognize it, or those who are currently unfamiliar?

Your marketing message and campaign strategy will vary depending on whether your campaign audience is in the awareness, consideration, or decision stage of the marketing funnel. 

It’s important to note that a marketing campaign can include content for people in various stages of their journey. For example, while your campaign might target current customers, it might also bring brand awareness to new consumers.

This is where you start considering when and where your intended audience will see your marketing campaign. As a marketer, you should already have a pretty good understanding of which channels you use for promotion and which of these channels work best. 

But, if finding your ideal marketing channel is new to you, try using the PESO model as a guide, where the distribution channels are divided into Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned. Start by selecting two or three primary marketing channels for your campaign. 

For example, you might want to promote your UGC Instagram campaign on Instagram, through an email newsletter, and on your website. You could also plan to use part of your budget to boost social media posts to encourage more views.  

Putting a start and end-date on your campaign will give you a better sense of what's needed to execute a successful promotion strategy.

It is a good idea to create a campaign calendar, marking the start and end date. This will also help you plan the preparation of all necessary assets for launch of the campaign.

If you need some inspiration, take a look at our guide on how to create a social media calendar; it has insights and tips on how you can plan out your content successfully.

Converting Customers Through Your Marketing Campaign

Successful marketing campaigns are usually a connected series of operations designed to have a particular end result, or conversion. 

Your marketing campaign needs a call to action (CTA) that you want your audience to engage with. CTAs are a direct ask of your audience that usually prompts visitors, leads, or consumers to take action, and you need to have this in your campaign if you want to see success. 

CTAs give your audience a clear directive. And if they're tailored to your brand, you'll have a greater chance of cutting through the noise and inspiring a conversion. 

Continuing the example of using UGC, your CTA would outline the direct ask ("Share a photo of yourself using our product") and include the benefit for the user if they chose to engage ("be entered to win a voucher"). 

Another way that you can drive conversions with a marketing campaign is through landing pages. These dedicated pages help your audience to learn more about what your campaign is all about, and generally help set your campaign apart from all the other content on your website.

Campaign landing pages typically include the benefits for your audience in taking part in your campaign, so highlight these and repeat your CTA so that your audience knows exactly what to do. Include a variety of marketing assets, like images or videos, to increase the conversion rate.

What Marketing Campaign Metrics Should You Monitor?

The more specific marketing metrics you monitor and report on depend on what type of campaign you are running and the distribution channels you've chosen, but in general you should try to keep track of: traffic generated, CTR, impressions, and ROI. And, of course, one of the most important KPIs is the campaigns impact on revenue, so be sure you have a way of measuring this in place. 

Here are some other metrics that you can monitor for a holistic view: 

Social engagement (likes, shares, comments)

Not all of these metrics will be applicable to your campaign but it is worth monitoring the quantitative values to better assess the success of your campaign. 

So, how will you know that your marketing campaign was a success? That will depend on whether or not your campaign was able to meet its initial SMART goal. If it did, you have success! This is one of the reasons why you set a campaign goal to begin with — so that you can ensure that the strategy you put in place helps you attain your goal. 

Whether you wanted to increase your Instagram followers, grow your email subscriber base, or inspire 1,000 downloads of your ebook, when you meet these personal marketing goals that you set for your campaign, that is what makes it successful. 

Take a look through these examples of successful marketing campaigns to get ideas and see what success in marketing looks like!

Budweiser - Whassup Bud Commercial (Quarantine version) 2020

When Budweiser brought back its infamous ‘Whassup’ catchphrase earlier in 2020, it was a remix of the original, only this time, it was the ‘Quarantine Version’ to coincide with what the world was experiencing. dated tech).

The marketing campaign was shared on social media platforms, with the hashtag "#Togetheratadistance" and the "#SavePubLife initiative" to help pubs that were forced to close due to social distancing regulations.

Burger King features moldy Whopper in new ad

In 2020, Burger King announced that they had removed artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors from their famous Whopper burger. To promote this, Burger King released their moldy Whopper marketing campaign. Shared in both photo and video formats, Burger King documented how much mould grew on one of their Whoppers over a 34-day period.

This marketing campaign, despite coming across as a rather unconventional method of marketing fast food, was a great example of how brands can capture the attention of their audience, as well as increase conversations around their brand. 

Facebook: Groups - Ready to Rock? - 2020 Super Bowl Commercial

For the first time, Facebook aired a commercial during the 2020 Super Bowl. The 60-second advert, called "Ready to Rock" promoted Facebook Groups and featured celebrity appearances such as actor Sylvester Stallone and comedian Chris Rock, as well as highlighting several “rock” themed Facebook Groups. 

Not only did the advert receive positive responses for its play on words and including real members of the featured Facebook Groups, but it's a great example of ad targeting and using new platforms to help your brand reach a wider audience.

While marketing campaigns may involve a lot of information, strategizing, ideas, and monitoring, hopefully, this has given you a deeper look into how you can find success in running your own marketing campaigns. 

For some added inspiration, see some of India's best marketing campaigns to learn a few tips on what it takes to be the best. 

The Basics of a Successful Marketing Campaign

So you’re probably utilising Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and or Instagram in your marketing strategy – but have you ever thought about using WhatsApp marketing to get your message across? 

With around 2 billion users worldwide, the app offers marketers the opportunity to engage their customers in one-on-one conversations. For this reason  – and the growing adoption of conversational marketing through messaging apps  – businesses are using the platform to reach customers and strengthen the connection they have with their online communities.

And as we just mentioned, there has been a shift toward messaging apps and dark social that has forced marketers to consider utilizing messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, WeChat, LINE, Telegram, etc. in their social media marketing strategies. 

But despite the growing adoption of these messaging apps by consumers, many brands are hesitant to utilise dark social platforms like Whatsapp & Facebook Messenger. And we get it, marketing via dark social platforms is a relatively new concept and the analytics just aren't there yet compared to some traditional social media platforms, which you need to have to prove that all-important social ROI target your boss set.

Dark social is therefore relatively unchartered territory, but that also has its advantages. Since few marketers have begun leveraging these messaging apps, your WhatsApp marketing campaigns do not have to compete for attention in the same way your organic Facebook posts are on the Facebook Newsfeed. 

Plus, dark social can be highly beneficial for brand visibility. Think about the number of times you read an article and sent it to a friend directly through a messaging app rather than share the post publicly on your Facebook profile. It happens a lot, right? Therefore, the chances that your content is already being shared on dark social are relatively high. 

In fact, 84% of social sharing happens via dark social platforms, according to RadiumOne. 

With organic reach on traditional social media platforms being so low, it’s time to start thinking differently and trying new methods of reaching your audience. Businesses in South East Asia have been marketing through WeChat, a similar messaging platform, for years, and we'll explore examples of how brands around the world are using WhatsApp marketing in their social media strategies below.  

Ways to Make WhatsApp Marketing Work for You

Successful WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns & Other Apps

This is a tricky question because the app is primarily used to send text messages to either an individual or a group of individuals. But, the company was acquired by Facebook, Inc. in 2014 for $19 billion, and recently Facebook has begun integrating all of its social media apps, including messaging apps like Messenger and WhatsApp. 

And while you cannot run ads on WhatsApp, you can run click-to-message ads on Facebook and Instagram that open a conversation in WhatsApps after someone clicks on the ad's CTA. Innovations and integrations like these have allowed messaging apps to take on a whole new meaning. 

Facebook has also recently connected the message inbox on Messenger with Instagram’s for all users, further integrating their suite of products and blurring the lines between social media apps and messaging apps.

Messaging apps popular in Asia, like the Chinese market-focused messaging app WeChat, started as a personal messaging service for people to communicate. However, over time, WeChat evolved into a super app that can be used for blogging, shopping, money transfers, and even concierge services. It's possible that other personal messaging apps will implement similar features in the future. But for right now, WhatsApp can still be considered a social media app without any of those fancy features because of the existing integrations with Facebook and the growing number of brands using it as a customer service channel. 

1. Free to Use: The best part about using personal messaging apps for marketing? Most of them are free to download and use. Because of the ease of access and low barrier of entry, brands can begin to roll out campaigns almost immediately upon activation. 

2. Fantastic Open Rates: Sure, you may leave a few emails unread, but how many of your text messages go unread? WhatsApp users open more than 90% of messages they receive, which is likely a much higher percentage than the open rate on your email newsletter. Image having that type of open rate on your next marketing campaign! By including a Call To Action (CTA) function in that campaign, you could significantly boost leads and revenue streams.

3. Personally Engage With Customers: Text messages are inherently more personal than emails, and being able to personally address and respond to customers goes a long way when it comes to building an engaged community. WhatsApp marketing campaigns can be curated for and targeted toward a specific audience.

4. Leverage Multiple Media Formats: Personal messaging apps allow you to send various types of multimedia collateral. Marketing teams can share images of posters, brochures, videos, and links to websites that customers can use to get information on new products and services.

Note: Sharing videos with customers can be data-heavy and it might deter them from watching them. But, apps like WhatsApp allow users to watch videos directly within the app. The company has created a built-in pop-up YouTube viewer, making it easier for people to view your marketing video. 

 Even though there are limitations associated with running a campaign in personal messaging apps such as lack of tangible measurements, algorithms and scope of distribution, customers gravitate towards messengers because they are personal in nature and ultra-responsive. Marketing specific services by messaging apps such as WhatsApp for Business are really helpful for businesses to implement these messaging architectures to suit their needs. For more on this, you can also read our other article here.

A summary of why you should use personal messaging apps like WhatsApp as a marketing tool

Private messaging allows you to create a personal relationship with your customers

It is free for people to use, and a lot of people are already using these apps

There's a greater chance that your messages will be read 

It's easy to share videos, images, or links around your marketing campaigns

The massive number of people using these personal messaging apps is a big draw for marketers, but there are not as many social media management platforms that fully support content scheduling and publishing or community management yet. So, if you are looking for marketing software that will help support your WhatsApp marketing strategy, we compiled a list of software providers that do offer these services. 

From messaging automation, cross-channel communication, mass texting, and campaign analytics, here are several tooling options that can support your WhatsApp marketing strategy. You could also choose to manage your WhatsApp campaigns by downloading the WhatsApp Business app if you do not want to use the services of one of the company's partners that is connected to the platform via the WhatsApp Business API.

A marketing automation software that also incorporates many other functions such as lead scoring, social marketing, landing pages/web forms, and hosting content platform.

Using a single API, its software connects the brand with customers across the messaging functions of SMS, WhatsApp, and chat.

This software is able to import contacts from WhatsApp and offers an anti-blocking feature to ensure your messages get across to the desired audience. 

This is a full-stack marketing automation software is dedicated to delivering messaging campaigns and enabling customer support via messaging. The software also has tracks several metrics that you can use to evaluate the success of a WhatsApp campaign.

This software is cloud-based and manages cross-channel communication. The platform allows brands to deploy mobile push notifications, in-app messaging, and send emails.

Successful WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Examples

The wide-scale use of the ubiquitous QR code is another innovative way of encouraging customers to access information on your brand. Brands can add QR codes on their products or store windows that users can scan to begin a conversation with the brand. Most messaging apps have code scanners built into them and this makes it simpler for people to read about a new campaign or interact with the brand. WhatsApp recently promoted this function to initiate chats between customers and brands. As an added bonus, you can also share marketing collateral (videos, links, etc.) directly with individuals that scan the QR code.

Absolut created an awesome PR campaign to celebrate and announce the launch of the new Limited Edition Absolut Unique collection in Argentina. The company organised a very exclusive party and created a fictional bouncer that users had to interact with to access the party that Absolut was hosting. This unique marketing campaign was an instant hit and scored the brand 3-days of uninterrupted conversations with its customers. 

Absolut Unique Access - English

Another example comes from the condiment brand Hellmann's who set up a campaign using Whatsapp by asking consumers to send a picture of their fridge, in return a chef would send them a recipe. Over 13,000 people signed up for the campaign and spent an average of 65 minutes interacting with the brand. Hellmann's also received strong insight into what was in people's fridges!

WhatsCook. The first live recipe service via WhatsApp.

With the countless options available on messaging apps, brands and companies can reach out to their audience much faster with a more personalized touch. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are great for your next campaign and brands should not miss out on using them as a marketing tool.

WhatsApp and Messenger Apps as a Marketing Tool

The overall market landscape is rapidly changing all the time, and for CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands that still use traditional marketing methods will just as rapidly get left behind. 

These brands need to be open to flexibility in their strategies if they want to keep up with the new ways to communicate and connect with their target audience. But how can CPG brands, particularly in the the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, do this, and still sell their products to their audience? By making use of digital marketing methods that not only sets you ahead of the rest but still speaks to their audience among the digital noise that they are constantly exposed to. 

But while the CPG landscape in MENA has seen its own significant changes throughout the last few years, its rate of change has accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic. According to PwC’s recent Global Consumer Insights Survey COVID-19 Pulse Survey, 53% of Middle East respondents increased their usage of mobile shopping due to the pandemic while only 9% of respondents did not report shopping online.

With stores closing their physical doors and regulations encouraged staying at home, consumers found themselves needing to adapt just as quickly to new, digital and technologically-based methods of shopping, and CPG brands had to adapt too. 

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