Social networks are probably the best thing to happen to business in this modern world. As businesses are driven by communication, a change in the means of connecting businesses with the market begins a consequent change in business models and strategies. Now more than ever, there is a heightened need for more personalised interactive platforms through which businesses can reach their target market. The advent of social media has affected the way customers perceive a business brand and its products as well as broadens the reach and influence of business on existing and potential customers. Although the advantages of social media are groundbreaking, the average business owner, especially in Nigeria, cannot effectively identify the various platforms best suited for their business model and target market. With Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp being the most popularly used social networks by individuals and business, it is not a surprise that people hardly notice Telegram. However, Telegram might just be the answer to the shortcomings of Whatsapp. Let’s take a close look:
According to analysts, Whatsapp boasts of a user population of 1.5 billion active users worldwide; meaning that if Whatsapp was a country it will be the most populous country in the world, outnumbering even China. Hence, it’s vast user base is the messenger’s biggest selling point. Other major features include voice and video calls; an end to end encryption; business accounts and automated messages; Whatsapp status.
Telegram, on the other hand, has its strength its numerous amount of features. Most important for your business is its cloud feature; the messenger allows you to store your contacts to the cloud. This means that you won’t have to worry about the loss of business contacts or client information anymore. Telegram “channels” which is its version of Whatsapp “Group” is designed to create an infinite number of people. Once a Channel is created, the creator becomes an admin and can control the posts on the channel, determine who can post to the group and what information is shared on it. Unlike WhatsApp with the media sharing limit, Telegram allows you to share pictures, documents, videos of up to 1.5 GB at once. So you can make a complete sales/business pitch on the platform without worries. You can choose to compress the media as well. It also allows for multiple sessions on one account, that means that you can open your telegram account on multiple devices and still be able to send/receive messages on them all at once.
Unlike Whatsapp, Telegram only has provisions for voice calls without video calls. Although it has all these great features, it is unfortunately not as populous at Whatsapp: with an active user base of just 200 million. This means that for you to use it effectively, you have to find a way to get your network to join, add and use to the messenger to enjoy all the benefits it provides.
Conclusion: Choice of a social network is highly dependent on the objective you want to achieve for your business. If you have trust issues in business or you want a platform that is mainly for advertising, Whatsapp is probably the best bet for you. If not then, Telegram is best suited for your business; so you can overcome Whatsapp’s limitations to communication.