These sellers on WhatsApp

IF you are a frequent user of WhatsApp like I am, no day passes by without wares being shoved in your face. The mall is overrated, WhatsApp is the new marketplace. I put out an update a few weeks ago that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of the Facebook conglomerate must find a way to tax WhatsApp shop owners.

It sounded like a joke, but I know it is going to happen really soon. Since its launch on the 20th of February 2017, the WhatsApp status has found incredible use in diverse ways. From sharing jokes to telling our contacts where we have been to. In the hands of the ever-industrious Nigerian populace, WhatsApp status became the perfect avenue to sell products.

This week on WhatsApp conversations, a few of these sellers share their thoughts on why and how they use the WhatsApp status feature to market their products and how they think their viewers feel about it:

Akinpelumi Olasumboye runs Dilligent Tech. Enterprise

I actually do not post lots of pictures so as not to bore my viewers. I am always conscious of that and that is why my status upload does not exceed ten for every twenty-four hours.

I post my products on my statuses on social media to create awareness and let my viewers know what I sell and what I have in stock per time.

Tukur Loba Ridwan Runs LC Fashion brand

First, it is more about quality than quantity for me. For every picture of a quality service, best guaranteed that your potential clients would want to see more of them without necessarily asking you. So, when each picture speaks to quality, much is just less, to say the least.

Gloria Okorafor runs Excel

When popular brands keep advertising, it isn’t because they aren’t established yet. They keep showing their faces to people (advertising) to encourage current users that they’ve made the right choice and encourage non-users to become users also.

They all have competitions to deal with but instead of putting down the other brand,  just focus on your strength and hype it and you’ll draw people’s attention to your brand.

As a prospective customer, when  you see my products every day, I am weaning you and registering my presence in your mind. This purpose isn’t usually for immediate purchase but for that moment when you urgently need my products/services and no other name comes to mind but mine. I’ve done a good job of registering my brand on your mind so whenever you need something similar to what I offer, my name pops up in your mind.

Israel runs Ayanfe Oluwa Business Enterprises

I am into selling of goods/products and providing services, but I don’t upload many of my product pictures. It is not a lack of images; it is because I understand a little bit about marketing strategy.

Why on earth will you be uploading hundreds of products on your status just to advertise to us and not considering your viewers? Must you upload all the products you have for sale at once in a day? There are several ways to this and make sure your viewers stay glued to your status. That is if you know the right strategies and use them appropriately.

If you must upload the products as much as that, what happened to using an application to group the pictures together? What happened to giving us some information about the products? After uploading them, you will now tell us to DM for the price, like we don’t have time for any other thing!

Dolapo runs Ricdolz empire

I do not post a lot of pictures on my status because it bores viewers.I either group pictures of the same products or I post one picture of the product and then indicate that there are more designs if interested. It is better to forge the right relationship with clients and you will have them coming again.

To further help sellers on WhatsApp, I spoke to Joel Ajayi who runs the Startup Climbr to educate WhatsApp ‘store owners’ on how to achieve better penetration and sales:

Let’s talk; ever since you decided to move your business to WhatsApp, have you been making enough profits to prove you are actually running a business? Or you’re just waking up daily repeating the same old process of flooding our space with all you market with the hope that one day, tables will turn?

Tables don’t turn when you’re doing it wrongly. Matter of fact, this WhatsApp table doesn’t turn at all. You have to be the one to reposition yourself for sales to come in and you are doing it wrongly.

There’s nothing wrong with selling on WhatsApp. It is a social media platform just like any other platform and can be used for marketing, so don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for using it as your business space.

The only question I will ask you out of concern is why are you not bothered about what exactly is hindering you from making good sales on Whatsapp?\

Quickly take and ponder on these few points:

1. Understand what WhatsApp is: WhatsApp is first an end to end platform which means people see WhatsApp as a small community rather than as a platform where they want their personal space disturbed. So, if you are sending broadcasts, always Dm-ing,uploading thousands of photos, just know you are disturbing people’s personal space.
2. Whatsapp status is psychologically structured to give updates and gist: the reason we check WhatsApp stories is because we want to know who has the latest update or what is going on with other people’s lives. So, this means we don’t care if you just started a shoe business or a clothesline with Gucci.

The only recommendation is that you should fit your style of marketing into giving out gist and telling stories.

3. Give value: people love statuses that inspire, motivate, and build them. They do not block such statuses, so find ways to apply these often as well to keep them anticipating your WhatsApp story.

Next week, the discussion will be focused on how the everyday WhatsApp user sees the constant upload of pictures and non-stop broadcast messages.

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