WhatsApp group chats are now a common feature for WhatsApp users who want to organize a holiday, a meal or just keep in touch with friends who are miles apart. WhatsApp groups accommodate a maximum of 256 members. WhatsApp users who are +1.5 billion are using Groups and businesses want to get into the arena.
WhatsApp has an engagement rate of over 70% which is even higher than Facebook. With such an expansive reach it offers businesses a very responsive platform for marketing. It allows you to send images, audio files and short video clips of your products which attributes to the high engagement rate. And unlike SMS or Email, WhatsApp has fewer restrictions on format and your delivery chances are higher.
Now someone (we can’t disclose the name) has decided to make money through the Whatsapp groups.
He is handing companies or businesses the chance to directly reach their prospective customers by selling group links to them. By buying the group links, companies will market their products to people who are mostly in business groups. The person can supposedly give businesses access to over 210 groups at $2 bucks a link.
Supposing that his 210 groups have 256 people, that means businesses will be exposed to 53 760 prospective customers. Wow, that’s a lot. Using the same hypothesis, businesses have to fork out just $420 to reach 53 760 prospective customers.
Anyway, why would anyone sell Whatsapp group links?
The thing is in Zimbabwe, data is pretty expensive. And the WhatsApp app doesn’t consume a lot of data, meaning that its affordable for an average to use Whatsapp. That’s why WhatsApp is the most used (preferred) app to communicate. Consequently, in Zimbabwe, Whatsapp equals the internet. Therefore, people are looking to make money through the App as it is used by many of Zimbabweans.
While it seems to be a clever idea, I think those (210) groups will get spammed, inciting people to exit the groups and ultimately defeating the purpose.
7 comments
That’s good
Only a Zimbabwean can think ingeniously like this. Good idea. What I hope is that the group members’ privacy interests are protected, and also, that the moderation is top-notch to prevent overcrowding the groups with too many ads.
Spam is ingenious? Lol
So in a simple terms he or she is selling people information without their approval??
That’s exactly what I thought when I read this.
Such infringement of privacy is the kind of thing that will be addressed by ED Government cyber legislation
using my information willy nilly without my consent
#chinhu_ndecha_ED
Well, they’re only following after what’s being done in high quality local Facebook groups https://www.facebook.com/groups/119898351884767/permalink/287848281756439/?sale_post_id=287848281756439