What can Telegram, one of the world's most prominent communicators, do for marketers? See the details in our latest blog post!
Telegram – a cost-free communicator enabling privacy – is becoming more and more popular all over the world. It was launched in 2013 by brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov and, in early 2021, had 500 million users per month. It sounds like a perfect place for marketers, doesn't it?
Let's start with the basics. Telegram is a cloud-based messaging app that works on smartphones, computers, and tablets. It allows users to send text messages and share photos, videos, and files. It offers 1-to-1 chats, but you can also create some groups and channels there to better communicate with a bigger audience.
Although Telegram defends itself with all its strength against advertising in the communicator, a breakthrough is expected this year. Psst. You know – an official breakthrough because marketing in Telegram is possible even now, but we'll talk about it a bit later.
Pavel Durov (known as Mark Zuckerberg of Russia) started Telegram with his own money, and so far, he hasn't earned even a penny on it. He also has no plans of selling it to any tech giant. So monetization would be… already advisable, especially when Telegram wants to gain strength and be close to its main rivals – WhatsApp and Signal.
That's why Durow plans to release additional paid functions in Telegram designed to be used by business users and what interests us the most – an ad platform. Not much is known about it yet. However, as Durow mentioned, Telegram ads won't be intrusive and will respect privacy.
As Durov said – "Users who rely on Telegram as a messaging app, not a social network, will never see ads. Private chats and group chats are and will always be ad-free." "We think displaying ads in private 1-to-1 chats or group chats is bad. He said that communication between people should be free of advertising of any sort".
It's also known that Telegram's advertising platform won't use user data as WhatsApp does. Additionally, it's announced to repair the current advertising opportunities – on the channels. And here we come to the point. How do businesses advertise on Telegram nowadays? And how to do it to take full advantage of Telegram's potential?
Channel is currently one of Telegram's best options for publishing advertising materials. In fact, it's a bit like a Facebook group, but with one exception – only administrators can publish content on it.
It allows you to create a thematic channel and publish content to a large audience with no limit on the number. Subscribers of your channel will be notified as soon as you send any type of message, be it a text message, an image, a promotional video, an ad, or something else.
As long as the channel is a one-way form of communication – groups in Telegram allow your customers to publish their content too. If you're wondering what will work better – a channel or a group – our answer is… Set up both. Why, exactly?
The group on Telegram would be a great addition to your channel. It can have up to 200,000 members, and its status can be private (you send invitations to your clients) or public (anyone can find you). Thanks to it, you can always be in touch with your clients and offer them your support. They ask – You answer. Communication, trust, and engagement – are the components that very often contribute to sales and which you can achieve by running a group on Telegram.
What's the best part of it all? You can automate your activities in Telegram thanks to special bots. Chatbots will work according to the scenario you set and allow you to save time and resources – free of charge.
Now it's time to promote your account. Let people know about it! What are your options in this regard? Here are some ideas.
What can Telegram marketing mainly do for you? A good range, seamless communication with customers, driving traffic to the website, and ultimately — increasing sales. That's right – advertising in Telegram pays off.
It's high time to have a try, you won’t regret it!