Telegram Business: The Ultimate Guide 2021

Dive Your Marketing Deeper with Telegram Business

Telegram has gained huge popularity over the past five years due to its security, support for every major operating system, and how easy it is to use as a mobile app. Features like direct private messaging, heavy security, and even secret chats led to the first wave of adoption of Telegram.

As of January 2021, the platform has exceeded 500 million active monthly users, a 150% increase in the last 21 months. That’s up from 200 million in March 2018, and 60 million in September 2015. Telegram is quickly joining the ranks of major social destinations, and brands in several countries are starting to take notice, including Bloomberg, Starbucks, Ted Talks, and Financial Times.

In addition to the rapidly growing user bases in the United States. And many European countries, Telegram already has high penetration pockets in many countries including Ethiopia, Iran, South Korea, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Russia, and Uzbekistan.

With the surge of Telegram users who seeks a secure communication platform, business owners starts to take notice of this app. Professionals are starting to realize the benefits of the Telegram app maybe even more than WhatsApp. That’s why we will discuss the reasons to consider using Telegram as one of your marketing tools in this article. But first, let’s get to know Telegram.

What is Telegram

Telegram is a free messaging app that focuses on speed and security. The interface is simple and uncluttered. Unlike the WhatsApp Business app, you can download Telegram on several devices and messages will sync seamlessly across mobile device.

While Telegram is one of the most feature-rich messenger apps out there, it doesn’t push these features in your face. There is only one central interface, the message board. Meanwhile, the drop-down menu on the left gives access to contacts as well as the ability to create new secret groups, chats, and channels.

All the things you can do in Telegram App

1. Telegram Group

Telegram groups work like groups on other messaging apps. The main difference is that groups on Telegram can have up to 200,000 members. Managing such groups may seem impossible, but Telegram provides granular controls to make it easier.

Telegram groups are great for building a community. You can add members individually or post the group link publicly. Groups can also be made public and searchable on Telegram.

2. Telegram Channels

Telegram channels have all the same features as groups except that only admins can send messages. They also have no user restrictions which makes it easy to stream information.

Users subscribe to channels by searching within the app or by using channel links listed on websites and other places. Channels with more than 1,000 subscribers display channel analytics and posts. We will discuss more Telegram Channel below.

3. Telegram Passport

The idea is to stop uploading identity documents to several different places. Because Telegram is a cloud-based messenger using end-to-end encryption, financial institutions can access data from one central location. Is this safer? It’s up to you to decide.

Telegram initially created a deviant following in some parts of the financial services industry. Since then, the company has managed to expand its user base beyond this particular niche. 

What is Telegram Channel

As we discussed before, Telegram Channel did not have user restrictions. So it is a great platform to build your community and boost your digital marketing. How do we manage them? The first and most important step is to create a public channel for your business or brand. By making your channel public, users will be able to find your channel by searching for your name.

Telegram channels are broadcast media. Unlike channels on Slack, Discord, or other messaging platforms, these public channels are used for one-way communication. Anyone can join your public channel, but only you can decide who can post content.

On your channel, start posting links to your website/products or articles to engage your community in your work. You can think of Telegram as a massive media format like an email list, Twitter, or Facebook page.

Engagement in Telegram Channel

Telegram is a very interactive platform. According to a study, Telegram has a 20% of view rate, while Instagram has 3 percent and Facebook has 4 percent.

Ayrshare analyzed some data and found that Telegram has quite a high engagement rate.

The Financial Times publishes one post per day on its channel. Over the past 90 days, they have managed to consistently get 35%-45% of users to view this post every day. In the same period, the number of user increased from 19,000 to 22,600 users, an increase of 19% in just 90 days.

Channels created by Netflix fans also publish once a day and get more than 20% of their subscribers to watch their posts.

Although not every channel can have high engagement numbers, this data shows that there are many dedicated Telegram users, and the value and engagement of Telegram subscribers may be higher than that of other social destinations.

Instead of WhatsApp, Why Use Telegram for Your Marketing Tools?

Because there is no user restriction on Telegram, when an ad is released on Telegram, it is likely to reach more people. Unlike WhatsApp who restrict user up to 200 maximum user. Leveraging Telegram Channel can increase the reach of your brand and ads to your customers.

Optimizing messenger app for building community is a way to boost your marketing. This will make a great relationship for your and your customer. Along with increased engagement in your Telegram account with your customers, your sales will also increase

Telegram Business Accounts

There is no obvious way to create a Telegram Business account. However, there are two ways to use Telegram for business. You can create groups and channels of course. However, it is also great to create a Telegram Bot for business.

The Telegram Bots or Telegram Business API is free and can be used to create bots for social services, games, productivity, and e-commerce. However, Telegram Bots can also be used for human support by connecting them to a CRM or messaging platform.

How to create a telegram business account

Even though telegram calls it Telegram Bot, it is basically a Telegram Business account. Unlike the WhatsApp Business app, there is no dedicated Telegram Business app. However, using the Telegram Bot allows you to create a branded Telegram account for your business.

1. Chat with BotFather. Find BotFather by searching for it and press Start.

2. Use the /newbot command. This will start the creation process.

You have to choose a display name and then a username. You can change the name of the bot later, but you have to think about the username carefully.

3. Done. You will receive a token for associating your Telegram bot with your Messaging CRM software.

You will notice that by design, there is no place to reply to messages sent to the Telegram Bot. You can start replying to messages right away by creating a free response.io account and connecting your Telegram Bot.

Telegram Business Best Practices

Using your Telegram account for business is different from email or SMS. Telegram is a private company that controls what is possible in the application. Telegram focuses on providing free, fast, and secure messaging, and its features are built with this goal in mind.

Find Your Customers on Your Telegram Account

Even though users signs up for Telegram with a phone number, each user’s primary identifier is their Telegram ID. However, Telegram does not pass phone numbers or IDs via the Telegram Bot API to the messaging CRM. Only the name.

This means that users data cannot be imported via CSV into CRM as contacts. To make your subscribers a Telegram contact, they have to message you first. This is a limitation used by Telegram and other messaging app business accounts to reduce spam.

Fortunately, there are features designed to get customers to submit brands first. Chat links and QR codes can be sent to existing customers to associate with brands on Telegram. Although the most loyal Telegram users will likely find it by searching within the app.

Chat Links & QR Codes

When someone clicks on a chat link or scans a QR code, they will be taken directly to a chat with your brand. Every Telegram Bot comes with a chat link using the t.me/username format. So, your bot username must reflect your brand.

Chat links work great on websites, social media profiles, or even in emails sent to customers. For inspiration, check out our contact page. Despite the limitations, the t.me link only works properly when the Telegram app is installed on the device.

Mobile users will be directed to download the Telegram app if they click on the link. If they click on the link on the desktop, the user will be taken to a page where they can open Telegram Web, but this only works when the user has previously visited the page.

Like Facebook Messenger codes, QR codes are another option for driving traffic to your account. Unlike links, links can be used on offline sites such as physical stores. Like chat links, QR codes will only work with installed apps, so add the Telegram logo above the QR code.

While Telegram doesn’t provide QR codes out of the box, they can be generated with any QR code generator using the t.me link. Alternatively, we can generate a QR code for you if you connect your Telegram Bot to our business messaging platform.

In-App Search

Unlike other business accounts for messaging apps, you don’t need an official Telegram bot for your customer to search for your brand within the app. Once your bot is created, every user should be able to search and find Telegram and send messages.

While in-app search may not generate most of your traffic, it is the most likely way for the users to find your brand. Now that you know all about getting subscribers as Telegram contacts, let’s explore messaging with them.

Messaging client

Sending messages to subscribers on Telegram is relatively easy. While other business accounts of the messaging app limit when you can send messages and what you can send, Telegram doesn’t restrict any brands.

1:1 messaging

Since Telegram doesn’t have a messaging window like other messaging apps, you can message your subscribers at any time once they become a contact. The basic things to know about messaging subscribers on Telegram are about send/read receipts.

Since Telegram provides delivery, delivery, and reading status on personal accounts, it is expected that Telegram business accounts will have the same functionality. However, Telegram does not provide status updates of messages via the Telegram Bot API.

This means any business messaging platform that you connect your Telegram Bot to will not be able to show whether your Telegram contacts have read your messages. To add fuel to the fire, there is an additional issue that you should be aware of.

When a Telegram user sends a message to the Telegram Bot, every message they send will be automatically marked as read. So it may give the impression that you have read the message but have not responded.

Broadcasting Messages

Like 1:1 messaging, Telegram does not restrict broadcasting. You can send rich media such as photos, videos, files, and texts to an unlimited number of contacts. But remember that you have to get them to message you first to become a contact.

Keep in mind, contacts can block your bot if they don’t like what you’re sending. Once they block you, you cannot do anything. Even if you try to send them a new message, you will get a notification saying Banned: The bot has been blocked by the user.

Last but not least, like 1:1 messaging, you have to connect your bot to a business messaging platform to send broadcasts. So make sure that the software you choose has streaming capabilities.

Final Thoughts

As we can conclude, Telegram is now considered a high-engagement mobile app, more so than WhatsApp. Telegram also can amplify your other social media platforms, sales, and digital marketing. Considering Telegram provides a community for like-minded people, you can build community with your customer easily.

If you are interested to use Telegram as your marketing tool, you can make it even easier by using an omnichannel approach for your communication channel. Integrating multiple messaging apps with omnichannel will boost your engagement rate through the roof. OneTalk by TapTalk.io is ready to guide you to upgrade your digital marketing strategy by optimizing all messaging app in one dashboard. 

Let’s get to know OneTalk more and talk with our agent here.