WhatsApp went public with a new major promotional campaign and new privacy features. What is the strategy behind this? They never really needed that: WhatsApp didn’t need advertising. Almost everyone has the app on their smartphone anyway. But now the world’s most widely used messenger has turned: the subsidiary of tech giant Facebook launched its first international marketing campaign on Monday.
First of all, the people in Germany and Great Britain should be convinced of the advantages of WhatsApp encryption. The underlying message of several, partly unpublished advertising clips that we could see in advance: WhatsApp is safe. Whoever chats there, chats privately. End-to-end encryption takes care of this. What the campaign does not mention: End-to-end encryption is also offered by many other messenger services:
In the course of the campaigns, WhatsApp also presented new functions that should better protect the privacy of users:
View Once: Messages should only be able to be viewed once. After that, they will be deleted automatically. That could be useful, for example, if you have to send family members a password, said WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart of the dpa.
Disappearing Mode: According to WhatsApp, the function has been around since last summer, but it is now to be expanded. Users should be able to set whether messages in a chat automatically disappear after a few days.
According to WhatsApp in a statement, the aim is to make chats as realistic as personal conversations. When exactly the new functions should be available for users, WhatsApp did not want to tell us when we asked.
Why is WhatsApp starting the PR offensive now?
The messenger has come under pressure. At the beginning of the year, the announcement that the terms of use would be changed caused an outcry among many of the more than two billion users. The update is intended to simplify communication between companies and users on WhatsApp. However, privacy advocates fear that in the wake of these changes, Facebook could get more access to the data of WhatsApp users.
The Hamburg data protection officer Johannes Caspar therefore even issued an order prohibiting Facebook from further processing WhatsApp user data. “The investigation of the new provisions has shown that the close connection between the two companies is to be expanded further so that Facebook can use the data of WhatsApp users for its own purposes at any time,” it said at the time.
Facebook does not recognize the arrangement because it is based on a “fundamental misunderstanding”. The conflict is not over yet. The European Data Protection Board should decide soon.
New business strategy: order pizza via WhatsApp?
The negative headlines also ensured that the download numbers of competitors went through the roof. Could WhatsApp lose its position as the most popular messenger in Germany in the medium term? Matthias Mehner doesn’t believe that. He advises companies on messenger marketing and is in contact with representatives of the various messenger services. “The threshold is just too high.” If you turn your back on WhatsApp, you would lose a lot of contacts. The daycare group, the family group – everything on WhatsApp. Nevertheless, says Mehner, it is important for WhatsApp to regain trust. Otherwise, the future business strategy could be in jeopardy: Messenger wants to open up to companies, retailers and restaurateurs. Do not switch to this advertising, as with the other Facebook products. But to do your business via WhatsApp. Ordering pizza via WhatsApp instead of Lieferando – that’s the idea.
