Often touted as the ‘new era of messaging’ by its supporters across the world, Telegram is going through a never-before surge in its download numbers. And if you own a business, which is why probably you’re here in the first place, Telegram can help give it a serious boost.

In this article, we will talk about the advantages of Telegram, steps to create a Telegram Bot for your business, and what are the ideal ways to manage your Telegram Business Account.

What is Telegram, and why the hype?

Telegram is a free-to-use messaging app that is more focused on providing speed and reliability to its users. The UI is pretty simple and less botchy than most of its competitors. Also, in contrast to WhatsApp’s ‘rigidity’, Telegram is more flexible as it can be downloaded and synced on multiple devices without much hassle. 

One more area in which Telegram scores a point is that it doesn’t bombard you with its multiple features, even though it has some of the neatest functionalities that you’d find in the industry today. Instead, the main messages panel and a side pull out menu is all you need to get the most out of this resourceful application- whether it is to create groups, secret chats or channels.

What are Telegram Groups?

When other apps limit the number of participants you can add to a group within three digits, Telegram ditches the limitations, allowing users to add up to 20,000 participants in the group! This might seem a pretty large number that would accompany an overwhelming management experience, but Telegram’s granular controls come to the rescue at the right time. 

Overall, Telegram Groups are fantastic for creating rather large communities. And much like WhatsApp, you can either add participants manually or create a group entry link, and unlike WhatsApp, you can search public groups on Telegram.

What are Telegram Channels?

Think of channels like a broadcast list- just without the reply feature. Meaning, only admins can send messages on these channels and rest it operates as a regular Telegram group only. An excellent example of channels can be found in the case of Health Ministries, of India and Singapore, so to say, who use the platform to send out tips and current developments to the people. 

One can join a channel by searching for it through the app, or by visiting the channel link found anywhere on the internet. Another cool feature is that when a channel surpasses 1000 subscribers, the channel and post analytics become visible to have a clear-cut idea about the channel’s engagement levels.

What is Telegram Passport? 

Telegram Passport acts like a digital storage for your identification documents. These documents are used with financial institutions that require Know Your Customer (KYC) Procedures, thus, making it rather useful for those from the crypto or financial industry. One must wonder why roll out a feature that is miles apart from what other messaging apps are doing? Well, Telegram rose to the top throne with a dedicated following in parts of the Financial Services industry. So the Passport comes handy because then you don’t have to upload your identification documents from time to time. Instead, Telegram stores them on its cloud with industry-grade, end-to-end encryption. However, nobody knows for sure how safe this practice exactly is.

Where is Telegram Popular?

In the April of 2020, Telegram revealed that their app was serving around 400 Million Monthly Active Users (MAU)- a 100% increase from the figures of 2018, which stood at approximately 200 Million Monthly Active Users. But what all can this growth be attributed to?

If one was to analyse Google Play Store and Apple Store rankings, Telegram has consistently made top spots in different countries across the world. Uzbekistan and Iran were the leading countries by Telegram downloads & usage in 2019, and by April 2020, many other countries joined the list.

As per the data for June 2020, it has been evident that Telegram received a massively positive response in Eastern Europe and Asia, and even in the Americas and South Africa. However, this doesn’t mean that too bad for the already leading messaging apps like Facebook and WhatsApp. Because Telegram’s rising popularity can be connected with the market saturation of the leading apps. All those apps are already installed on our phones, that’s why Telegram may be winning the growth war.

The other argument is that Telegram is known for its privacy and reliability, which makes it the go-to choice for countries where that have strict, authoritarian regimes with a strong emphasis on national security. 

Therefore, if your business belongs to any of the locations mentioned above, and you have significant customers using Telegram there, you might have the best possible way to connect with them using Telegram Business Account.

What are the Telegram Business Accounts?

Actually, there are not. You don’t get a separate app for Business purposes as you do in WhatsApp & WhatsApp Business App. You, however, can use the actual Telegram app which packs a punch big enough to give a serious boost to your business. But how to go about it? Let’s find out.

You create Telegram groups and channels that we discussed earlier for your customers. Apart from that, it is the Telegram Bot which does a remarkable job in automating interactions for services whether it be gaming, social, productivity, e-commerce or any other. The Telegram Bot API is free, and you can create a Telegram account as a business using a Telegram Bot. 

Creating a Telegram Bot

The Telegram Bot is as close as you can get to have a Telegram Business account. You get branding controls for your business that you can use to create a unique experience for your customers.

Follow the given steps to create a Telegram Bot:

1. BotFather Chat

Search for BotFather, open it and hit start.

2. Using /newbot command

This command will set off the Bot creation process. You will need to choose a display name for the Bot and username for it too. Give a good thought to the username because, unlike display name, it can’t be changed. 

3.  That’s It

Finally, you will receive a token to connect a messaging CRM with your Telegram Bot.

However, it is to be noted that there’s no set place to answer messages that the Bot will receive. 

How to get the Telegram Verified Badge

Telegram doesn’t have Verified Badge criteria based on its own parameters. Instead, it depends on the verification provided by the following platforms if it is to award a verified badge to your Bot:

1. Twitter
2. Either Facebook or Instagram
3. YouTube

Therefore, if these platforms do not verify you, there’s quite literally no other way to get the verified badge by Telegram. 

Telegram Marketing for Business – Ultimate Mastery Guide

In a nutshell, Telegram is aimed at making the messaging experience faster, reliable and free of cost. Its features are created with its guiding principles in mind, and to master it, you need to find the best way around the app. Let’s begin with finding your customers.

Locating your customers on Telegram

For signing up on Telegram, you need a phone number. Though, Telegram ID is what gives an added uniqueness to each account. However, your messaging CRM doesn’t receive the phone number, nor the Telegram ID through the Telegram Bot but only the name of the sender.

This translates into the inability to download a CSV file of Telegram users onto a CRM. And like what we see on WhatsApp Business, to save a customer as a contact, they will have to message you first. This is a rather common practice aimed at reducing the amount of spam these platforms encounter.

How to make use of Telegram Chat Links & QR Codes

All chatbots on Telegram accompany a t.me/username chat link format, which, when visited, would land a user directly on the chat with you. Thus pay proper attention to devising the username from the branding point of view.

These chat links perform well on a website, social media descriptions, messages or even emails sent out to your customers. However, remember that these links will work well only if the person who clicks the link has the Telegram app installed on the device. If the app isn’t installed, the link will open the app listing on the App Store or the Play Store.

Though, if the link is opened from the desktop, they’ll be redirected to the Telegram Web, which only works if a person had visited the page earlier as well.

Besides links, there are QR codes which can be used at physical stores to drive traffic to your Telegram account for business. Much like the chat links, if the person doesn’t have the Telegram app installed, they will be directed to download it. Thus it’s a good practice to have the Telegram logo on top of the QR code. 

To create the QR Code, you can use your unique chat link with any QR Code generator that you can find online and have it direct traffic to your Telegram account.

How to make use of in-app search?

Most of the other messaging platforms require your business to have a verified account if it is to appear in the in-app search. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Telegram. As soon as you create a new Telegram Bot for your business, it appears when you search for it in the Telegram app. 

This is an excellent way for people who are already well-versed with Telegram, to find you in the app and send you a message if they want to connect with you.

Now let’s proceed with messaging the contacts that you’ve acquired. 

Everything about messaging customers on Telegram

This is where Telegram lays waste to all its competitors. When other messaging apps put restrictions on the interactions you have with your customers, Telegram adopts a highly liberal approach and doesn’t set any limits whatsoever. 

1:1 Messaging

Some apps have a messaging window within which you can send a message, often called as a session message. Beyond that time limit, only the pre-approved template messages can be sent out to your customers. Whereas in Telegram, there’s no such window. If a customer becomes your contact, you can send him or her a message after any time. 

However, Telegram has a drawback- unlike personal accounts, there are no message status reports available via the Telegram Bot API. This means that no matter which messaging platform you use with Telegram Bot, you won’t be able to see if the customer has received or read your message.

Another concern is about the immediate read receipts that the customer gets when he interacts with the Telegram Bot. These give the impression that someone has read the message but not replied to the customer and is keeping them waiting. 

Broadcast Messaging

Telegram does put only one requirement for you to connect with your customers, which is that it should be them who contacts you first. Once that requirement has met, you can keep holding conversations with them, and add them to the broadcast list as you send any type of rich messages. What’s more, you can have any number of contacts in the broadcast list. 

However, you should be wary because the customers can always block you if they don’t like what you send to them, or if you’re too interfering. Also, it is to be noted that your Telegram Bot has to be connected to a business messaging platform for you to engage in 1:1 and broadcast messages. So check that your platform has broadcast capabilities.

Group Messaging

You might not have thought of it, but Telegram Bots can join a group chat which is very useful from the business perspective. For instance, you can collect the group chat record in the messaging CRM that your Bot is connected to by adding it to a group.

Also, recommended reads for you…

Ultimate Guide to WhatsApp Business App

Ultimate Guide To WhatsApp Business API