The Telegram messaging app offers businesses the opportunity to send push messages to users free of charge, integrate chatbots, and use the chat in customer service. Is Telegram a good alternative to WhatsApp? We show which possibilities Telegram offers companies and which companies are already successfully using the messenger.
With a user base of 800 monthly active users (and growing fast), Telegram is starting to become an increasingly interesting messaging app for businesses.
Features like free bulk messaging and easy chatbot integration make Telegram attractive for companies as well.
We therefore take a closer look at Telegram, show what possibilities it offers companies, where the risks lie, and how companies can successfully use the WhatsApp alternative.
Quick facts: Telegram at a glance
These are the most important facts about Telegram in a nutshell.
- Claim: The fast and safer alternative
- User numbers worldwide: 800 million users (as of August 2023)
- 9% of the world uses Telegram. With 70.48 million people, India has the highest number of Telegram users.
- Target group: Popular with media, e-commerce, deal platforms, tech companies and startups, among others
- Easy broadcasts: Subscribe by "start" command and unsubscribe by "stop" command
- Advantages: Own search area, direct customer contact, high traffic
- Disadvantages: Also used by dubious groups / bad image
Things to know about Telegram
History
Telegram was launched in 2013 and the LLC is currently based in Dubai. The two brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, who had previously founded the Russian Facebook counterpart VKontakte, were behind it. With Telegram, co-founder Pavel Durov primarily wanted to develop a secure messenger.
The instant messaging app can be used on mobile devices and desktop computers.
Telegram user numbers worldwide
In August 2023, Telegram founder Pawel Durov announced on his Telegram channel that the messenger had grown to 800 million active users. This means that Telegram has grown by 100 million users compared to 2022, making it increasingly more relevant for brands.
Compared to other social networks, this puts Telegram in ninth place among the most-used platforms worldwide. If we look only at pure messenger apps, however, Telegram is the fourth most used chat app after WhatsApp, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger.
The rapid growth and the various platform features make Telegram increasingly interesting for companies as well. And: Since many users consciously choose Telegram as an alternative to WhatsApp, companies can reach another target group here.
Get our Playbook for more tips, hacks, and success stories to unlock the power of WhatsApp and other messaging apps for business growth!
Is Telegram secure?
Telegram positions itself as a secure alternative to WhatsApp and other messaging apps.
Telegram is a cloud-based messenger for mobile devices and desktop with a focus on security and speed.
Telegram offers two forms of encryption. Chats and group chats are protected by a client-server encryption mechanism by default and kept encrypted in the Telegram cloud.
However, there are enough reasons why Telegram is not a secure messenger... at least not more secure than WhatsApp. One of them: Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram does not encrypt its chats end-to-end by default. Users have to actively set this up. Many don't know this and therefore don't communicate as securely as they think.
And keeping messages on the cloud also makes them easier to hack.
From a business perspective, you also have the problem that Telegram collects metadata and might synchronize the contact data on the smartphone.
It's also not 100% clear how Telegram is processing its data, which makes it tricky to use Telegram and comply with data regulations.
Business account: How can you use Telegram for business?
You have several options to incorporate Telegram into your business communication.
Telegram profile
A profile is the personal account for private users, companies, but also for administrators in channels and groups. Company profiles are also easy to search and find for users in the discovery area of the app. And: users can also subscribe to your channel there. If you're looking to use Telegram for marketing messages, this is an easy entry point for potential subscribers.
Telegram channel
The push channel can have an unlimited number of subscribers, and only admins and bots can post. Comments are not allowed and replies aren't possible! The channels are therefore a pure broadcasting tool.
Telegram group
A Telegram group or chat can have a maximum of 200,000 members and anyone can write in the chat. However, the admins of the group assign rights, for example to allow the sharing of pictures or videos.
Telegram bots
You can set up a Telegram bot as admin for your channel or group to post automated content. Users can also follow a bot. Subscribers can reply directly to the bot's newsletters — but unlike a group, only the bot's administrators see the replies!
Of course, you can also integrate specialized bots, like a customer service bot that can answer FAQs.
The easiest and best option for companies that want to use a chatbot on Telegram is to create a bot themselves. The Telegram Bot API or Telegram Business API is free and can be used to create bots for social, gaming, productivity, and e-commerce services. However, Telegram bots can also be used for human support by connecting them to a CRM or your business messaging platform.
For example, Telegram is already integrated with our Sinch Engage all-in-one messaging platform. This allows your company to manage marketing and customer service via Telegram in a scalable way, and, if desired, also offer multi-messaging service. So if you want to offer WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram, for example, that's no problem with Sinch Engage. Your customers use their preferred messenger app, and you manage everything from a central interface.
You can also integrate a direct link to Telegram on your digital channels like website or social media pages via our (privacy compliant!) widgets.
Engage with all your customers in one place.
What are the possible use cases of Telegram for businesses?
From customer communications to push notifications to bots, Telegram offers many options for businesses.
Customer communication on Telegram (1:1 chat)
Direct customer contact and fast communication are essential for a successful customer journey these days. Via Telegram, companies can advise their customers and convey product information or other important information directly in the chat. This makes it possible to answer questions quickly and directly. Customers can also conveniently contact companies about problems, information, or billing questions. This makes it easier to handle returns, for example, and reduces the number of returns.
Content distribution
Companies can also send marketing messages via Telegram. This works very similarly to WhatsApp's marketing messages. However, sending marketing content and push messages is (still) free of charge for businesses on Telegram.
The renowned Washington Post, for example, offers interested parties the opportunity to discuss articles on Telegram in addition to push messages about news articles.
But companies from Dafabet to HolidayPirates have also recognized Telegram as an attractive marketing and lead generation channel.
Selling on Telegram
Of course, you can also use Telegram as a sales channel by adding direct purchase links into your promotional messages.
That's what the e-commerce company SportSpar does, for example.
SportSpar sells discounted sports outfits from online. It customers are therefore regularly on the hunt for the best deals. As soon as a new deal goes live, customers want to know about it. And SportSpar uses Telegram's push messages to do just that.
First, users select how many alerts they want to get, and then receive according push notifications where they can then follow a link and purchase and item. This works amazingly well. The channel is even more profitable for SportSpar than WhatsApp!
Telegram bots
Telegram bots make it easy to send news, updates and promotional content in an automated way. This makes Telegram bots excellent for pushing information automatically through existing systems. For example, the WordPress Telegram bot automatically sends a Telegram newsletter when a post is published on the blog.
In addition, companies can create chatbots on Telegram that, for example, pre-qualify inquiries (first-level support chatbots), automatically answer recurring questions (FAQ), or provide personalized information to users using connected databases.
A bot can act as an intelligent newspaper, sending relevant content as it is published.
By integrating external services such as YouTube or the GIF bot, the newsletter can be enriched with a wide variety of content.
A bot can also work as a virtual storefront, offer paid services or provide alerts, weather forecasts, formatting, and translations.
Better than Clubhouse? Telegram Voice Chat 2.0
Telegram voice chats first appeared in December 2020, adding a new dimension of live conversation to groups on Telegram. Since the success of Clubhouse in early 2021, Telegram also further developed these voice-first spaces. They're available in groups and also for channels.
Advantages of Telegram voice chats vs. Clubhouse
Compared to Clubhouse, Telegram voice chats offer a few advantages.
- No limit: There's no limit to the number of participants.
- Chat recordings: Owners and admins can record audio to save conversations and publish them to fans who missed the live event.
- Admins can create invitation links that open the voice chat instantly. Separate links can be created for speakers and listeners.
- Talk as a channel: when entering a voice chat, users have the option to appear as one of their channels. This is particularly exciting for companies, as employees do not have to appear with private profiles.
Potential of Telegram for your business
Of course, WhatsApp is the undisputed number one messaging app. However, as Facebook Messenger stays relatively constant in user numbers, Telegram has been the rising star among the instant messaging apps. In India, it's already the third most popular messaging app.
This is a huge opportunity for early adopters, as they can already use a highly engaged audience and build a following. The different features like chatbots and broadcasts also offer interesting tools for businesses.
And if you use a professional messaging platform like Sinch Engage, you don't even have to choose between Telegram and other messaging apps, you can use them all and streamline all your conversations on one platform!
Get more out of messaging apps for your business, with Sinch Engage, your all-in-one messaging platform for marketing, sales, and customer service.
