I’ve spoken to a few people recently about the opportunity for brands and social messaging apps such as WhatsApp, and (what I perceive as) the lack of activity in this space.
So when I recently saw the BBC’s Richard III WhatsApp service (providing updates on his reburial) it caught my eye. I think other brands could learn a lot from Auntie Beeb here. I particularly like…
- How easy is was to sign up.
- The fact it’s free.
- That I can unsubscribe in a moment.
- That I knew what I was going to get.
- I trusted the brand to deliver great content and not spam me… and they repaid that trust.
I think the last point is particularly pertinent with this type of media, given how interruptive it is to receive messages pop-up on your phone. 
As soon as this sort of content becomes a little too frequent, or the quality drops below “excellent” I’m quickly going to be considering “an unsubscribe”. Brands need to be super sensitive and really think about the users’ experience.
Saying that, a couple of areas for development would be:
- Responding to questions… but maybe my question wasn’t interesting enough.
- Sticking to a regular time to deliver messages. Maybe less relevant here, but if you’re a brand delivering, say, recipe ideas, what about a regular Sunday night slot?
I’d really like to know if you’ve signed up to any other brands offering services like this – I’ve not seen many.