How To Upgrade Your WhatsApp Messenger Account to a Business Account

Nov 7, 2023

Switch from WhatsApp Messenger to WhatsApp Business if you are looking to promote your business on WhatsApp.

In this article, we are going to discuss:

We live in an era where social media presence is all-pervasive. Some may even call it overwhelming. People are drawn to all sorts of social media sites and networks for social interaction, visibility, expression, and influence, as well as for other reasons. Thus, social media sites have become the proverbial 'watering holes' of the information technology era that we live in. For many people, social media and the internet have become as integral to living as oxygen!

What does this mean for you, a business owner? Where would business owners go if they were looking to sell their products and services? To places where there were lots of people, correct? These days, those places are social media platforms. Social media platforms are replete with business advertisements, reaching out and introducing their products and services to prospective buyers.

Enter WhatsApp!

It may be time to put this up straight! The social media platform with the most significant number of users is…not Facebook, not Instagram, but WhatsApp!

With almost 60 billion messages being exchanged on WhatsApp daily, it might be becoming clear to you, as a business owner, that WhatsApp is THE place to sell your products and services! Did you know that, currently, WhatsApp has nearly 1.6 billion active users? Studies have revealed interesting statistics that WhatsApp is most popular among the age groups of 15 to 25.

And you may have also realized by now that WhatsApp is not only the Messenger service you thought it was! It is now a serious place to do business at!

What is WhatsApp Business?

The WhatsApp that we use for social networking is WhatsApp Messenger. We use that to reach out, connect and chat with other users in a social setting.
On the other hand, WhatsApp Business is meant for small business owners. Besides the basic messaging functionality, WhatsApp Business allows business owners to have a profile that is a pity introduction to your business, its products, and services. Also, WhatsApp Business will enable you to upload pictures of your products and services.

You must remember that WhatsApp Business requires a unique telephone number, i.e., the number assigned to a WhatsApp Business account can then not be used as a WhatsApp Messenger number. If you intend to continue using WhatsApp Messenger, you would need to acquire a different number and assign that to WhatsApp Business exclusively.

Why Switch from WhatsApp Messenger to WhatsApp Business?

Firstly, you can switch from WhatsApp Messenger to WhatsApp Business if you are looking to promote your business on WhatsApp. It is recommended but mandatory.
It makes sense to switch to WhatsApp Business if you are a business owner because WhatsApp Business has been specially designed for business owners. It is designed for business owners to use as a customer acquisition and support channel for better and improved communication and interactions with prospects and customers.

The most potent aspect of WhatsApp Business is that it allows businesses to integrate WhatsApp with CRMs, enabling them to streamline their sales and customer support workflows and operations.
WhatsApp is also constantly innovating to help business owners to get the most out of WhatsApp as a tool for business promotion. So, business owners can expect some exciting tools to come their way if they use WhatsApp Business.
Let's assume; for now, you have a WhatsApp Messenger number that you wish to convert to a WhatsApp Business account.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Back Up

You should take a backup of your WhatsApp Messenger chat history. This is important, though often overlooked, step. Once you convert to WhatsApp Business, the message history from Messenger will only be available to you if you back it up.
You need to go to Settings-> Chats-> Chat Backup->Back->Up/Back Up Now.

2. Download

With the chat history backed up, you are now ready to transition to WhatsApp Business. At this point, you need to go to Google or Apple play store and download WhatsApp Business.

3. Terms of Service

Before you go any further, you must approve and accept the Terms of Service.
At this point, a dialogue box mentioning the Terms of Service should appear. Once you have read it, you must agree to the Terms and proceed only.

4. Register

Registering is meant to assign a phone number to the business account. Since you already had a Messenger account associated with the number, WhatsApp will automatically identify the number previously in use and highlight it for you. All you need to do at the time of registration is to click on the number to proceed.

5. Give Permissions

At this point, your account is being transferred to a Business account. Once this is complete, you will need to go to àRestore. Then, select-> Next, and then permit to add photos, videos, and any other documents filed to your Business account.

6. Create Business Account

Next, you can proceed to create your Business account. You select the Business Category, enter the name of your business and upload your profile picture. You can then complete the Business profile, which, as we mentioned earlier, is a concise introduction to your business, its products, services, and its value proposition.

And voila!