WhatsApp revitalises Vía País’ engagement strategy

In 2009, the iOS operating system brought mobile messaging via WhatsApp to Argentina. It took three years for the application to become popular. Today, Argentinians can't imagine a day without opening their message inbox at least once.

According to a digital report study, by mid-2023, the application was the most popular social network in Argentina, with 93.1% of the country's online audiences using it.

The format of all WhatsApp notifications to Vía País' audience is uniform.

This is where Vía País saw an opportunity to expand its audience even further. The portal ranks among the top 15 media outlets in Argentina. Therefore, its informative role is significant.

In December 2023, our information arrived on WhatsApp through the implementation of "channels," a tool that Meta's application introduced. This enabled the dissemination of public messages to large audiences.

With an average of 5 million users in recent months, Vía País is responsible for informing a large number of Argentinians. One of our team's main daily tasks is to select the five news stories we believe our audience should read during the workday from more than 120 articles, on average.

As of today, nearly 30,000 users follow Vía País' WhatsApp channel. This tool, along with Facebook, keeps the audience informed and also significantly boosts traffic percentages.

A channel to reach thousands

Followers of Vía País' WhatsApp channel receive an average of five daily messages.

Its structure and acquisition strategy are the same as on Facebook: a cover designed by our graphic team and two paragraphs of copy, the first no more than three lines to announce the event and the other with the publication link inviting readers to click. The aim is to generate the highest number of impressions and clicks.

The results speak for themselves

Since December 2023, Vía País has increased its traffic. Back then, following the fall of Instant Articles that affected the entire media spectrum, the portal managed to grow from around 2 million monthly users to about 5 million users and steadily rising.

Vía País' intelligence in facing adversity, reflected in the numbers, involved exploring new avenues beyond Facebook and Google. The WhatsApp channel is a clear example of this.

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About the Authors

Vía País is based in Argentina. The company can be reached at @ViaPaisOk.

Cielo Maguna is head of social media at Vía País in Argentina. Cielo can be reached at [email protected] or @Cielomaguna.

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