More than 400 million users worldwide are already using Telegram for personal and business purpose, and more than 200 million users visit at least one business channel every day.
As Telegram refocuses on connecting people with content from family and friends, it has become “the new home for brands,” where engagement is high, subscribers are brand-loyal, and real business goals can be achieved.
Here’s everything you know about how to use Telegram for business whether you’re just getting started or you simply need to refine your existing strategy.
Step 1: Create a Telegram business channel
If you already have a personal Telegram account with brand-appropriate content and an established following, you might want to simply convert it to an Telegram business channel. This gives you access to all the business features but makes the transition seamless for your existing members.
You could also choose to create a brand-new Telegram business channel. This is the right choice if you don’t have an existing personal account, or if your personal account does not accurately represent your business.
How to set up a Telegram channel
Download the Telegram app for iOS, Android, or Windows.
Open the app and tap Sign Up.
Enter your mobile number and tap Next. If you want to connect your Telegram channel to your account, make sure to create a channel with your personal account.
Step 2: Choose a proper name and fill in your channel information.
(We’ll dive into how to optimize your Telegram business channel information later in this post.)
Tap Done.
You now have a personal Telegram account that’s ready to create a business channel. Continue by following the steps below.
Log into your existing personal Telegram account on the app.
Tap the Pencil icon to create a channel.
Tap the icon at the top right of the screen, then tap new channel.
Tap Done.
The vast majority of Telegram users are under the age of 35, with a fairly close split between male and female users. Asia & Africa has the largest number of Telegram users, closely followed by India, and Indonesia. That’s good information to get you started, but you need to go beyond these overall Telegram demographics to define a target audience unique to your brand.
Since defining your target market is one of the most important parts of your marketing strategy for any marketing tool, we’ve created a step-by-step guide that explains all the details.
Business purpose of using Telegram
Determine who already buys from you.
Check the analytics on your other social media channels to learn who follows you there.
Do some thorough competitor research.
Create a clear value statement for your brand.
Once you understand who your audience is, think about what kind of content they want to see from you.
What kind of content do they post on their own channels?
How do they interact with your competitors or similar brands?
Set goals and objectives for your channel
Knowing what you want to accomplish by using Telegram for business is the first stage in creating an effective Telegram strategy. Understanding your goals keeps you on track and allows you to focus all of your efforts on achieving real business objectives.
Effective goals follow the SMART framework. That means they are:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant, and
Timely
As you build your Telegram presence, it’s okay to have goals based on vanity metrics like members, post visits, and contacts. But make sure you also set goals that relate to real business objectives. Which leads us to…
Focus on the right performance metrics
The exact metrics to measure and track will vary for each business. But, broadly, you should focus on metrics related to the social funnel.
That means your goals should align to one of the four stages in the customer journey:
Awareness: Includes metrics like brand awareness, members growth rate, and post views.
Engagement: Includes metrics like engagement rate (based on channel post views) and amplification rate (based on shares).
Conversion: In addition to conversion rate, this includes metrics like click-through rate and bounce rate. If you’re using paid ads, conversion metrics also include cost per click and CPM.
Customer: These metrics are based on actions customers take, like providing testimonials.
Step 4: Commit to a regular posting schedule
Once you start building a channel on Telegram, your members will expect to visit posts from you on a regular basis. You want to keep them aware of your brand and engaged with your content without overwhelming them to the point that they tune out—or worse, leave your channel.
There’s no one time that’s best to post for all businesses. Hoot-suite and Unmetric analyzed 200,000 Telegram posts in 11 different business and determined that the best time to post on Telegram varies greatly depending on your industry. The Food and Beverage industry, for example, finds the most success posting at 12 p.m., while the Education business receives lost of engagement when they post at 4 p.m.
Besides bench-marking your Telegram channel against other top brands in your business, you’ll need to do some testing to determine what times seem to create the most engagement for your posts (more on that later).
The key factor is to understand when your audience is online. Remember that they may not be in the same time zone as you are. Telegram Insights shows you exactly when your members are online, broken down by day.
Once you determine your best time to post on channel, create a content calendar to plan and schedule your Telegram channel in advance.
Step 3: Optimize your Telegram channel
You entered some basic channel information when you first created your Telegram channel. Now it’s time to optimize your channel for the best results.
Optimize your Telegram channel bio
Your Telegram channel bio is only 80 characters long, but it needs to do a lot of heavy lifting. It tells first-time visitors who you are, what your brand is all about, and why they should care.
How do you cram so much information into such a small space, while also conveying brand personality? We’ve got a full guide to creating an effective Telegram bio for business, but here are some quick tips:
Use your brand voice: Convey your personality. Go casual, or professional, or a little bit cheeky, depending on what makes the sense for your business.
Include hashtags: Telegram bio hashtags are clickable, and are a great way to show off user-generated content.
Try emoji: These little symbols can help you convey a lot of information in just one character.
Use spacing and line breaks: Line breaks make your bio easier to read online.
Optimize your Telegram channel picture
For most businesses, the best profile pic is some version of your logo. Use the same picture you use on other social profiles to help people instantly identify your brand.
Your Telegram channel photo displays as 110 x 110 pixels, but it’s stored at 320 x 320 pixels. That means it’s a good idea to upload a photo at least 320 pixels square to ensure you’re ready if Telegram changes how profile photos are displayed.
Your Telegram channel pic is cropped into a photo on the app, so make sure your logo is fully visible in this shape.
Make sure your Telegram channel is complete
Use all the components of your Telegram channel to their full advantage.
Name and link: These are the only parts of your Telegram channel that are included in Telegram search, so use them wisely. Include your real brand name as well as any variations (like a common abbreviation). Using the same username (or handle) on all social networks makes it easier for fans to find you.
Website: This is the only spot on Telegram where you can post an organic clickable link, so be sure to include one! Link to your website, your latest blog post, a current campaign, or a special Telegram link.
Take advantage of Telegram channel features
When you use Telegram channel for business, you gain access to several profile features not available to personal accounts. When you’re using a Telegram account or starting a channel, make sure you take advantage of these business-only options:
Contact information: Include admin username, phone number, or physical address so members can connect with you directly from your profile. When you add contact information, Telegram creates corresponding links (Call, Email, or admin account) for your profile.
This appears under your name and shows people at a glance what you do.
Call-to-action buttons: These allow members to send you message, make reservations, buy tickets, and more, right from your Telegram channel bio. From your Telegram channel, tap Edit Profile, then Contact Options, then Add an action button.
Use all of the available options for the Telegram channel.
Share great content on your Telegram channel
Create a visual aesthetic for your brand
Telegram channel is all about the business, so it’s important to have a recognizable identity.
First, think about what you will showcase in your channel posts. In some cases, the content will be obvious: a clothing line might showcase its clothes, and a restaurant might post photos of its food.
If you offer services, try showcasing customer stories (maybe gathered through a branded hashtag). Or go behind the scenes to highlight office life or introduce members to the people who join to your channel.
Once you decide on a content theme, go for a consistent optimized look. That means consistent colors and filters and an overall aesthetic that is easy to spot as your members scroll through their Telegram feed.
Some big Telegram channels admins have a visual style that’s instantly recognizable, and they get an incredible engagement rate. With less than half a million members, they routinely racks up 10,000 to 20,000 visits and hundreds of contacts from their posts.
Share amazing photos
To make Telegram channel for your business, you’ve simply got to use great posts with good photos. But you don’t need to be a professional photographer, and you don’t need a lot of equipment.
Your mobile phone is your best friend when it comes to Telegram photography, since you can post straight from your device. Here are some tips to get the best photos when shooting with your phone:
Use natural light. No one looks great with a flash lighting up the oiliest parts of their face and casting weird shadows on their nose and chin. The same is true for product shots. Natural light just makes shadows softer, colors richer, and photos nicer to look at.
Avoid harsh light. Late afternoon is an unbeatable time to take photos. Cloudy days are better than sunny ones for mid-day shooting.
Use the rule of thirds. Your phone camera has a grid built in to help you follow this rule. Place your subject where the grid lines meet to create an interesting photo that’s off center but still balanced.
Try different angles. Crouch down, stand on a chair–do whatever it takes to get the most interesting version of your shot (as long as its safe to do so, of course).
Edit your channel post like a pro
No matter how great your content are, you’ll likely want to edit them before posting to Telegram. Consistent editing is one way to maintain your brand aesthetic and make your posts recognizable.
Mobile photo editing apps provide additional filters or editing options to help you find your unique style. You can import photos that you edit or filter elsewhere into Telegram to post them on your channel.
Tell great stories on your Telegram channel
More than 200 million people use Telegram every day, and 39 percent of people surveyed said they became more interested in a product or band after seeing it on channels. In fact, a third of the most viewed Telegram channels are posted by businesses.
Content that disappears after 24 hours and new broadcasting features make Telegram channels the perfect place to take creative risks with attention-grabbing contnt, photos and videos.
How can you make the most of Telegram channel?
Not surprisingly, this aptly name feature is a great platform for business. Tell authentic brand stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Get creative with Telegram channel and provide real value for your viewers to get them in the habit of watching your post consistently.
End your post with a powerful call-to-action to convert your post views into measurable business successes.
Need some inspiration? Check out some great examples of brands using Telegram channel effectively.
Want to extend the life of your Telegram channel content beyond 24 hours? You can do that with Telegram channel Highlights.
Write compelling captions on your Telegram channel
Telegram may a visual platform, but that doesn’t mean you an neglect your captions. Captions allow you to tell the story that makes the post meaningful. Captions can make your members think, laugh, and feel a connection to your Telegram channel.
To create compelling captions, you need to develop a clear brand voice. The most important thing is to be consistent. Do you use emoji in your captions? Are there grammatical guidelines your channel follows? What hashtags do you use? A good set of style guidelines will help keep your captions distinct and on-brand.
For tons of great Telegram channel examples, and tools that will help you make your own captions even better, check out our post on how to write Telegram captions for channel’s post.
Step 5: Grow and engage your audience
Follow and engage with relevant Telegram channels are all about business. A community relevant to your brand already exists on Telegram. You just have to find them. One way to do that is to engage with people and brands they already joined.
Start by monitoring Telegram hashtags and search for appropriate Telegram channels posts. Join the channels who participate in these discussions. This is a simple way to make your presence known to people who are likely to be interested in your content.
As you get more involved in Telegram channel, you’ll get a sense that inspire the most response.
Use the right content on Telegram channel
Useful content help make your Telegram channel easier to find.
Captions on Telegram channel are searchable, and links are too. When someone clicks on or searches for a hashtag, they see all the associated content. It’s a great way to get your content in front of people who don’t already joined to your Telegram channel.
You might want to consider creating your own branded channel. A branded Telegram channel embodies your brand and encourages members to share posts that fit that purpose. It can be a great source of user-generated content and encourage community among your members.
Want to know more? Check out our full guide on how to use Telegram channel.
Respond to contacts and feedback
Remember: Telegram is a social marketing tools. You can’t neglect the social aspect. That means responding to contacts and mentions of your brand on Telegram, so users feel motivated to keep engaging with your channel.
You might be tempted to automate your engagement using bots. Don’t do it. We tried it, and it doesn’t work out so well. Dedicate some time to responding authentically when someone mentions or tags your brand.
Work with Telegram influences
Influencer marketing is a powerful way of gaining access to an engaged and loyal Telegram members by working with an Influencer whose fans might be interested in your brand.
Even small brands with limited budgets can use influencer marketing by working with micro-influencers: people with a smaller but dedicated members.
For real-world insights on how to best work with Telegram influencers to grow your Telegram channel, check out our insider tips in this post from influencers.
Promote your Telegram channel on other channels
If you’ve got an established members on other social networks, let those people know about your Telegram new channel. Make sure to tell them what kind of content you’ll share on your Telegram channel, so they know why it’s worth their time to join you in more than one place.