Telegram has recently launched Telegram Premium, a new subscription service that offers an exclusive experience for the users. The paid service will offer additional features and first-hand new feature releases, and it costs anywhere between $5 – $6 per month.
According to their statement, the goal is to “offer all the resources-heavy features users have asked for over the years while preserving free access.” In other words, Telegram has found a way to deliver a more unique and amplified version of the app, without compromising the free version, so appreciated (and downloaded) all over the globe.
In numbers, Telegram ended April 2022 with over 500 million monthly active users and was one of the 10 most downloaded apps in the world. To give you a quick perspective of its growth, the app increased its user base by 25% in only two years (remember that we are talking about millions of people). Nowadays, the app has already achieved 700 million.
And what I love the most about Telegram’s growth and Telegram Premium is the story behind it. Telegram has never paid to advertise its apps. Their entire growth came from the old (but gold) method of personal recommendations. People invited their friends to join the app and, one by one, they decided to become a part of it. Does it bring you a sense of community?
For me, it does. Telegram was capable of building its own brand community, by only delivering a good and helpful service.
Going further, one of the reasons why Telegram has launched the Premium version, was because many users have expressed their desire to support their team – they wanted to support Telegram’s continued development and were willing to pay for more features. Again, I can’t describe this movement with other words than a strong sense of brand community.
What can the Telegram Premium mean for your Marketing strategy?
This is all great. But how can you – as a marketer – take any benefits from Telegram Premium? Well, the first thing (and as a piece of strong advice) is to learn from them. Telegram shows us the power and importance of having a strong brand community, and how you can grow your brand with their help.
A brand community gives you a chance to foster an environment that supports strong loyalty and allows people to connect emotionally to your brand. Learning how to build an engaged and loyal brand community is the first lesson Telegram leaves with you.
The second thing is about the new features available. If you use Telegram as part of your strategy, the Premium version includes new tools to organize your chat list.
Also, public figures and organizations can verify their group, channels, or bot, which can give your brand more authority. And talking about bots, Bot developers can now include a photo or video in the “What can this bot do?” section of their bots to show off their features.
Unfortunately, not everything is rainbows and butterflies for marketers who use Telegram as part of their paid strategy. In some countries, the app shows Sponsored Messages on large, public channels.
If this is your case, it is important to highlight that this option will no longer appear for Premium subscribers, only for the free ones.
There are other features available on Telegram Premium that you can explore and try with your Marketing strategy and, who knows, to also use them to start a conversation with your brand community.
