WhatsApp Is Powerful For Hispanic Legal Marketing, But Avoid These No-Nos

Although not widely used in the U.S., WhatsApp is popular among Hispanics and is particularly popular among foreign-born Hispanics. According to the Pew Research Center, half of U.S. Hispanics use it, and nearly all foreign-born Hispanics use it. If you’re trying to get new Hispanic clients, you should absolutely use WhatsApp for marketing purposes. But, how do you use it correctly for marketing purposes? Read on.

Although WhatsApp is primarily a platform for verbal and written communications between friends and family members, it does offer business accounts. Although business accounts don’t differ from personal accounts in any significant way in terms of functionality, having the label “business account” does give your account some credibility. Unlike SMS texting, where marketers are associated with nameless phone numbers, WhatsApp allows you to send messages from a business account that has a name, photos, and even a bio. So, when you use WhatsApp for marketing purposes, you’re able to immediately identify yourself without having to say anything forced, as someone would do in an unsolicited email or voicemail: “This is Robin from X law firm…”

The trick to using WhatsApp is using it for personal business communications with potential Hispanic clients without crossing the line between business communication & “personal” communication or business communication & spam. You definitely don’t want to run afoul of any anti-spam regulations when using the platform, and you definitely don’t want to come across as creepy when communicating with a potential Hispanic client through their personal phone number.

The best way to use WhatsApp to communicate with potential Hispanic clients is to use it to follow-up with warm leads. Say that a potential Hispanic client gave you their WhatsApp number (phone number) when signing up for your newsletter (link) and has expressed concern about insurance companies in a comment to one of your Instagram Reels. In this case, you might use the platform to reach out to the person and ask them–in English or Spanish, depending on the language they wrote their comment in–if they need any help with an insurance issue. That’s how you use WhatsApp for legal marketing: genuine, warm communication between an empathetic attorney and a member of the Hispanic community that needs help with a legal issue!

Doing one of the following could undermine any genuine, warm communication you make. Make sure to avoid:

• Creating groups and sending out spammy group messages. 

WhatsApp does allow group messaging, but it was made (and is used almost exclusively for) personal communication. Sending unsolicited group messages is contrary to well-established WhatsApp etiquette.

• Being too personal with your communications. 

A potential Hispanic client’s WhatsApp number is associated with their phone number…it might be appropriate to email someone late at night, but it’s in no way appropriate to send a message on WhatsApp after hours. Remember, sending a message on WhatsApp is sending a text, audio, or image file directly to a potential Hispanic client’s personal phone.

• Assuming that WhatsApp and SMS are the same. 

WhatsApp is far more powerful than SMS texting…in addition to texting, WhatsApp allows you to send voice messages, send files, make audio calls, make video calls, and more. WhatsApp is far more powerful than a texting app…let potential Hispanic clients know that you know how to communicate like a member of the Hispanic community by using all of its features. (I.e. don’t say “I’ll email you the PDF” on WhatsApp, thereby letting the person know that you didn’t know that you can send PDFs through WhatsApp.)

• Assuming that WhatsApp is secure. 

Sure, WhatsApp says that there’s end-to-end encryption when you use it the first time, but the owners of WhatsApp monetize the platform by selling your data. Use WhatsApp to generate relationships with Hispanic leads…DO NOT use WhatsApp (or any other social media platform) to discuss details of a case, lest the info end up in the wrong hands.

Chances are, your competition has no idea how powerful WhatsApp is for converting new Hispanic leads. Get a leg up on your competition by using the platform like a pro.