All smartphones come with messaging capabilities. Instant communication is one of the primary reasons we buy them.
However, out of the box they don’t necessarily provide all the features we want or need. Emails require lengthy inputs and most people don’t read them instantaneously. Text messaging is appealing in its simplicity but lacks organizational capabilities and in some cases, privacy.
When it comes to professional messaging apps, even some of the most popular and ubiquitous messaging alternatives don’t suffice for business needs. This is precisely why we created an app for that specific purpose.
Guild
Guild is an easy to use everyday messaging app made specifically for work. It allows for control over networks and protects user privacy all without ads or noise. The app is fully GDPR-compliant.
To join Guild, users have to be invited by a guild host. Invitations are sent via email, or by unique URL, and recipients can accept or decline. All groups are invitation-only and private. Setting up a profile is easy and can be done online or via the mobile app.
Unlike most messaging apps, Guild allows users to view profiles. While messaging remains at the core of Guild’s functionality, digestible professional profiles allow users to learn more about those in their networks than competing apps such as WhatsApp.
Guild elevates the mobile environment by providing a full web version complete with an admin dashboard to track activity.Guild is free for members and hosts pay to host them. The price per member goes down per member per year with higher member numbers.
Guild is the app where the convenience of modern messaging and bespoke business applications coalesce.
Most westerners have probably never heard of WeChat. However, it is the third most popular messaging app in the world with over 1 billion users thanks to its widespread popularity in China. The app was developed by Chinese tech powerhouse Tencent.
WeChat offers most of the typical features other popular messaging apps do. It also allows users to find friends within close proximity using features such as “Friend Radar” and “People Nearby”.
In addition to its pervasive consumer appeal, most companies in China use WeChat for internal messaging. WeChat service accounts can integrate with customer service and CRM making communicating with customers seamless. WeChat also offers subscription and corporate accounts for companies, influencers and celebrities.
Hangouts
Google Hangouts requires that users already have a Google account. The app is convenient to use through Gmail and Google+ It offers easy messaging and content sharing as well as video chat, SMS and VOIP features.
Of the pervasive messaging apps, people are more inclined to use Hangouts in professional settings for seamless and free video conferencing capabilities. Many users view Hangouts as akin to Skype which is also commonly used in enterprise settings.
Telegram
Telegram coins itself the fastest acting messaging app available. Users can share files with no limit in size. Telegram also supports GIFS, photos and videos. The app is free and funded by donations.
Chat threads can reach up to 100,000 people. Private groups on Telegram require new users to receive an invite from an existing member. Of the free consumer messaging apps, Telegram tends to cater towards interest groups and professional groups more so than WhatsApp due to the way threads are organized.
WhatsApp is by far one of the most popular messaging apps in the world with a reported over 1.5 billion active daily users. It experienced a meteoric rise in popularity due to its ability for users to chat over wifi regardless of operating system. Like most modern messaging apps, it is geography agnostic making international communication seamless.
Setting up WhatsApp requires allowing the app to access the users contacts and automatically populate a contact list. It supports GIFs, videos and editing features. According to Digital Trends, what attracts most users to WhatsApp is its consumer-centric popularity.
Using WhatsApp for professional purposes doesn't come without problems, and Zuckerberg's plans for integration will prove to be a pain point for many businesses.
Facebook messenger
The world’s most popular social media platform also contains a separate messaging app. It is the second most popular messaging app in the world with over 1.3 billion daily active users (Facebook also owns WhatsApp). For mobile, Facebook Messenger exists as a separate application. On a computer users can message through their Facebook profiles.
The app automatically populates contacts and allows users to easily add new contacts. Video and voice calling is clear and convenient. Like WhatsApp, the app garners enormous popularity, however few use it for professional purposes (unless they work for Facebook!).
Of course, there is the issue of whether businesses can trust Facebook with their data.
Snapchat
The Venice Beach, CA based messaging app gained popularity for its disappearing photos and videos. According to Statista, Snapchat reached its peak daily user volume in Q1 of 2018 with 191 million daily active users.
While Snapchat typically isn’t used in the professional setting, it proves to be a powerful marketing engine for B2C organizations.
Try Guild for free today
See how easy it is to set up and scale private, GDPR-compliant professional messaging groups, networks and communities.
Our pricing and plans page gives details of cost and what you get including custom-branding, analytics, admin, support, access to conversation and user data etc. We’ll also give you a free onboarding call to walk you through the product and answer your questions.
Simply click on ‘Start Free’ on the Business version to start your 1 month trial and we'll be in touch.
Contact us if you want to know more or have any questions.