Why are official accounts in messengers so important for your company's reputation?

Security has always been one of the top concerns in digital communications; the issue has hardly improved in recent years. In fact, viruses and malware are no longer the only such threat—a new type of scam is on the rise these days. Fraudsters pretend to represent well-known companies on popular digital platforms, such as social media and messengers, to gain and abuse the users’ trust. This malversation harms both the consumers and the company whose reputation is being misused this way. One way to safeguard your company’s public image and reap the benefits of messenger marketing is to represent yourself on the most popular platforms as an officially verified brand. 

If you're looking to prove that your account in a messenger is authentic, your first priority would be to create an official business account. This would offer your company a verified brand profile to use in client communication: for example, to update on the delivery status, provide customer support, and notify consumers about special offers or new product launches that they might find interesting. 

But are messengers secure enough to use for business messaging? We prepared some tips to prove that they are: here are some features that make messengers a safe and effective tool to use in your mobile marketing strategy.

1. Official accounts are clearly marked. Many companies choose to create an official business account in social channels (for example, to open an official Viber business account) to reassure their customers that they’re talking to the real brand—but it also makes it easier for businesses to communicate directly to their audience. After the account is verified, most messengers will provide some kind of mark or badge proving the account’s authenticity; in Viber such a verification mark comes in the form of “blue tick” next to the brand name in an official Viber business account. It enables the users to distinguish the real brands from fraudsters at a glance and thus helps the company build trust with its clients, so it has utility for both customers and companies. 

Viber takes issuing the official business accounts very seriously. Each application for the status is manually reviewed by our team, so only genuine brands pass the verification process and gain access to business messaging tools—and only after they’ve accepted Viber’s user privacy rules.

2. Besides the verification marks, many companies have a completed business profile that helps to make the right impression; it can contain a logo, brief description, address, and phone number—Viber will state that it’s a “business account” right here under the company’s name and logo. Much like the verification marks, a business profile helps users determine that they are dealing with the real company and not fraudsters (who would be forced to use a regular user profile because they wouldn’t pass the verification process). 

As a company, you, too, benefit from setting up a Viber business account: not only does it protect your reputation by leaving no space for the “impersonators”, but it is also an excellent way to introduce yourself to the audience by adding a brief description of your services and making the profile part of your mobile marketing strategy. 

3. Messages not stored on servers. Messaging can even be more secure than email because the messages aren’t stored on the messaging provider’s servers. With email programs, your emails are stored on the provider’s servers, which could allow your email provider to let other companies read your emails in order to serve you with targeted ads. But a trustworthy messaging app like Viber involves no such potential invasions of privacy. 

4. Data protection. Authenticity aside, there’s always another concern with communication platforms, particularly for companies dealing with sensitive information (such as those in the financial sector and healthcare): are messengers secure enough to exchange confidential information? Whereas the gold standard of security in peer-to-peer communication is “end-to-end encryption”, business messaging requires what is called “encryption in transit”. We use encryption in transit when messages are sent not by an individual but through a brand’s platform, using Viber business API. As soon as the message is sent (it’s “in transit”), it is encrypted, and is only decrypted once it reaches the messaging app’s back-end system. The back end then encrypts the messages again before sending them back to the user or service.

Encryption in transit provides an exceptionally high level of security for brands, so your company can rest assured your business messages are safe from hackers, when using Viber for Business.

5. A proper introduction to the user sets the stage for building trust. Viber for Business has handy tools to not only prove you’re a real company but also strike the right tone at the start of your communication with a user. Viber employs a special Overlay for that: it accompanies your first message to customers and explains why they’ve received this message and who it is from. Overlay serves as an official introduction and helps with Viber marketing by signaling to the user that your message isn’t spam: companies utilizing overlay on Viber saw their block rates drop since people tend to feel positive about such explanations.

Advantages of interacting with users via an official Viber business account go far beyond protection from scammers: there’s the option of integrating the account with your CRM- or CDP-system to personalize customer communications, real-time analytics, interactive messages and real, two-way conversations, reasonable pricing, and other messenger marketing tools and features. Whatever your priorities for the messenger marketing strategy may be, an official Viber business account benefits both you and your clients.

Still have questions about the messaging app security and Viber for Business? Don’t hesitate to reach out, we are here to help.