Clujeans use WhatsApp a lot. Real estate agents ask you to contact them via WhatsApp, university instructors share homework via WhatsApp groups*, accountants and lawyers send and ask for sensitive documents via WhatsApp, and we even hear adverts in the bus station that give WhatsApp numbers.
* (in Western and Northern Europe and North America, many students use WhatsApp groups for social reasons. And the teachers are often invited to groups. But independent teachers tend to use google drive or Microsoft Teams or a Dutch or Scandinavian app and universities tend to use their own university system to send assignments or conduct official business.)
For every smoker in Romania, there are at least three WhatsApp users, maybe four or even five. (And the one who smokes probably checks his WhatsApp while he smokes.)
Why don’t they use Zuckerberg App as much in Belgium, for instance? One, the EU is worried about security leaks. So, official bodies advise their people to avoid WhatsApp (aka ZucksApp). So do many diplomatic services, militaries, and other organisations. (Some just boycott Facebook/Meta as a company, but many others have real security concerns.) That’s why I find it especially weird when lawyers ask for or transfer sensitive documents through ZucksApp (like ID cards, for instance. I don’t know about criminal cases yet, thankfully.)
But, even if I wanted to call or text your WhatsApp number, I can’t always hear it on the radio or at the bus stop. I might not have a pen and paper ready, and waiting for a bus I don’t have time to save it on my phone. (It’s even worse in the car.) For visual media, I guess a WhatsApp contact, or just a plain phone number, can work. You can take a photo. That said, it does take up space that could be used to describe the product, give the product name, and so on.
But especially for audio, I would emphasize the name of the business by saying it at least three or four times. The traffic can block the sound of the number, or even someone stopping to ask for directions. But if your business has a unique name or website, that is easier to remember than random series of digits.
(There are other reasons people in the West don’t use WhatsApp for professional reasons, but that could be its own article, or perhaps even book.)
You remember Hey Cluj, right? Okay, maybe you don’t remember “Hey Cluj” just yet. If I said “this is Hey Cluj, a blog and potential magazine which tells you what’s going on in Cluj, so Hey Cluj, go to Hey Cluj dot eu,” you might. Do you remember the last phone number you heard? I think it started with a zero…
I said WhatsApp more than “Hey Cluj.” So, I am kind of advertising Meta. Why not use Signal? I mean, I can see why you might not use Telegram, or might not admit to using it, but Signal is used by the EU. If HeyCluj gave out a phone contact, it would more likely be Signal, or an email with the same domain as our website. But yeah, I would assume that almost anyone from Cluj who had my number, whether business or personal, would first try to contact me via WhatsApp. (Other towns in Romania, not as much.)
Cluj is not alone in it’s use of WhatsApp for “everything.” China uses WeChat like Cluj uses WhatsApp. Okay, I’ll continue in another post.
We were listening to the ads in the bus stop, just because it’s quicker to take the bus than to walk (or to find a parking space.) Some of them were interesting.
We heard the name EduKing and ExpoMedics. We also heard there was a circus or some show going on this weekend, but the name wasn’t repeated enough time. Auchan had an advert at the busstop. I don’t know what it was for, but I heard the name Auchan enough times that it reminded me of its existence. I am guessing something is on sale. Auchan doesn’t give a WhatsApp number.
Rosa’s shaorma streetfood stand, at the Sora shopping center, has advertised a few times. Was it worth it for them? I’m not sure. But at least I know where to find them if I want to. Maybe I’ll try them some time. (I’m not into Shaorma, but if someone asked me about Shaorma in Cluj, I know that name and that place.)
And Sora itself has advertised. I remember that Sora exists, when I have time, or I want to show visitors something about Cluj, I might go there. They have nice Romanian style shirts, the best deal on Romanian style shirts, so I think the advert does help, because I remember to go to Sora when I need those traditional shirts. (There are other places to buy them, of course, but Sora is one of my favorite places. Large selection, good prices, good quality, professional sales reps…)
But how many times have we heard about an interesting service, product, educational opportunity, job opportunity, or event, and instantly forgotten the name because most of the time was used up to state a phone number? (or app number?)
Of course, it helps to have a “good” ad. But it also helps if people know what the ad is for, and can remember your call to action. We need to hear the name of the business or service a few times, so we can look it up, on google, on yahoo (if you still use that… it was a search engine back in the day), on social media, or just recognise the name when you hear it again.
To prove that names are easier to remember than numbers, you know that if you type in a number instead of heycluj.eu you’ll get to the same page? What’s that number? Is there really a point in telling you? It is easier to hold on to the domain name than it is to the number. Sometimes we have to change numbers. Yeah, we forgot our own IP address.
I guess it’s worth having a WhatsApp number in the service industry in Cluj, as “everybody” uses it. (Except for a few Belgians, Australians, Brits, and even a couple of Romanians.) But it’s also useful to know that