Opportunities for ukrainian brands and media on telegram compared to other social platforms

The editorial team at Na chasi asked media professionals and Telegram channel owners about their views on the future of the platform — and whether Pavel Durov’s company can beat Zuckerberg’s empire.

Aliona Denha, digital marketing consultant and co-author of the Telegram channel «Digital Masons»

For large companies, Telegram is one of the most interesting tools for creating bots that improve customer service. A bot is essentially an app within an app. You can build anything with it — order pizza, pay bills, check the status of an order. Some companies already use Telegram this way. For example, Kyivvodokanal allows customers to submit billing data via a bot, while Ukrposhta and Nova Poshta bots help track shipments. I’ve even seen bots for legal support, trademark registration, and food delivery. With CRM integration and automation, bots open up major opportunities for businesses.

Right now, there’s a lot of buzz about Telegram channels because Facebook has once again announced a drop in reach for business pages. Still, I don’t believe Telegram channels can fully replace Facebook pages. On average, users actively follow about 10 Telegram channels, and half of those are muted. That makes it really tough to get your content seen — especially if it’s promotional or focused on driving conversions.

On Telegram, a brand can use its channel as a kind of mini-blog or image-building case. But that requires a dedicated content strategy, time for organic growth, and a strong focus on quality over quantity. Simply copying your Facebook or Instagram approach won’t work. That’s something brands should keep in mind.

Liubov Bahatska, SMM editor of the investigative program  «Skhemy»

People are getting tired of endless information flows, especially when the content is low quality. Telegram is attractive at the very least because it doesn’t use traditional news feed algorithms — so daily updates aren’t buried under ads or irrelevant noise like they often are on Facebook. As a result, Telegram channels tend to have high loyalty, strong engagement, and significantly better post view rates — sometimes reaching 100% or more, though usually around 60–80%. For comparison, Facebook’s reach can be as low as 5%. Bloggers are already feeling quite at home on the platform. The most popular channel topics right now are IT, digital, music, discounts, and travel. More and more media outlets are also launching their own channels or bots.

That said, when it comes to media channels, not all of them seem to have a clear content strategy. Imagine there’s breaking news — naturally, everyone rushes to publish it. What happens? Dozens of notifications saying the exact same thing hit users at the same time. Telegram is definitely a convenient notification tool, but direct access to users can also become annoying. Even worse is when a bot floods you with headlines. Users can easily read all that on a website. Channels that actually offer unique or unexpected content will be the ones to win attention.

When I started managing the Skhemy channel, I was only posting investigations. Later, I decided to take it more seriously — I began curating news roundups about high-level corruption, with simple explanations so that even readers not deeply familiar with the topic could understand. I used a more casual tone and added humor. As a result, the number of subscribers started growing.

Another tip for media — it’s better to keep channels narrowly focused. Users usually follow specific topics, so don’t serve them a mix of politics, economics, sports, culture, and gossip all in one place. Overall, Telegram works well for keeping an existing audience engaged and making it more loyal.

Yevhen Chornyi, Head of Digital at WOG

Telegram’s audience is growing rapidly. The growth is strong — currently, it’s mostly young users, but their number will continue to rise. As of today, Telegram ranks third among messaging platforms in popularity after Facebook and Viber. However, we’re seeing users gradually shifting from Viber to Telegram. One of Telegram’s biggest advantages for brands is the number of free features it offers, making it more appealing compared to competitors.

I don’t think it will reach Facebook’s level of success. But it’s definitely something that should be considered when planning digital campaigns. It used to be seen as a niche platform, but now it’s a fully-fledged communication tool — great for connecting with more engaged audiences based on shared interests.

Serhii Mitiayev, co-founder of Gagadget.com

There’s still very little business presence on Telegram. Most users there are highly proactive. However, the audience size is still too small for serious business objectives. In my view, the platform might be good for “reserving a spot” for the future or for running small-scale, local campaigns — like buying mentions or recommendations for cafes, restaurants, or events.

It’s unlikely to become the “Facebook killer.” Facebook already has over a billion users — and far more resources, which it uses aggressively in competition with Google in key growth areas. The global digital landscape is shaped by platforms that dominate in developed countries. Telegram still has a long way to go — and even theoretically, I find it hard to believe it could catch up.

Oleksandr Buiankin, Head of Digital at Friends of Brands