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One of the most popular tech solutions that many online entrepreneurs use for membership business is WordPress, used in conjunction with a specialized membership plugin, allowing businesses to charge users for access to a closed members-only website area.

In 2018, the year that the world officially became mobile-first, this approach doesn’t seem as ideal as it once may have been. In the new era of messaging, we are undergoing a transition from traditional blogs, email newsletters, and forums to channels and group chats in messaging apps. These new options are simply faster, easier to use, appear native on mobile devices and provide many other benefits.

Telegram offers a unique combination of features allowing it to serve as the foundation upon which businesses can build their membership business.

In this article, we’ll discuss exactly what makes Telegram awesome for membership business and how can you build your own membership business in Telegram.

Channels

Telegram channels allow you to broadcast your messages to large audiences.

Channels are one-to-many communication tools similar to blogs and mailing lists. Here are some important features of Telegram channels:

Channels can have an unlimited number of subscribers
Channels can be public with a permanent URL
Channels can be private, accessible by invite link only

These features make Telegram channels great for content delivery of almost any kind, including text publications, images, videos, podcasts.

Publishers can use private Telegram channels to deliver their newsletters — without building a site or sticking to a platform. They simply post to the channel — and subscribers will see these posts right in the Telegram.

Group Chats

Telegram groups are used to build online communities.

As opposed to channels, group chats provide many-to-many communication — everybody can post in the group and everybody else will see it.

Here are Telegram group features:

Group chats can have up to 100 000 members
Group chats can be public with a permanent URL
Group chats can be private, accessible by invite link only

These features make Telegram groups awesome for building paid online communities like Nomad List, Work In Progress.

Bots

Telegram bots are third-party apps that run inside Telegram.

The possibilities of bots are almost endless. Here are just a few things of what they can do:

Integrate with other APIs
Deliver customized notifications and news
Moderate channels and groups
Accept payments
Provide customer support

Telegram bots can act as your personal membership business administrator and take care of many important operations like:

Providing users with info about plans and pricing
Processing membership fees
Providing clients with access to members-only resources (after payment)
Revoking access when the subscription ends
Reminding clients to renew their subscriptions
Providing automated customer support

These operations can take a lot of time if done by hand. With a membership bot, entrepreneurs can focus on the most important aspects of their business — producing content and building community.

Payments

Telegram bots allow accepting payments from Telegram users.

The payment interface is integrated into Telegram, so users don’t need to visit any external websites — everything is done in the app. Telegram also supports Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Telegram doesn’t process payments by itself and relies on different payment providers around the world:

With an account at one of these providers, you can accept membership fees via your membership Telegram bot automatically.

How to organize subscription business in Telegram:

Here is one of the most popular models for running subscription business in Telegram:

Public channel with free content, available for everyone
Private channel with premium content, available only for paid subscribers
Membership bot for automated administration

This model suits publishers, podcasters, analysts and everyone who sells their content on a paid subscription basis.

In this model, a public channel is promoted to attract leads. Then, entrepreneur converts them into paying customers, ultimately increasing subscribers to your paid channel.

Here is another model for subscription business, more suitable for online communities:

Public channel with info about community, available for everyone
Private group chats (one or several on different topics) for networking, available only for paid subscribers
Membership bot for automated administration

This model can be used for building online communities like Nomad List, Female Founders, and others.

Another model for a paid online course could look like this:

Public channel with info about course, available for everyone
Private channel with lessons, available only for paid subscribers
Private group chat for students networking, QA with an instructor or his assistants, available only for paid subscribers
Membership bot for automated administration

This model suits online teachers, instructors and coaches willing to run their online education (or training) courses. It could be everything from foreign language learning to fitness programs.

How to build a membership bot for Telegram

As you can see, Telegram offers fantastic opportunities for membership business and a membership bot is a crucial component of it.

A membership bot doesn’t have to be built from ground zero (which could cost a lot of money).

Thanks to InviteMember, you can create your own membership bot in minutes. It’s as simple as that:

Decide what benefits will you provide to subscribers (any number of channels and group chats)
Register your new Telegram bot
Add your logo to your newly created bot
Enter plans and pricing info
Connect to payment provider

Just a few steps and your automated membership business administrator is ready to work. The team here at InviteMember will take care of the rest: servers, software, integration, updates, and support — we cover it all.

Start your membership business in Telegram today! Write to us at @InviteMemberSupportBot.

Please let us know if you need any extra help with one of the steps described earlier.