Meta has announced some updated ad options, with a focus on messaging, and WhatsApp in particular, as it looks to provide more ways for brands to tap into emerging engagement behaviors.
First off, Meta’s looking to streamline the ad setup process, by linking all of your ad creation elements, including WhatsApp ads, within Ads Manager, enabling multi-campaign management in a single workflow.
As explained by Meta:
“Now, businesses of all sizes can use the same creative, setup flows and budgets in one central place. Once onboarded, businesses can upload their subscriber list and either manually select marketing messages as an additional placement, or use Advantage+, and our AI systems will then optimize budgets across placements to maximize performance.
So the targeting element will be much easier, with Meta’s systems able to essentially take the reigns, either based on your existing client list, or by letting Meta AI find your optimal audience for you.
Which is something that the latest AI tools should be exceedingly good at. AI tools identify correlations and commonalities, to understand patterns in how tasks work, and optimize accordingly. And as such, they should be able to find people who are interested in products and services like yours, whether you realize who they are or not.
And in addition to managing Facebook, IG, Messenger and Threads campaigns, you’ll also be able to create ads for WhatsApp Status within the same flow.
Meta’s also expanding access to its business AIs, which enable brands to create custom AI chatbots for their own products and services.
Meta’s had these available for some time, and they can have benefits in facilitating always-on service and response. But there are limitations as well, and if you haven’t set your bot up properly, it can be a frustrating experience for customers.
But with more people now getting more used to engaging with AI bots, and AI tools advancing, it may be worth considering.
Meta’s also looking to expand its business AIs to include personalized product recommendations, and facilitate sales on any business’ website. Business AIs will also be able to follow-up with customers to answer questions, or provide updates, direct on WhatsApp.
Finally, Meta’s adding a direct calling option for large brands, to help address key customer issues.
“In the coming weeks, larger businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will be able to receive a call from a customer when they want to talk to someone live, or call a customer directly once they’ve asked to hear from you. And starting soon, we’ll also make it possible to send and receive voice messages for additional support, or make a video call which can be helpful for things like a telehealth appointment.”
So while Meta is going all in on AI bots, it’s not forgetting the human element entirely, facilitating phone calls for more complex problems, direct through WhatsApp.
Though that too could be automated as well:
“Bringing calling and voice updates to the WhatsApp Business Platform will help people communicate in a way that works best for them and paves the way for AI-enabled voice support in the future.”
Of course, it’s all AI, all the time, but Meta is trying to find more ways to cater to different communication options, to provide expanded response capacity from brands.
As noted, Meta’s leaning into business messaging as more and more people conduct their interactions via DMs. Indeed, people now send a lot more messages than they post or share in the main feed, and with that in mind, Meta’s looking to help brands align with this with its emerging promotion options.
Some interesting considerations for your planning.
