Facebook is launching a new ad unit that allows companies to create a link between the two platforms: Advertisers can now include a button on their ads so that people can call or message WhatsApp with the click of a button.
Early viewers reported this feature in test mode earlier this year. Now, Facebook assured us that it is rolling this out gradually, starting first with North and South America, Africa, Australia and most of Asia.
You might notice that Europe is not on the list, and wondered if that might relate to the news that Facebook last year had to halt efforts to share data between the two platforms when it was deemed a violation of data protection laws.
Understandably, the plan is to introduce Europe at a later time, but Facebook will first notice how this feature is being used elsewhere, and also still work through questions from outside the company about how WhatsApp and Facebook will work together.
(Those outside the company may include consumers, but also regulators.)
The new feature being announced today, more generally, tracks some of the larger developments in how WhatsApp is used by companies.
Facebook tells us that more than 1 million Facebook pages already include WhatsApp numbers in their jobs every month, which means that there is already a pipeline between the two companies that companies use informally to communicate with customers more directly.
I've heard that in some developing markets, companies are using WhatsApp and Facebook pages as the main point of contact for users, so this would make it logical to expand on Facebook, as the new White and Yellow pages respectively.
“Many people already use WhatsApp to communicate with small businesses. It's a fast and convenient way to stay in touch,” Bancham Ghajar, Director of Product Marketing, Facebook, said in a statement. "By adding the WhatsApp Click button to Facebook ads, companies can now make it easier for people to learn about their products, set up an appointment, or use their service."
The other trend to note here is that WhatsApp has been working on a method for creating more specific business accounts for some time now. More recently, it posted some information on its help pages on how to verify, confirm, or unverified business accounts - although no specific products or pricing levels have been released that speaks to these three cases.
The new button ads unit is also similar to the "click to messaging" ads previously launched by Facebook.
"This format was the first ad product to explicitly link activity on Facebook with activity on the" messaging "program, and was followed by other forms of advertising on the" messaging "program itself," said senior analyst for Marketer Debbie Williamson. "It seems that Facebook is following a similar strategy to WhatsApp, starting from clicking ads to WhatsApp on Facebook, and eventually assuming ads are being placed on WhatsApp itself." (Which will really be the track again from the WhatsApp mission statement.)
Currently, Facebook has no plans to add WhatsApp button integration to regular consumer services, although you can see possibilities for placing links on pages where users want to submit a contact address or in the marketplace next to the items being sold, or even on job listings.
Comments
Post a Comment