In the previous post we spoke about:
- Monetizing WhatsApp through advertising
- What will WhatsApp advertising mean for brands?
- WhatsApp Marketing Advantages
- How We Will View Advertising on WhatsApp
4. How We Will View Advertising on WhatsApp
Advertising in WhatsApp status
Therefore, advertising will only appear in the “status” section of the users. The stories function as in Instagram. Users can share videos and photos that will disappear within 24 hours.
In this way, WhatsApp advertising will jump when the user is browsing this feature. It can be directly ignored, or if it is attractive to the user, the user can ask for more information.
Statistics show that more than 450 million users use status. That’s even more than all Snapchat users. However, there is no data on the frequency of use of this tool.
Therefore, placing advertising here is the least intrusive way to implement app monetization.
Users may or may not use WhatsApp status, and this will not affect in principle the chat windows which is the main function of this application.
Even so, with all this data in hand, it would be accurate to say that the chances of a successful advertising implementation are quite high.
If millions of people are active, constantly consult the application, and may or may not enter to see the advertisement, they will not feel the urgency to start using other instant messaging apps.
Advertising in chat windows
Although they have stated for the moment that the ads will only appear in WhatsApp status, they do not rule out including them in the conversations as well.
In fact, they have already created a new way of displaying advertising in chat windows.
This is the biggest fear of users, as it can greatly hinder the use of the application. Constantly interrupting your conversations to bombard you with advertising is not to anyone’s liking.
What they pose for this new way of displaying ads is:
- Featured images. The use of attractive images that attract the attention of the user and turn him into a potential client.
- Possibility of accessing the information from the application itself. Clicking will open a screen with the full ad without you having to leave WhatsApp. This for example is something that was already being done with the links to YouTube videos, which can be viewed on the chat screen.
- They will include rich text. This will help to visualize texts imported from other applications or platforms.
- Direct contact with the brand. They will include links to contact the advertiser directly.
How the advertising campaigns for the brand will work
With regard to the enriched texts, these will only be available to companies that use WhatsApp Business.
This means that they will not appear in the chat windows intrusively, but will be displayed if the user initiates a conversation with a brand.
This functionality will be available free of charge to small companies. However, when it comes to large companies, it will include charges as with WhatsApp Business.
This opens a new advertising phase in WhatsApp where companies will be able to contact their customers. By paying a fee, brands will be able to send receipts and messages thanks to the new API.
In addition, an important novelty will be the interoperability between platforms of the group. Mark Zuckerberg has already announced that Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram messages can be exchanged in the future.
Although the details of how this will work have not been disclosed. So how will advertising campaigns be conducted from a company’s point of view?
One clue was given by the interoperability between platforms. Thus, in order to sell products, brands will have to contract the sales service on Facebook.
They will have WhatsApp product catalogues integrated into the Facebook ad manager. So in order to schedule advertising campaigns on WhatsApp, companies must do so from Facebook Ads.
5. At the moment the advertising option is WhatsApp Business
This all sounds very good for companies. However, it will not be available until 2020. This modality was created with small and medium enterprises in mind. They can easily get in touch with their customers and interact with them.
In addition, it allows them to automate, sort and answer messages automatically. All this while maintaining a free format.
In Spain it has been operational since January 2018 and its operation is practically the same as the version you know. But it offers a series of features for companies that differentiate it from the user WhatsApp:
- Company accounts can be verified, just like on Twitter.
- In company settings you can include the physical address and locate it on the map.
- It allows you to add business hours.
- Contact methods.
- Send automatic welcome or absence messages if you are not available.
- Automated answers to common queries.
- Allows you to analyze shared messages.
As you can see, it sounds very interesting and, therefore, while you wait you can use the WhatsApp Business version for companies. Don’t miss any opportunity to reach your customers and keep in touch with them.
