How do you launch a WhatsApp ads?
Which ad types or campaign objectives should you use?
How do you launch a click to WhatsApp ad?
Those are the questions that we will cover in this chapter of our Beginner’s Guide to WhatsApp.
The first thing you HAVE to make sure is that you’ve connected your WhatsApp Business account with your Business Manager!
Otherwise, you won’t be able to launch your campaigns.
Which campaign objectives work with WhatsApp Ads?
There are currently four campaign objectives that can be used when launching your WhatsApp ads:
Keep in mind that the way you configure each campaign objetive varies quite a bit.
1. Messages
The message objective is the primary one that you should use when launching WhatsApp ads.
Just keep in mind that the message objective is unavailable when targeting India and selected EU countries.
You can select WhatsApp Business in the ad set section as the destination for your campaigns.
2. Traffic
Traffic objective is also available when launching your WhatsApp ads; however, you should not be using this objective and focus on the message objective for your ads.
3. Post Engagement
Post engagement is also one of the options you can use for your WhatsApp campaigns.
The biggest difference when selecting post engagement is that you will configure as your destination the WhatsApp Business number at the ad level (not the ad set level).
4. Conversion Objective
You can also launch WhatsApp ads with the conversion objective. This objective will focus on finding people to convert to your conversion event.
The conversion events work very similar to how you launch campaigns within your website.
The only big catch is that conversions can’t necessarily happen in WhatsApp; therefore, I recommend using the message objective at the moment.
How do I launch a WhatsApp ad?
There are basically two places within the Facebook platform from which you can launch your campaigns.
- Directly within your Fan Page (just like when you boost a post)
- And through the Ads Manager on your Business Manager account
I do NOT recommend launching your ads by boosting the post. You will have the same limitations and restrictions that you have when running your Facebook and Instagram ads.
Don’t launch your WhatsApp ads by boosting a post!
Make sure you always use your Business Manager to launch your WhatsApp ads. If you don’t have one yet, make sure you go over our guide to set up your business manager properly.
How to launch a WhatsApp ad through your Ads Manager account?
The first thing you need to do is to head over to your Ads Manager on the top left corner when you are logged into your Business Manager account.
You then want to head to the green button to build a new campaign.
If you’ve run ads before, the campaign creation process is pretty similar. The only things that will change is the campaign objective and configuration to select WhatsApp as your destination.
Campaign Level – WhatsApp Ads
You then want to select the proper campaign objective.
As I explained before, there are four main objectives that work with your WhatsApp ads:
- Message
- Traffic
- Conversions
- Engagement
My recommendation is to ALWAYS select the Message objective when building your campaigns.
Ad Set Level – WhatsApp Ads
You will then have to select your Message Destination.
Make sure you change the destination from Messenger to WhatsApp Business. Facebook will then ask you to select the right Fan Page.
IMPORTANT: if you have not linked your WhatsApp Business account with your Fan Page, make sure you check how to connect both here.
You can now select who you want to target with your campaigns.
You can use all of the available options within the Facebook platform:
- Saved Audiences
- Custom Audiences
- Lookalike Audiences
If you need help setting up your right audience, make sure you go over our Beginner’s Guide to WhatsApp Audiences.
Once you select your audience, you can now configure your campaign placement.
You can have both automatic or manually select from the following available placement options:
Feeds
- Facebook News Feed
- Instagram Feed
- Facebook Marketplace
- Instagram Explore
Search
- Facebook Search Results
As you can see, the placement options are very limited. I would suggest to leave automatic placement if it is the first time your are running WhatsApp ads for your Fan Page.
Next you can select the right optimization and spending controls.
There is not much room to change things on the optimization side for now so I would keep everything as Facebook recommends.
Make sure you go over our next chapter to learn more about optimization and spending controls.
Ad Level – WhatsApp Ads
The last step is to set up your creative and communication for your campaigns.
You will have to first confirm the Fan Page and Instagram account under which you will run your ads.
Facebook allows the following formats for your ads:
- Carousel
- Single Images
- Videos
You want to run videos preferably with all of your campaigns. As you all know, video is what is performing the best with most ads!
Last, you will upload the creative image or video that you will be using for your ad and write the text, headline and description for your campaign.
Below is an image with an example of how one WhatsApp Ad would look like after the final set up:
You won’t have to set up a call to action as the platform will automatically select the “Send Message” option.
Those are the main steps when launching a new WhatsApp ads from the Facebook platform.
If you think we missed something or have additional questions, please make sure you join our WhatsApp group for additional support.
Next Chapter: WhatsApp Ads Budget and Bidding
Previous Chapter: Beginner’s Guide: Facebook & WhatsApp Audience Targeting
