According to insiders who spoke with TheStreet, there are currently no plans in place to directly advertise on WhatsApp.
A really difficult moment is being experienced by social media juggernaut Meta Platforms (META) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Report.
The parent corporation of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is making fun of itself while also seeing its relationship of trust with investors deteriorate day by day. Since January, Meta shares have decreased by 62.3%, resulting in a drop in market worth of around $570 billion.
You may blame Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. and TikTok, a powerful competitor that is stealing market share in ad income.
Report for preventing Meta from sending tailored advertisements to iPhone users who use its applications. Apple has, in fact, altered its privacy guidelines so that users may choose which applications they wish to allow to monitor their online activities.
Only catastrophic losses have been experienced thus far in the metaverse, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hailed as the next great thing. Finding growth drivers and placating impatient investors is consequently Zuck and Meta’s biggest challenge.
In these articles, we advocated for Meta to monetize WhatsApp by allowing advertisers to advertise their goods and services on the messaging app, which is used by more than 2 billion people and is accessible in more than 180 countries.
26 October
We wrote that WhatsApp is a true money mine. Zuckerberg and Meta are in charge of mining it.
According to persons with direct knowledge of the situation who declined to be named in order to talk openly, Meta does not currently have any plans to introduce advertisements on WhatsApp. The dominant social media company is concerned that adding adverts may degrade the user experience for those who are used to ad-free platforms.
But according to the sources, Meta may soon rethink its intentions. On October 26, Zuckerberg may address the topic of WhatsApp monetization on the call to discuss the third quarter’s financial results.
At one point, WhatsApp explored adding advertising to the “status” area of the app, but ultimately decided against it. However, according to the sources, it could bring these ideas back.
WhatsApp “is focused on adding new features to assist companies maximise the value of its service today and feels the opportunity with corporate communications is tremendous,” a spokeswoman for the company said.
Prioritize messaging
As customers change their communication patterns away from traditional channels like phone and email, WhatsApp’s monetization ambitions now concentrate on how to create profits around messaging. Therefore, the platform is focusing on three opportunities.
The first is using advertising to bring in indirect income. Its official name is Click to WhatsApp Business. If small companies promote on Facebook and Instagram, where a button with the WhatsApp logo is put for the client who could be interested in the promotional service or product, they have an additional motivation to draw in new clients.
The user is immediately entered into a WhatsApp discussion with the seller when they click the button. According to the Meta example, WhatsApp is the “store counter,” where you finalise the transaction and make payment, while Facebook and Instagram are the “store front.” A comparable functionality is provided by Messenger, Meta’s other messaging service.
Approximately one million marketers are actively using this service. According to a source, it’s “already a huge income possibility” for WhatsApp. Most of these corporate clients are located in high-potential regions including Africa, Brazil, Mexico, India, and Indonesia.
Nevertheless, there is a privacy drawback: since the user uses Facebook and Instagram, Meta gathers their data.
The second potential is what WhatsApp has been providing major businesses since 2020 as a different customer service option. These companies may include WhatsApp chat into their customised websites thanks to the WhatsApp Business API, providing tailored customer experiences. While humans can take over for more complicated inquiries, chatbots can handle simple consumer requests.
Currently, WhatsApp charges for each customer conversation, which includes all messages sent during a 24-hour period. In 2020, there were already 50 million users of the service. WhatsApp does not release updated statistics, but given the epidemic, this number must have gone up.
This product holds a lot of promise for Meta in terms of increasing WhatsApp’s income.
A Monthly Subscription
The site has also been piloting a premium service for small businesses for the past 10 days as a third income possibility.
This tool complements the standalone WhatsApp Business App, which was released in 2018 and enables small businesses to freely advertise their goods and services and interact with consumers.
The premium service will give retailers cutting-edge tools. For instance, the same WhatsApp account will be manageable across many devices. In other words, staff in a neighbourhood nail salon will be able to communicate with customers and manage consumer demands using a variety of devices, enabling the distribution of requests among several personnel.
Additionally, WhatsApp will provide small companies the option of hosting a personalised URL for them, which may act as their very own little website.
The firm is thinking of collecting a “minimal price” for the premium service, although the amount has not yet been decided and would also vary per nation. According to the sources, testing of the service and its pricing is still ongoing.
The subscription-based service will be available.
To make any inferences from the initial comments is still too soon. According to the sources, WhatsApp intends to provide the service in 2023.