Meta has launched its first AI-based ad campaign for businesses on WhatsApp, which can be considered a new revenue model for the popular messaging app.
The news was announced by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a video conference in Brazil. This announcement marks a major change in WhatsApp’s policy, which has always focused on the privacy of its users and not allowed advertising. He indicated the following:
“We believe AI tools can help companies give people the help they are looking for, as well as find new products and services. We’re introducing ways that every business can use AI for the most popular questions they receive, so you can quickly get the answer you’re looking for.”
The new AI tools are designed to improve ad targeting based on user activity on Facebook and Instagram when users use the same phone number on different accounts. This approach differs from previous methods, where organizations sent messages to all users who had agreed to receive messages from the companies.
This new system aims to reach the most likely recipients of the content, increasing the effectiveness and productivity of WhatsApp business communications. Guilherme Horn, WhatsApp’s head of strategic markets, said:
“This is very important for companies because they pay for those messages.”
Over the past few years, Meta has slowly integrated trading and payment features into the WhatsApp application. Some of these include business messaging tools that allow companies to communicate with customers and send marketing messages to users who have opted to receive them.
Despite these efforts, WhatsApp has not been able to generate revenue for Meta, even though it is the most used app in terms of daily activities. Meta has developed a new AI chatbot that will help answer business-related questions within the chat application to generate more WhatsApp revenue. It stated the following about this:
“We train AI to respond to the most popular questions businesses receive on WhatsApp, so they can quickly help customers find the answers they need.”
To further support businesses, WhatsApp is bringing the Meta Verified feature to its Business app. This service was initially launched in Brazil, Colombia, India and Indonesia and offers registered businesses the following benefits. Meta also stated that companies that confirm their information with Meta will receive a Meta Verified badge as proof of authenticity.
The Meta Verified badge also has some benefits, such as protection against impersonation and faster response from Meta’s customer service. Businesses can also use WhatsApp on multiple devices, allowing employees to serve customers effectively from anywhere.
WhatsApp is also testing a new feature that will allow consumers to communicate more effectively with large companies. This feature allows customers to easily switch from a text conversation to a voice call if they have additional questions or need more detailed information.
The use of these AI tools on WhatsApp is in line with Meta’s overall plan to integrate AI into its applications. During a recent earnings call, Zuckerberg stated that the company is focused on creating numerous AI solutions. These include a free Meta AI assistant that can be used via Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
The company therefore plans to enable every company in its ecosystem to use these AI features to improve their operations and customer experiences. A market research published by What’s the Big Data showed that more than 50 million companies actively use WhatsApp Business. Furthermore, the messaging platform was able to increase revenue by 127% and customer service by 225%.
Source: https://cryptobenelux.com/2024/06/08/meta-integreert-eerste-ai-functies-in-whatsapp/
