

“The next step is to make it easier for businesses to adopt all these services and to give them the tools that can handle messages and customer relationships.”Ī new feature will let business owners start creating "click-to-WhatsApp" ads that will run on Facebook and Instagram straight from the WhatsApp Business app. “For a lot of people, online commerce is less about websites and shops, and more about messaging,” Zuckerberg said. Previously, business owners had to go to Facebook or Instagram to initiate the ad buying process. Business users will now be able to select an item from their catalogue and quickly turn it into a Facebook or Instagram ad with a button directing viewers back to their WhatsApp profile. The new feature makes use of the WhatsApp Business “catalogues” - basically virtual storefronts or menu on a businesses’ profile where customers can view their offerings.

The strong results come despite a slew of issues Facebook faced during the quarter, including fallout from the January 6 Capitol riot and questions about misinformation, continued antitrust scrutiny and privacy concerns after millions of users’ information was posted to a hacker site.įacebook’s stock rose nearly 6% in after hours trading Wednesday. Wall Street analysts had projected revenue of $23.7 billion. It posted earnings per share of $3.30, up 93% year-over-year, on revenue of nearly $26.2 billion. The company reported total quarterly advertising sales of $25.4 billion, up 46% from the same period in the prior year. Zuckerberg made the announcement on Facebook’s earnings call for the first quarter of 2021. It’s also launching a new feature: business users will now be able to start creating such advertisements directly from WhatsApp Business app, which wasn’t possible before, making the ad buying process more seamless. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday there are now 1 million businesses using those “click to WhatsApp” ads.

On Wednesday, the company finally provided some details on how it’s using WhatsApp to drive ad sales on its other platforms, Facebookīusinesses that use WhatsApp to communicate with customers and conduct transactions - a group considered key to the app’s future - have since 2017 been able to purchase ads on Facebook and Instagram that include a button allowing users to switch to WhatsApp and initiate a conversation with that business. Since Facebook paid a whopping $19 billion to buy WhatsApp in 2014, investors have wondered how it will cash in on the acquisition, especially after the company walked back a controversial plan to sell ads on the app.
