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India Today
3 days ago
- Business
- India Today
WhatsApp adds AI voice calls and smart shopping recommendations for businesses
At its global Conversations 2025 event in Miami, Meta announced a series of new features that could significantly change how businesses use WhatsApp to interact with customers. The company is now bringing voice calls, smarter AI shopping tools, and a more streamlined marketing system to the WhatsApp Business platform. The updates aim to help businesses go beyond just sending messages. Now, they'll be able to offer personalised shopping experiences, support through voice and video, and run marketing campaigns across WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram — all from one of the key announcements is the ability for businesses to make and receive voice and video calls directly on WhatsApp. Until now, customer service through WhatsApp has mostly been limited to chats, which, while convenient, aren't always the fastest way to solve queries. With this update, businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform can now speak to customers directly, once the customer agrees to a call. Whether it's answering complex questions or offering guidance that's hard to type out — this new calling feature could make the overall support experience faster and more messaging is also being added, which brings more flexibility for both customers and businesses. In some cases, sending a quick voice note may be easier than typing a long message — especially for industries like healthcare, education, or financial services. Meta also hinted that voice-based AI assistance could be coming in the future, meaning customers might soon be able to talk to an AI to solve their issues in Another major upgrade is focused on marketing. Meta is now allowing businesses to manage their campaigns across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram through the familiar Ads Manager interface. This makes it easier to create and manage ads, track budgets, and run promotions — all in one place. Businesses can upload customer lists and send messages manually, or let Meta's Advantage+ AI take over, which automatically optimises campaigns and spending across platforms, including ad placements like WhatsApp Status. For businesses with repeat customers or time-sensitive offers, this could be a big the shopping front, Meta is introducing a new Business AI feature. It's designed to help customers discover and buy products directly through WhatsApp. From personalised product recommendations to follow-up support after purchase — the whole shopping experience can now happen inside a chat. While this tool is currently being tested in Mexico, Meta plans to roll it out to other countries businesses, especially smaller ones, the new updates could be a cost-effective way to reach more people and offer better service with fewer resources. For customers, it means less jumping between apps and more convenient service in one place.- Ends
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Announces New Messaging Ad Options
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. Meta has announced some updated ad options, with a focus on messaging, and WhatsApp in particular, as it looks to provide more ways for brands to tap into emerging engagement behaviors. First off, Meta's looking to streamline the ad setup process, by linking all of your ad creation elements, including WhatsApp ads, within Ads Manager, enabling multi-campaign management in a single workflow. As explained by Meta: 'Now, businesses of all sizes can use the same creative, setup flows and budgets in one central place. Once onboarded, businesses can upload their subscriber list and either manually select marketing messages as an additional placement, or use Advantage+, and our AI systems will then optimize budgets across placements to maximize performance. So the targeting element will be much easier, with Meta's systems able to essentially take the reigns, either based on your existing client list, or by letting Meta AI find your optimal audience for you. Which is something that the latest AI tools should be exceedingly good at. AI tools identify correlations and commonalities, to understand patterns in how tasks work, and optimize accordingly. And as such, they should be able to find people who are interested in products and services like yours, whether you realize who they are or not. And in addition to managing Facebook, IG, Messenger and Threads campaigns, you'll also be able to create ads for WhatsApp Status within the same flow. Meta's also expanding access to its business AIs, which enable brands to create custom AI chatbots for their own products and services. Meta's had these available for some time, and they can have benefits in facilitating always-on service and response. But there are limitations as well, and if you haven't set your bot up properly, it can be a frustrating experience for customers. But with more people now getting more used to engaging with AI bots, and AI tools advancing, it may be worth considering. Meta's also looking to expand its business AIs to include personalized product recommendations, and facilitate sales on any business' website. Business AIs will also be able to follow-up with customers to answer questions, or provide updates, direct on WhatsApp. Finally, Meta's adding a direct calling option for large brands, to help address key customer issues. 'In the coming weeks, larger businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will be able to receive a call from a customer when they want to talk to someone live, or call a customer directly once they've asked to hear from you. And starting soon, we'll also make it possible to send and receive voice messages for additional support, or make a video call which can be helpful for things like a telehealth appointment.' So while Meta is going all in on AI bots, it's not forgetting the human element entirely, facilitating phone calls for more complex problems, direct through WhatsApp. Though that too could be automated as well: 'Bringing calling and voice updates to the WhatsApp Business Platform will help people communicate in a way that works best for them and paves the way for AI-enabled voice support in the future.' Of course, it's all AI, all the time, but Meta is trying to find more ways to cater to different communication options, to provide expanded response capacity from brands. As noted, Meta's leaning into business messaging as more and more people conduct their interactions via DMs. Indeed, people now send a lot more messages than they post or share in the main feed, and with that in mind, Meta's looking to help brands align with this with its emerging promotion options. Some interesting considerations for your planning. Recommended Reading Meta Previews Business Messaging Updates at 'Conversations' Conference Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Unifies Ads, Debuts Business AI on WhatsApp
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) rolls out unified Ads Manager and teases Business AI for WhatsApp Business as it seeks to deepen its hold on small-and-mid-size marketers. Meta said businesses will soon manage WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram campaigns in one portal, using the same creative setups and budgets, a move it says will streamline cross-app marketing and reduce friction for advertisers. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with META. It also introduced Business AI, a 24/7 support engine that can deliver personalized product recommendations and drive sales directly on merchant websitesan implicit challenge to chat-based commerce rivals. Finally, Meta is adding audio and video calling plus voice-note messaging to WhatsApp Business, enhancing how companies engage customers and laying groundwork for future AI-driven voice assistants. The announcements come as Meta battles slowing ad growth and investor skepticismshares slipped 2.87% todaywhile it seeks fresh growth engines beyond its core feeds. At its Conversations conference in Miami, Meta touted that more than 200 million businesses use its messaging apps today, underscoring the vast addressable market for automation and analytics tools. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly pushed for AI-powered products as the next battleground, and Business AI signals that WhatsApp is central to his strategy. Why It Matters: By folding WhatsApp into its broader ads ecosystem and layering in AI-powered commerce tools, Meta aims to boost ad budgets and lock in business customers resistant to rising marketing costs elsewhere. Investors will watch for adoption metrics and any early revenue impact when Meta reports Q2 results later this month. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Unifies Ads, Debuts Business AI on WhatsApp
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) rolls out unified Ads Manager and teases Business AI for WhatsApp Business as it seeks to deepen its hold on small-and-mid-size marketers. Meta said businesses will soon manage WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram campaigns in one portal, using the same creative setups and budgets, a move it says will streamline cross-app marketing and reduce friction for advertisers. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with META. It also introduced Business AI, a 24/7 support engine that can deliver personalized product recommendations and drive sales directly on merchant websitesan implicit challenge to chat-based commerce rivals. Finally, Meta is adding audio and video calling plus voice-note messaging to WhatsApp Business, enhancing how companies engage customers and laying groundwork for future AI-driven voice assistants. The announcements come as Meta battles slowing ad growth and investor skepticismshares slipped 2.87% todaywhile it seeks fresh growth engines beyond its core feeds. At its Conversations conference in Miami, Meta touted that more than 200 million businesses use its messaging apps today, underscoring the vast addressable market for automation and analytics tools. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly pushed for AI-powered products as the next battleground, and Business AI signals that WhatsApp is central to his strategy. Why It Matters: By folding WhatsApp into its broader ads ecosystem and layering in AI-powered commerce tools, Meta aims to boost ad budgets and lock in business customers resistant to rising marketing costs elsewhere. Investors will watch for adoption metrics and any early revenue impact when Meta reports Q2 results later this month. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
CBS News
16-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
WhatsApp is bringing subscription model and ads to its messaging platform
WhatsApp has announced a series of new features that will change the way people interact with brands on the Meta-owned messaging platform and give companies more chances to cash in on user engagement. The changes, to be rolled out over the next few months according to Meta, expand and monetize the functions of WhatsApp's "Updates" tab, which has historically been a place for users to follow news and updates from their favorite companies, news organizations and celebrities. A new subscription model on the tab will allow channel admins to offer users exclusive content for a monthly fee. "This means channel owners will be able to share exclusive in-the-moment updates with their most engaged followers, and they'll be able to earn money while doing so," said Nikila Srinivasan, vice president for product management at Meta said on a call with reporters. Channels will remain free for WhatsApp users. However, channel admins will have an option to set a monthly fee within a range if they opt to utilize the subscription model, according to a Meta spokesperson. Channels will also have the ability to promote their content to get in front of users more easily by buying ads or boosting their channel through Ads Manager. "Similar to how it works on Facebook and Instagram, businesses decide how much they want to spend based on their objectives," the spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch. Integrating ads WhatsApp is also planning on integrating ads into the "Updates" tab which will allow users to message brands directly if they see a product or service they want, or have a customer service question. Up until this point, users had to click on ads on Instagram or Facebook to open up a WhatsApp chat with a company. "People really want to chat to businesses on their own terms, and they want to do it in a place where they already spend their time, which is on WhatsApp," said Srinivasan. Srinivasan said the new ad feature will allow businesses, such as Verizon, Wendy's and L'Oréal to attract more customers directly on the messaging platform. "This is going to enable businesses like them to do even more," she said. WhatsApp will roll out the new features to a global audience over the next few months, according to Srinivasan. Meta introduced the "Updates" tab on WhatsApp a year ago. It's now visited by 1.5 billion people on a daily basis. WhatsApp's "Chats" tab, where users send and receive messages, will remain end-to-end encrypted and will not be used to show ads, Srinivasan said.
