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How to run Facebook ads to a WhatsApp group

Want to show ads to members of a specific WhatsApp group or community (i.e. retargeting / remarketing for WhatsApp)? This tutorial will show you how.

Why target ads at WhatsApp groups?

WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users worldwide, and is widely used for groups and communities worldwide. These communities essentially define shared interests, be it a local group, a political movement community, a hobby discussion group or a business “followers” group. Members of WhatsApp groups tend to be highly engaged and with strong interest in the topic of the group.

For marketing purposes, WhatsApp groups and communities are a prime target for highly relevant ads.

If you are selling cameras, targeting members of a Photography group is likely to be a good idea. If you are promoting a social cause, targeting members of a group talking about that cause seems natural.

And if you have your own WhatsApp group or community, running a remarketing / retargeting campaign to its members is a sure-fire way to turn followers into buyers.

Can I run Facebook ads to a WhatsApp group?

Meta does not provide a native way to target a specific Whatsapp group. Of course, since you are reading this tutorial – there is a simple 3rd party option to do that, using WHAMetrics. Let’s see how.

How to target Facebook ads to a WhatsApp community / group

  1. If you don’t have WHAMetrics yet, sign up here: WHAMetrics
  2. Add the group to WHAMetrics.
  3. Select the group, and click “Export for Retargeting”. You will get a CSV file of the phone numbers in that group.
  4. Now, go to your Meta Ad Manager -> Audience
  5. Click “Create Audience”, and select “Custom Audience”.
  6. In the menu that pops up, select “Customer list”
  7. Follow the wizard to import your CSV file and create your audience

That’s it!

Can I run ads to a competitor’s WhatsApp group?

If that group is public, then you can! If anyone can join the group and view its members, then you can use the process above to target that group – even if it is managed by someone else.

This of course opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, and allows you to reach potential customers and followers that you would have trouble reaching with other solutions.

Note that if the group is set up to block non-admins from viewing group members, then you would of course be unable to target it.

How do I shows ads to a multiple WhatsApp groups at the same time?

You can add members from multiple groups / communities to your custom audience. This can be done either by selecting multiple groups in WHAMetrics to get a combined list in the first place, or by adding another list to the already created custom audience in Ad Manager.

Maintaining your WhatsApp retargeting audience

As time passes, more members will join the group, and it’s a good idea to update your Ad Audience as well. To do that, you simply run the process again, this time importing the list into the already existing audience instead of creating a new one.

WHAMetrics can remind you to do this, based on either a set period of time, or set amount of new users joining the group.

Can I create a look-alike audience from a WhatsApp group / community?

Yes! Often, it’s not just the specific people in a group that are important, but the kind of people they are. A group of 1000 followers of a specific cause can be a good starting point for Meta to match more of those, based on what Meta understands about them – even if they are not members of that specific group. This way, you can expand your targeting (of course at the expense of not being 100% precise for each member).

To create a look-alike of a WhatsApp community or group, follow the steps above to create a custom audience – and then create a look-aline of that audience in Meta Audience manager.

Facebook retargeting to WhatsApp groups – helpful tips

  • WHAMetrics allows you to create a list of members who have left the group. Run a “lead recovery” campaign to those – for example, by offering a special discount to get them to come back.
  • You can select users that have recently reacted to your posts – these are the most likely to convert
  • If you are a group Admin, WHAMetrics will allow you to select a list of users who are in the group, but have stopped viewing it. Run a “come back to us” campaign to them, and exclude them from the regular campaign.

Ready to start running ads to WhatsApp groups?

Sign up for WHAMetrics