TL;DR: A WhatsApp ad is a Facebook or Instagram ad whose button opens a chat with your business on WhatsApp. You need a WhatsApp number connected to your Facebook Page or business portfolio. In Ads Manager, pick Traffic, Engagement, Leads or Sales, choose the message destination, tick WhatsApp, and write the first message people see. Budget for someone to answer the chats.
What a WhatsApp ad is
Meta calls it an ad that clicks to WhatsApp. Its Help Center gives the definition: these ads "send people that click on your ads directly into conversations with your business on WhatsApp".
The ad itself looks like any other ad. The difference is the button. A tap opens WhatsApp with a chat to your business number, and the person can send a message at once. No form and no landing page come first.
Meta lists what the format serves: "you can build awareness, drive traffic or engagement, or generate leads and sales".
Where the ad shows
The ad does not only run inside WhatsApp. Meta's page on ads that click to message has a table for it:
| The ad clicks to | The ad can show on |
|---|---|
| Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp | |
| Messenger | Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp |
| Instagram Direct |
Most people will see your WhatsApp ad in a Facebook or Instagram feed. Inside WhatsApp, ads run in Status, which Meta documents on a separate page.
One limit comes first on Meta's pages. Certain messaging metrics, campaigns and features are unavailable for businesses and ads "delivered to and from Europe, Japan and South Korea". If you advertise there, check what Ads Manager offers your account before you plan around WhatsApp.
What you need before you start
Meta sets one condition: "a WhatsApp number that's either connected to your Facebook Page or your business portfolio".
Three practical points follow from Meta's steps:
- The Page picks the number: in the ad set, "the WhatsApp number connected to your Facebook Page will be the one connected with the campaign".
- A greyed-out WhatsApp box means no number: Meta's fix is to click Connect account, pick your country code, and enter the phone number.
- Someone has to answer: the ad buys a conversation, not a sale. Decide who replies, and how fast, before you spend.
How to set one up in Ads Manager
Meta says the steps in Ads Manager change with the campaign goal you pick. The two columns that matter are where you choose WhatsApp and what Meta optimizes for.
| Campaign goal | Where you choose WhatsApp | Performance goal |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic or Engagement | Conversion location: Message destinations, then tick WhatsApp | Set by default. With Engagement you can pick from a menu |
| Leads | Conversion section: WhatsApp | Maximize number of conversations, by default |
| Sales | Conversion location: Message destinations, then tick WhatsApp | Review it with the other ad set details |
| Awareness | At the ad level: Destination, Messaging apps, then WhatsApp | Review it with the other ad set details |
The steps for Traffic or Engagement, the most common start:
- In Ads Manager, click + Create.
- Select Traffic or Engagement, then click Continue.
- Name the campaign and click Next.
- In the Conversion section, select Message destinations as your conversion location.
- Under Facebook Page, choose your Page.
- Under Message destinations, tick WhatsApp.
- Check the performance goal, budget, schedule and audience, then click Next.
- Build the ad until you reach the Message template section.
- Choose Create new or Use existing, then finish the ad and click Publish.
The message template
The template is the first thing people see in the chat. Meta names one template for these ads, Start conversation. It lets you "suggest prompts for people to tap" and "set up a greeting or suggest questions or messages that people can send".
Write the prompts as the questions your buyers ask most. "What does delivery cost?" starts a better chat than "Hello".
Which campaign goal to pick
This section is my reading, not Meta's guidance.
- Leads fits when the chat is the goal. Meta optimizes for the number of conversations.
- Sales fits when you close in the chat and can tell Meta which chats became orders.
- Engagement or Traffic fits a first test with a small budget, to see whether people write at all.
- Awareness rarely fits. You pay for reach, and the chat is a side effect.
Judge the campaign on the cost of a conversation that someone answered, then on the orders that followed. A cheap chat that nobody answers is spend with no return.
WhatsApp ads in Adsap
Adsap creates WhatsApp ad sets and Send WhatsApp Message ads on four campaign goals: Traffic, Engagement, Leads and Sales. The ad takes a single image or video. It works from the web app and from an AI assistant, and everything starts paused.
Two rules come from Meta and apply in any tool. A Page with more than one WhatsApp number uses its primary number. Meta refuses a personal WhatsApp number as the primary one, so connect a business number first.
Frequently asked questions
Ads on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp whose button opens a chat with your business on WhatsApp. Meta calls them ads that click to WhatsApp. You create them in Meta Ads Manager, not in the WhatsApp app.
They can. Meta's table lists Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as the places an ad that clicks to WhatsApp can show. Inside WhatsApp, ads run in Status. Most delivery happens on Facebook and Instagram.
A WhatsApp number connected to your Facebook Page or your business portfolio, and a Meta ad account. Meta uses the number connected to the Page you choose in the ad set.
No WhatsApp number is connected to the Page you chose. Meta's fix: click Connect account, select your country code, enter your phone number and click Continue.
Check your own account first. Meta states that certain messaging metrics, campaigns and features are unavailable for businesses and ads delivered to and from Europe, Japan and South Korea.
Sources
All Meta pages read on 10 November 2026. Meta's Help Center pages carry no update date.
- Meta Business Help Center, How to create ads that click to WhatsApp in Meta Ads Manager: the definition, the condition, the steps by campaign goal, the message template.
- Meta Business Help Center, About ads that click to message on Meta technologies: the table of destinations and placements.
- Meta Business Help Center, Create ads in WhatsApp Status in Meta Ads Manager: ads inside WhatsApp.
- Adsap's own tests on Meta's Marketing API v26.0, November 9, 2026: the primary number rule and the refusal of a personal number.