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Create a click-to-WhatsApp ad in Meta Ads Manager (2026)

5 min read

What you’ll have at the end

A campaign in Meta Ads Manager with one ad set and one ad. When someone clicks the ad, a WhatsApp chat with your business opens, with a greeting you wrote. Nothing is published, and you stop before Meta asks for payment details.

Before you start

You’ll need

  • A Facebook account, and admin control of your business's Facebook Page
  • A WhatsApp Business account, connected to that Page or to your business portfolio
  • One image for the ad
  • A short greeting for people who start a chat

What it costs. Building an ad and leaving it as a draft costs nothing. Once an ad is published, Meta charges for it within the budget you set; how you pay depends on the first payment method you add.

Step 19 spends money. Each is marked, and whether to go ahead is your decision.

Meta needs a WhatsApp Business account to send people to. You get one by installing the WhatsApp Business app (or through the WhatsApp Business API). Your WhatsApp number must be connected to your business's Facebook Page, with you as an admin of the Page, or connected to your business portfolio. Step 9 shows a way to connect it from Ads Manager if it isn't yet.

Please have one image ready, and a short greeting for people who start a chat.

Meta asks for a payment method before your first ad can be published. This guide explains that at step 19 and stops there.

Steps

  1. 1. Open Meta Ads Manager

    Open Meta Ads Manager in a browser on a computer and sign in with your Facebook account.

  2. 2. Start a new campaign

    Click + Create. If Meta asks for a buying type, choose Auction.

  3. 3. Choose Traffic

    Select Traffic as the objective, then click Continue. (Engagement also works with WhatsApp; this guide uses Traffic.)

  4. 4. Name the campaign

    Type a name you'll recognise in Campaign name, such as "WhatsApp chats – October".

  5. 5. Set the budget

    Choose Campaign budget, then Daily budget or Lifetime budget, and enter the amount. Meta's budget help explains that a daily budget is an average over the week, not a hard cap, and a lifetime budget is a hard cap on the total.

  6. 6. Go to the ad set

    Leave A/B test off, and choose a Special Ad Category only if your ad is about housing, employment, financial products and services, social issues, elections or politics. Then click Next.

  7. 7. Choose Message destinations

    In the Conversion section, select Message destinations as the conversion location.

  8. 8. Choose your Facebook Page

    Under Facebook Page, choose your business's Page. The ad uses the WhatsApp number connected to this Page.

  9. 9. Tick WhatsApp

    Under Message destinations, tick the box next to WhatsApp.

    If WhatsApp is greyed out, your number isn't connected yet. Click Connect account, choose your country code from the list, enter your WhatsApp Business phone number and click Continue. Meta then shows a message about WhatsApp Business; click Continue again.

  10. 10. Check the performance goal

    Under Performance goal, Meta selects a goal for the Traffic objective by default. You may not be able to change it.

  11. 11. Choose locations

    In Audience, under Controls, hover over Locations and select Edit. Choose the places where people should see your ad.

  12. 12. Go to the ad

    Check the rest of the ad set, such as the schedule. Then click Next.

  13. 13. Name the ad and choose the identity

    Type a name in Ad name. In Identity, select your Facebook Page.

  14. 14. Choose to create a new ad

    In Ad setup, choose Create ad, then the format Single image or video.

  15. 15. Add your image

    In Ad creative, click Set up creative, select Image ad, and upload your image.

  16. 16. Write the ad

    Write the primary text (the main message) and the headline.

  17. 17. Create the message template

    In the Message template section, choose Create new. Choose Start conversation, which lets you write a greeting and suggest questions people can tap to start the chat.

  18. 18. Write the greeting

    Click Edit, write your greeting and any suggested questions, and click Save.

  19. 19. Stop before Publish: what happens at paymentSpends money

    This step spends money. Whether to go ahead is your decision, and you’re welcome to stop here.

    You can pause screen sharing while you fill in this page, and continue afterwards.

    Before your first ad can be published, Meta asks you to add a payment method. This guide stops here, and the decision is yours.

    The methods you see depend on your account's country and currency. Meta's payment options page says the first method you add sets how you pay: a card or PayPal, where your bank supports recurring payments, sets up automatic payments; other first methods, including local ones such as UPI, set up available funds, which you add before ads run. Clicking Publish also means agreeing to Meta's terms and advertising standards, and the ad is reviewed before it runs.

    If you're not ready, close the ad creation flow. Meta saves your work as a draft.

If something looks different

  • Meta says some messaging ad campaigns and features are unavailable for businesses and ads delivered to and from Europe, Japan and South Korea.
  • The steps vary with the objective. With Engagement, you choose the performance goal yourself from a drop-down.
  • The Message template section may offer Use existing if you've made a template before, and some accounts also see Collect info with a form in WhatsApp.
  • Some accounts open a campaign score panel on the right. It is optional.

Related guides

Sources

Alongrail isn't affiliated with Meta.