I have a scenario for you.
You, as usual, send a funny text on your WhatsApp group and it has been 5 minutes but nobody has replied yet.
You click on the info option hoping that the silence means nobody has seen it yet, but you find that there is an anonymous account that has seen it.
And no matter how hard you try, you can’t figure out who or what it is.
This, my friend, is the effect of the DARK SOCIAL.
It is a term used to describe social media interactions that are difficult to track and measure using traditional web analytics tools.
Now, thankfully, you won’t have to face this problem in WhatsApp, but it is a talk in the digital marketing world.
To put it simply in words, Dark social refers to the sharing that takes place outside of what can be measured by web analytics. This includes sharing links through private channels like email, direct messaging, and even SMS.
Unlike public platforms such as Twitter or Facebook where shares are visible and trackable, dark social happens in private, which makes it difficult for marketers to attribute traffic back to its source.
To understand more better we need to focus on Why is it Important?
To begin with, it’s Huge.
About 84% of all outbound sharing happens through dark social channels, hence it is a massive engagement chunk we usually seem to underestimate.
Secondly, it’s Personal.
Sharing via dark social usually happens through close connections between family, friends, or colleagues, which makes it more trusted than public sharing.
And it’s Growing.
In contrast, dark social’s potential impact is only growing with the emerging privacy-conscious messaging applications and platforms.
Ignoring it could cost you missing insights about how your audience engages with the content.
It might not sound like a problem but there are some challenges with Dark Social.
The main problem with dark social is that it’s, well, dark.
Traditional web analytics tools block traffic from these private shares into the generic ‘direct’ category. This creates two big challenges in return:
It’s the Wrong Source of Data, meaning that you simply think that the traffic is organic or coming through an advertisement, but actually, someone shared your link in a group message, which leads to,
Lost Opportunities. Without knowing where your audience is coming from, you’re missing out on understanding their behavior and preferences.
With problems comes the question of How to Bring Dark Social to Light.
It is difficult to track down every private share, but there are some steps you take to understand dark social better and leverage it for your strategy.
- Use trackable links
Creating UTM parameters for your URLs will help you better understand where traffic originates. You could use tools like Bitly to generate shortened, trackable links for easy sharing.
- Analyse Traffic Patterns
Look for patterns in your analytics. For example, there might be a story to a spike of direct traffic after creating new content as a result of dark social activity. So look out for such activities.
- Encourage Public Sharing
You can encourage others to share your content on public networks by adding social sharing buttons. The more content is shared publicly, the more you will be able to track.
- Ask Your Audience
Sometimes, the simplest approach works best. Ask your audience how they found your content by using surveys, feedback forms, or polls.
- Use Messaging Apps
Engage on dark social if that’s where people are. Create shareable content for messaging apps, like memes, or short-form videos.
Dark social exists and there’s no getting rid of it. If you want to make the most out of it, You Should Accept Dark Social.
A good brand is always adaptive, and hence they are already adapting to the dark social.
For example,
Some media outlets use applications such as Post to track copy-paste shares.
Some online shopping brands too, focus on Shareable Product Pages and UTM Tracking.
Influencers are encouraging followers to share the link through individual groups or special chat groups.
The common denominator here? Meet audiences where they are and make sharing seamless.
Don’t look at Dark Social as some threat instead it’s a new opportunity.
While you cannot monitor every interaction, knowing how dark social might play in your digital marketing strategy will give you a competitive advantage.
Simply make your content interesting so that your audience will want to share it, even in the shadows 😉
And mixed with your Sherlock-like smart tracking tools, you can easily start uncovering insights you didn’t know existed. After all, it is not about tracking everything but rather about understanding enough to make smarter decisions.
