What is Dark Social (and is it legal)?
Dark social refers to the sharing of content through private channels, that are not easily tracked by traditional web analytics tools. Dark social represents a powerful and often overlooked aspect of digital marketing, but don't worry - it is totally legal.
By understanding and leveraging dark social strategies, marketers can uncover hidden opportunities, reach new audiences, and drive more authentic and high-quality engagements.
This includes:
Direct messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram)
Email
Private browsing/incognito modes
Secure web pages (HTTPS)
When users share links or content through these means, it creates "dark" traffic because it’s difficult to trace its origin. Unlike public social shares (those on Facebook or Twitter), dark social shares don’t leave a clear, trackable path.
Why Dark Social is Marketing’s Hidden 'Ace-up-your-Sleeve'.
Unseen Engagement: A significant portion of social sharing happens via dark social channels. This represents a large, often untapped, engagement audience that marketers might miss if they only focus on trackable social media metrics.
Here are some specific data points:
RadiumOne (now RhythmOne): A widely cited study by RadiumOne in 2016 found that 84% of all outbound sharing is through dark social channels .
GlobalWebIndex: Another report suggested that over 50% of social sharing happens via dark social .
The Drum: This source reported that dark social sharing could account for up to 69% of all social sharing.
While these figures can vary based on the demographics, industry and the nature of the content, it's clear that dark social represents a major component of overall social sharing.
High-Quality Leads: Dark social shares often come from trusted, personal recommendations, making them more valuable. When someone shares a link through a private message or email, it’s usually targeted to individuals who are more likely to be interested in the content, leading to higher quality leads.
Authentic Sharing: Content shared through dark social is often more genuine and less curated than what’s shared publicly. This type of sharing can lead to more authentic and meaningful engagements with brands.
Extended Reach: Dark social can significantly extend the reach of content beyond what traditional analytics can capture. Since these shares are private, they often lead to new audience segments that may not be reached through regular marketing channels.
Insight into Consumer Behaviour: By understanding dark social traffic, marketers can gain deeper insights into consumer behaviour and preferences. This can help in tailoring content and marketing strategies to better meet the needs of their audience.
Strategies for Leveraging Dark Social.
Trackable Links: Use UTM parameters and unique shortened URLs to get a better sense of where traffic is coming from. This can help in attributing dark social traffic more accurately.
Encourage Sharing: Make it easy for users to share content through private channels by adding sharing buttons for email and messaging apps directly on your website.
Analyse Direct Traffic: Often, direct traffic in analytics can be a sign of dark social shares. Pay attention to spikes in direct traffic and investigate potential sources.
Content Personalisation: Create highly shareable content that resonates with your audience on a personal level. Infographics, memes, and engaging articles are more likely to be shared via dark social.
Social Listening Tools: Utilise advanced social listening tools that can capture mentions and shares of your content across various platforms, even if they are not traditionally trackable.
Incentivise Private Sharing: Encourage users to share your content privately by offering incentives such as discounts or exclusive content for shares through dark social channels.
So, if they are 'Dark', how do you track them?
(I bet you didn't even know these tools existed!)
Here are some advanced social listening tools that can help track and analyse social media and dark social activities:
Brandwatch
Features: Offers comprehensive social media monitoring, sentiment analysis, trend tracking, and competitive benchmarking. It also provides visual insights and custom reporting.
Advantages: Robust data collection, extensive analytics capabilities, and customizable dashboards.
Talkwalker
Features: Provides social media listening, analytics, and reporting. It can track keywords, hashtags, and brand mentions across various platforms, including news sites, blogs, and forums.
Advantages: Real-time monitoring, AI-driven insights, and strong coverage of both social and traditional media.
Sprinklr
Features: A unified platform for social media management, including listening, publishing, engagement, and analytics. It also offers customer care and advertising capabilities.
Advantages: Comprehensive integration across all major social networks and advanced AI for sentiment and trend analysis.
Hootsuite Insights (powered by Brandwatch)
Features: Social listening and analytics integrated within the Hootsuite platform. It allows for monitoring of conversations, identifying trends, and understanding sentiment.
Advantages: Seamless integration with Hootsuite’s social media management tools, user-friendly interface, and robust analytics.
Meltwater
Features: Media monitoring, social listening, and analytics platform that tracks news, blogs, and social media mentions. It offers real-time alerts and comprehensive reporting.
Advantages: Strong media database, real-time insights, and customizable dashboards.
NetBase Quid
Features: AI-powered social analytics and consumer intelligence platform. It offers deep social media analysis, brand health monitoring, and competitive benchmarking.
Advantages: High-quality insights, real-time data analysis, and extensive coverage of social media channels.
Synthesio
Features: Social listening and audience insights platform that tracks social conversations, measures brand sentiment, and identifies trends. It also integrates with various CRM tools.
Advantages: Comprehensive analytics, strong integration capabilities, and real-time data visualization.
Mention
Features: Monitors brand mentions, keywords, and competitors across social media, blogs, forums, and the web. It offers real-time alerts and in-depth analytics.
Advantages: Easy-to-use interface, real-time monitoring, and detailed analytics.
BuzzSumo
Features: Content research and social listening tool that tracks content performance, identifies influencers, and monitors brand mentions. It also provides insights into trending topics.
Advantages: Strong content analysis capabilities, easy influencer identification, and comprehensive trend tracking.
Awario
Features: Real-time social media monitoring and web listening tool that tracks brand mentions, keywords, and competitor activity. It also offers sentiment analysis and reporting.
Advantages: Affordable pricing, real-time insights, and detailed analytics.
These tools can help marketers gain deeper insights into their audience, track the effectiveness of their campaigns, and uncover hidden opportunities through advanced social listening capabilities.
Develop your own Dark Social strategy, or, if that sounds like too much hard work, give us a call at Digital Advantage - digitaladvantage.me
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