Dark social is the sharing of content or links through private channels, such as email, private messaging apps, and word of mouth. It’s called “dark” because it’s not tracked by traditional analytics tools.
While dark social can be a powerful tool for driving traffic and conversions, it can also work against you if you’re not careful. Here are a few ways that dark social can work against you:
- Negative word-of-mouth: If people are sharing negative experiences with your company or product in dark social, it can damage your reputation and make it harder to attract new customers. For example, if someone has a bad experience with your customer service team, they may share that experience with their friends and family in a private message. This negative word-of-mouth can quickly spread and damage your reputation.
- Inaccurate information: If people are sharing inaccurate information about your company or product in dark social, it can mislead potential customers and lead to lost sales. For example, if someone shares a link to a fake news article about your company, it could lead to people believing that the information in the article is true. This could damage your credibility and make it harder to sell your products or services.
- Complaints: If people are sharing complaints about your company’s products or services in dark social, it can lead to bad reviews and lower customer satisfaction. For example, if someone has a problem with your product and they can’t get it resolved, they may share their complaint with their friends and family in a private message. This can lead to negative reviews on social media and other websites, which can hurt your brand reputation.
Here are some tips on how to prevent dark social from working against you:
- Create high-quality content: If you create high-quality content that people want to share, they’re more likely to share it in public channels where you can track it. This will help you to build a positive reputation and attract new customers.
- Provide excellent customer service: If you provide excellent customer service, people are more likely to have positive experiences with your company and share those experiences with others. This will help to mitigate the damage caused by negative word-of-mouth.
- Be transparent about your company’s processes: If people know what to expect from your company, they’re less likely to be surprised or disappointed. This will help to reduce the number of complaints that you receive.
In addition to the tips above, here are a few other things you can do to mitigate the risks of dark social:
- Use a dark social analytics tool: There are a number of tools available that can help you track dark social traffic. This can give you valuable insights into what content is being shared and who is sharing it. This information can help you to identify any potential problems and take steps to address them.
- Set up a referral program: A referral program can encourage your customers to share your content with their friends and family. This can help you to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website.
- Host webinars and events: Webinars and events are a great way to generate buzz around your brand and create opportunities for people to share your content with others. This can help to increase your brand awareness and reach a wider audience.
By taking the steps above, you can help to ensure that dark social is a valuable asset for your business, not a liability.
Learn More About Evron
We position B2B marketers like you to source more revenue with less friction. With GTM roles shifting to the right, marketers are challenged with sparking up initiatives that drives sales ROI, and having data to back the results. Current GTM and Demand playbooks don’t help today’s B2B marketers optimize for revenue outcomes. That’s where we come in. We develop roadmaps and campaigns, execute demand and ABM tactics, and design creative assets to fuel revenue results.
Discover more about Evron at evron.io. Join the GTM and Demand convo on our socials: LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok. Listen to The A2B Series Podcast on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
We position B2B marketers like you to source more revenue with less friction. With GTM roles shifting to the right, marketers are challenged with sparking up initiatives that drives sales ROI, and having data to back the results. Current GTM and Demand playbooks don’t help today’s B2B marketers optimize for revenue outcomes. That’s where we come in. We develop roadmaps and campaigns, execute demand and ABM tactics, and design creative assets to fuel revenue results.
Discover more about Evron at evron.io. Join the GTM and Demand convo on our socials: LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok. Listen to The A2B Series Podcast on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
Discover more about Evron at evron.io. Join the GTM and Demand convo on our socials: LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok. Listen to The A2B Series Podcast on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.