It's 2017. It's time to stop saying dark post.
In 2016, I believe that most paid social media buyers gave folks a pass when referring to ads as dark posts. Most of the buyers I know and interact with have been gracious when the reference of a dark post comes up and instead of correcting the individual bite their tongue. However, it is now time to stop this. In 2017, the ultimate resolution should be to stop saying dark post.
Now, before the devil's advocates start throwing out that technically a "dark post" is still accurate, I will simply agree now to save you the trouble. A Facebook ad is a dark post unless it is a boosted post. However, the days of creating an unpublished post and then selecting the bubble "This post will be used for an ad" are long gone. It is unnecessary and honestly not needed. As in Facebook doesn't even want you to do it anymore.
This is because buying has changed. Making a buy in Power Editor or Ads Manager allows the flexibility to build an ad within the platform instead of creating a post that cannot truly be edited or adjusted - at least not well. As paid social buyers we have the flexibility to make edits to the ads that we make (sure this resets the ad's engagement, but at least it is easy to do).
A Facebook ad will not appear on the timeline. This is implied when a buyer says they are building a Facebook ad. Just like when someone says they are publishing a post on a Facebook page, we do not ask "Do you mean organically?" or "Will the post show up on the timeline?" because we know that all of that is implied within the statement.
At this point, for any post that will appear on a timeline but also will be an ad, trust that a buyer will call this a boosted or sponsored post. Otherwise, we assume that the ad that is being generated for a Traffic objective or Conversion objective that has new creative is going to be an ad built and not a post to be seen on the timeline. In fact, it's not even possible for us to create an ad off of an organic post in those objectives. So know that when utilizing the phrase dark post, it is redundant and unnecessary. Please utilize the term ad - it will cause less confusion and bring you into the new wave of media buying.
Jessica McGlory leads paid social as a Digital Media Manager for Engine Media, a media agency that provides modern solutions via exceptional talent, enabled by technology and driven by data.