What is Dark Social? Should I Pay Attention to Dark Social?

Last Fall I started to hear the term “Dark Social”.? It sounded very ominous and I had visions of the dark web. Although I have never tried to spend time on the dark web, it seems like a scary and gross place and somewhere I don’t want to spend my time.

Maybe that is just from growing up in the 80’s and all the movies I watched.????♂? But, I am going off topic here….

Dark Social.?

I believe the first time I heard the term was from Jon Reed and his diginomica blog article in August 2022. Thanks Jon ????

I think the next time I heard it was from my friend Trevor Van Woerden in one of his LinkedIn Live episodes, an article and maybe a social post. I can't remember. I reached out to him and invited him to join me on my show to talk about it.?

In my research, it seems the term “Dark Social” was first used way back in 2012 in an article titled Dark Social:? We Have the Whole History of the Web Wrong published in The Atlantic by Alexis Madrigal.

It is an awesome read and my? inner nerd loved it.?If you want to understand the evolution of people using the internet and how business has tried to capture value out of it, it's a great read.

As you read through the history of the Internet and see how it has naturally evolved, it should make the concept of Dark Social more exciting to business leaders. I encourage anyone reading this to keep considering how you navigate the internet. How you use your mobile apps, where you consume content and the influence videos, social posts, podcasts or any form of content influences your behaviors.

Here is the excerpt in the original Dark Social article where Alexis Madrigal defines and explaines the concept of Dark Social.?

This means that this vast trove of social traffic is essentially invisible to most analytics programs. I call it DARK SOCIAL. It shows up variously in programs as "direct" or "typed/bookmarked" traffic, which implies to many site owners that you actually have a bookmark or typed in www.theatlantic.com into your browser. But that's not actually what's happening a lot of the time. Most of the time, someone Gchatted someone a link, or it came in on a big email distribution list, or your dad sent it to you.

There is incredible power for business growth when content and information can influence an entire network or community and be so exciting to individuals that they share links with their colleagues, friends and family.?

Have you ever read an article or listened to a show and then shared it with someone? That is Dark Social in action.

I think of how I first came to start watching the show Yellowstone. Enough friends talked about it that I finally told my wife, "we should watch Yellowstone. I heard it was really good."

Or, how I first started using Loom as a video tool. I listened to a podcast where a sales producer was interviewed. He said one of his favorite new tools was video messages to prospects. BOOM. I learned of a new tool and become a user and have been using it for the past 4 years (maybe more) now.

Look at what is happening with OpenAI and their ChatGPT right now!?WOW.

The bigger question for companies is how can you utilize the concept of Dark Social and leverage it into a systematic plan??To create a plan and successfully implement it, we have to consider how people actually behave.

Dark social is most valuable because of how we behave in digital channels.

As individuals with powerful computers in our pockets and purses, we read what we want, we read comments from other people, we watch live videos, we listen to podcasts, we share links with others, etc.

Our own behavior leads us down paths where we learn.

Where we get exposed to new information and therefore become influenced by information.?

Several months ago my friend Tom Burton mentioned to me in conversation about a new podcast he has listened to called Revenue Vitals. After he shared a few things he heard on that podcast, I was interested. A few days later, I thought about it again and did a quick search and subscribed to the podcast.??

A few weeks later, I shared an episode from the show with a friend who was struggling with top-of-funnel activity as a B2B marketer. I shared a few points I had heard from the podcast and then said, “you should check out Refine Labs, the company that puts out that podcast. I think they could be a good agency for what you are trying to accomplish.”?

?? Boom?? Dark Social at work.?

When my friend contacted Refine Labs, in a normal B2B marketing-led organization, there would be no attribution for them as a lead.

Most likely, the lead would erroneously be attributed to Search and digital marketing would add to their KPI’s of search engine success.?

But, that is NOT at all what actually happened. My friend may have done a Google Search to find their website. But, Search is not what generated their interest in discovering and engaging the company.?

The power of Dark Social content spreads through the interwebs and generates demand by educating, entertaining and consistently sharing high quality content that influences 100’s, 1,000’s and millions of individuals.?

This is natural and expected when we consider how social animals like humans behave.? We are inherently social creatures.?

We share what we enjoy with others. We tell others about new things we have learned and in the process, we spread information about companies, products and people.?

Let me ask you this question, wouldn’t it be nice to have 1,000’s of people talking about you, your company and your services???

Is your company doing anything to create the foundation to make this possible??

The area I have focused on the most with the Dark Social in the past 5 years is #socialprospecting and #socialselling for individual producers.?

When business leaders experience Dark Social as one who is influenced and they watch their own behavior move from uninformed, to informed to a true believer, they tend to see where their own company is missing big opportunities.??

Imagine a company whose team is strategically creating and sharing thought leadership content.?

Imagine your team promoting your company podcast as a way to meet new prospects.?

Imagine being able to invite your most valuable clients to be a guest on your show as a way to maintain rapport and strengthen the relationship months before renewal is a real topic.?

Imagine changing the internal conversations away from how many demos did you do today? Instead, how many new people reached out to ask for conversations with us today??

I know this seems unbelievable or far fetched.

But, I have two scheduled meetings today with prospects who reached out to me because someone shared with them a link to our Live show and podcast. After listening to a few episodes, they reached out and asked if we could talk.

?? Boom?? Dark Social!

I know this can seem overwhelming. The best things in life are rarely the easiest things in life.

To lead an industry, means to do things differently than all others in the industry.?

Think differently, have courage and turn the desert of lead generation into fertile ground of demand generation.

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