WHAT IS DARK SOCIAL?
If you are a digital marketer or brand manager and have ever explored the Acquisition section of Google Analytics (I seriously hope you have), you may have observed some irregularities in the landing page URLs under Direct Traffic. Does anyone really type addresses like “http://wildfusions.com/5-practical-steps-to-developing-creative-ideas" into their web browsers? That is very unlikely. A huge chunk of this “direct” traffic is actually dark social. It is a trend every digital marketer must come to terms with in 2017.
Coined by Alexis C. Madrigal, dark social is essentially website traffic that originates from sources other than direct traffic but is classified as direct traffic by web analytics tools. Dark social is quite different from direct traffic — when a website is accessed by typing a URL, such as wildfusions.com, or using a bookmarked link.
WHY IS DARK SOCIAL IMPORTANT?
Tracking where website visitors come from is one of the most alluring aspects of digital marketing. According to RadiumOne, “84% of global social sharing happens via ‘dark social’ platforms such as email, copy-and-paste links in chat apps and texting. However, 90% of social marketing investment is on public platforms.” This opens up a whole new world of insights. Instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Messenger, email and other mobile apps like Facebook are some of the most common sources of dark social traffic.
Dark social may offer a better understanding of a consumer’s real sentiment than public shares as the consumer might refrain from sharing publicly to avoid oversharing or to uphold a particular character or identity. The RadiumOne research also found that “46 percent of global consumers age 55 and older share only via dark social.” This figure shoots up considerably when certain industries are considered; for content related to careers and personal finance, dark social accounts for 83% and 70% of social shares respectively. Ponder that for a second. It is just astonishing.
HOW CAN ADVERTISERS AND BRANDS MEASURE DARK SOCIAL?
For any online publisher, the importance of understanding where their visitors originate from cannot be overemphasized. That is why digital marketing is so attractive in the first place.
Here are some recommendations on how to track dark social traffic to gain insights from consumer activity:
1. Link shorteners — A simple way to start measuring dark social is by using URL shorteners like Google URL Shortener and Bitly. Shortened links look more refined to consumers and makes public sharing more appealing.
2. Social buttons — By clearly display share buttons of important platforms on all your content, consumers are more likely to use these buttons as they simplify shareability. It also helps to clearly distinguish share buttons from social follow buttons.
3. Google analytics — Going back to analytics, the assumption is that anyone landing on the homepage of a website constitute direct traffic. An article on Smart Insights outlines a procedure of tracking how much direct traffic is actually dark social by segmenting long URLs from short ones.
The bottom line is that dark social is here to stay and we all have to get comfortable with it. Brands and digital marketers have to start creating content that consumers cannot help but share publicly; this will be a strategy in keeping dark social in check. In Africa, one brand doing great work with regards to creative content marketing is Wild Fusion.