Social Media Marketing

Dark Social Isn’t Bad In Fact It’s Going To Be Massive In 2019/20

Have you heard of dark social posting? Sound sketchy right? Well it’s not it’s been around for years and it’s something you need to be aware of for your social. Although the name may sound sinister, dark social refers to social sharing that can’t be accurately tracked (often causing headaches for social media managers).

Private messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Snapchat, are part of the dark social category due to their ‘closed’ format. The presence of dark social has been growing recently, with data suggesting that 84% of social sharing now happens via dark social.

So what does this mean for your social media strategy?

You need to focus on your mobile formats more than ever. 2019 is the year for businesses to start taking advantage of dark social. Clicking the ‘Share’ button on Facebook is an increasingly dated form of engagement, and yet 90% of social advertising budgets go directly to the social networks themselves.

The use of apps such as WhatsApp and Messenger are going from strength to strength, with some estimates saying that over 2 billion users will use messaging apps by the end of 2019.

You can capitalise on this  but only if you know what your customers want and how they are interacting with and sharing content. You social needs to be focussed on mobile-first interaction with a concrete tracking solution designed to be where your customers are hanging out.

Have You Set The Right Objectives 

Are you using social media at every stage of your customer journey?

Social media is already helping customers in the phase of product discovery. Brands are able to promote their products through social channels and customers are finding out about them before making a purchase. This is standard practice to social media practitioners but social media is not just about awareness and engagement anymore. It’s heading even more towards consideration and sales enablement in the business funnel.

According to Mary Meeker’s report of Internet Trends in 2018, 55% of respondents who discovered a product through social media proceeded to purchase later on. Facebook seems to be the first channel that people discover new products, with Instagram and Pinterest following up.

What do these mean for you? Well it give you a great opportunity to benefit from this trend to improve their social strategy. You don’t always need a sales pitch in all your messaging to convince people to trust you. Social media can help you tell your story and improve consideration.  Right after someone discovers your product online, it’s up to you to provide a smooth experience across all mediums that will make sales easier.

More Is Less When It Comes To Channels

Social media marketing is becoming more competitive and the most successful professionals realise that you need to focus on the best-performing channels for your business.

Gone are the days when you had to join Facebook simply because ‘everybody was there.’ Nowadays, it’s more important to go after niche audiences that are relevant to your business. There’s no need to broadcast the same message to all platforms if you don’t see a successful result from it.

Social media marketing is becoming more competitive and the most successful professionals realise that you need to focus on the best-performing channels for your business.

Gone are the days when you had to join Facebook simply because ‘everybody was there.’ Nowadays, it’s more important to go after niche audiences that are relevant to your business. There’s no need to broadcast the same message to all platforms if you don’t see a successful result from it.

Don’t be afraid to limit down your work to two channels, for example, if you’re noticing that these two channels will bring you the best ROI.

We can all start the new year by making the most of our time and spending it on the channels that are only worth our attention.

The more distractions we are having, the higher the chances to lose our focus. Start by analysing where your audience is and which channels work better for your business goals. Review your current performance and set goals to improve it in the right direction that you want to move.