Social media has fundamentally changed the way we live, work, and interact with people. It’s an integral part of our lives. We go online to share news, find information, and connect with others. And it’s not just about socializing; we also use social media for shopping and business purposes.

 We know that most of our internet usage comes from Facebook and other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. But what we don’t know is how much of this activity is happening outside these channels – dark social. Dark social refers to any time a person interacts with content on a platform outside of that platform’s native environment or ‘silo’ such as Pinterest or Tumblr. 

 What do you need to know about it? Read on!

What Is Dark Social?

A lot of people think that Facebook is the be-all and end-all of social media marketing. But it's not! There are many different ways to share content on the internet, and some of these ways are so easy that you might not even realize you're doing it. This is called dark social. Dark social refers to any type of social media sharing that happens outside of the domain of a social network. This includes email, instant message, and SMS.

 The term was originally coined by technology analyst Dan Zarrella in 2010 to describe "the part of social networking that is not measured or visible." 

 As far as Marketers go, there are two things about dark social they need to worry about:

1) It's hard to track the success of your campaign because you can't see how people react to your content. For example, if someone shares your blog post with their friends but doesn't tag you in the post, then it won't show up on your dashboard like usual. It will only show up through analytics tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights - but those don't always work accurately either;

2) You can use dark social for nefarious purposes - this means spamming people who have already opted out from receiving messages from you! 

The solution?

Get creative with your content and make sure you're posting to different channels, especially those which are more public than private. There are also some tools you can use to help measure the effectiveness of your efforts.

Why Dark Social Matters for Marketers

As much as we know about Facebook and other social media channels, dark social is an area that’s still relatively unexplored. It has the potential to become a game changer for marketers.

We know that most of our internet usage comes from Facebook and other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. But what we don’t know is how much of this activity is happening outside these channels – dark social. 

For brands, this can be especially troublesome because it means you aren’t tracking the reach of your content as effectively as you could be. For instance, if you post something on Reddit or Pinterest, there’s no way to track how many people saw it or interacted with it unless they were logged into Reddit or Pinterest at the time. As more and more interactions happen off-site (dark social), brands will lose valuable insights about their customers and competitors alike.

Two main tactics that marketers could use to increase audience reach & engagement, while decreasing costs are the following:

• Differentiated Content: The ability to publish different content on different platforms provides another opportunity for brands to differentiate themselves from competitors by providing exclusive offers or deals only available through that platform.

• Quality Interactions: Brands are able to engage in quality interactions with customers because the customer accessed the brand through their own initiative without being prompted by an ad campaign. This means they are more inclined to provide feedback on their experience, answer questions, or even purchase products or services offered by the company they found through their organic search. 

Who Uses Dark Social and Why

Some brands use dark social to promote their content because it’s less expensive than advertising on other platforms. These sites offer a free way to grow your brand and increase your following. For example, you can post images or videos onto Pinterest or Tumblr and then link back to the original site. This way, you're using the power of these networks for promotion without paying for ads.

Others use dark social because they feel like they’re able to better control the user experience and message with dark social. They like how it feels more personal and doesn’t feel like they’re constantly being sold to.

However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to dark social; different people will have different reasons for using this type of social media interaction. But know that if you are promoting on Facebook alone, you are missing 95 percent of your potential market!

What to Consider for Your Business

Numerous studies have shown that email is the most common way people share links outside of social media channels. People often forward links from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to their friends in emails. In addition, many people share links using instant messaging apps like Whatsapp, SMS text messages, and chat programs like Skype. Things get even more complicated when you consider how much sharing happens through mobile devices - through texting, email, chat apps and other programs.

In short: Just because your audience isn't being vocal about your brand on social media doesn't mean they're not engaging with you elsewhere! It's essential that you monitor all channels for engagement opportunities.

Bringing it all together, with the rise in social media and the popularity of mobile use, we’ve seen a significant shift in how we connect and communicate with the people we care about. But what we don’t often see in social media is dark social: private messages and direct messages on social networks and apps like WhatsApp and WeChat. If you’re using tools like WeChat to succeed in China, you need to take dark social into consideration for your business. It’s no longer safe to ignore this form of communication.