What is Dark Social?

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Dark social is where B2B buyers hang out daily with their peers to discover, research, and learn. B2B buyers trust their peers more than any other sources of information which is why these channels are so powerful. These sources have strict privacy policies to protect their users and these platforms are not invested in selling our user data or navigating users away from their platforms.

What Dark Social Looks Like?

• Social networks (LinkedIn, Tik Tok)
• Content platforms (YouTube, Apple Podcasts)
• Communities (Facebook group, Pavilion, etc.)
• Direct word of mouth (text messages, zooms, DMs, etc.)
• Internal company communication (e.g. Slack, internal meetings, etc.)
• 3rd party events and meet ups

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The Difference Between Dark Social and Dark Funnels

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Dark social = where demand is created
Dark funnel = where demand is captured (intent channels that provide account level intent data, e.g. review sites, 3rd party websites that sell our data, search engines, etc.)

Why is Dark Social so Important

Main Use Cases: Learn and discover new ideas and products. Understand what your peers are doing and what products they’re using. Get insights and validation from peers about your business priorities and purchase decisions.

High Reach: People who aren’t aware of our brand passively get shown content through the platforms.

Shareability: Medium/High - There are many mechanisms to proactively share content with other people or re-post it on other dark social platforms

Main Discovery Mechanism: Social Network Amplification, Interested people automatically get shown content that other people like them have engaged with

User Feedback: You get clear feedback about who is liking the content, what questions they have, what objections they have, what they agree with, etc. through comments & post engagement

Frequency: High, People log into social networks and content platforms multiple times every day and get served content they want

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