What is Dark Social?
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2024 8:22 am
As a SaaS marketer , one of the most important things you think about is attribution. Which channels are performing best? What is the cost per MQL, the CAC per channel, the ROI?
This leads some marketers and many B2B SaaS managers to become obsessed with attribution. Now, obviously, you want to be able to answer questions like, “If I have an extra $X right now, where should I spend it?”
You also want to be able to see what the best channels are to reach your audience and what content resonates best with them. However, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you’re never going to be able to track all the touchpoints your customer has before they fill out a demo form.
Every conversation you have with a team member, every software listing platform you’ve researched, every community you’re a part of that features your software, every organic post they’ve seen but not interacted with – most of this can’t be attributed in your CRM.
That, in a nutshell, is Dark Social.
dark-social
What is Dark Social?
The first time I heard the words Dark Social, I was convinced it had something to do with black magic. But it doesn’t, I promise. Dark Social is essentially the entire journey your prospects or oman telegram data leads take before first-touch attribution (and sometimes after). It’s the fact that people hear about your brand on channels that your HubSpot or attribution software can’t track.
For example, one of my clients belongs to an association because it’s a great space for their ICP . That association hosts the biggest industry event every year, which was my client’s number one lead generator and conversation starter. The members of that association are all in the same Facebook group and community forum.
Every conversation that happens in those groups is Dark Social. You can’t really track it without self-declared attribution (we’ll talk about that in a moment), and it’s the strongest way to get someone to use your product. Someone who has the same pains and concerns, the same jobs to be done, tells them about your platform.
Personalized marketing strategies
They're likely to listen to it 10 times more than if you just went up to them and said, "Hey, I sell this software." The point I'm trying to make here is that Dark Social is huge. You need to understand how it affects your business, and how you can start getting your name mentioned more in those channels and those community groups.
This leads some marketers and many B2B SaaS managers to become obsessed with attribution. Now, obviously, you want to be able to answer questions like, “If I have an extra $X right now, where should I spend it?”
You also want to be able to see what the best channels are to reach your audience and what content resonates best with them. However, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you’re never going to be able to track all the touchpoints your customer has before they fill out a demo form.
Every conversation you have with a team member, every software listing platform you’ve researched, every community you’re a part of that features your software, every organic post they’ve seen but not interacted with – most of this can’t be attributed in your CRM.
That, in a nutshell, is Dark Social.
dark-social
What is Dark Social?
The first time I heard the words Dark Social, I was convinced it had something to do with black magic. But it doesn’t, I promise. Dark Social is essentially the entire journey your prospects or oman telegram data leads take before first-touch attribution (and sometimes after). It’s the fact that people hear about your brand on channels that your HubSpot or attribution software can’t track.
For example, one of my clients belongs to an association because it’s a great space for their ICP . That association hosts the biggest industry event every year, which was my client’s number one lead generator and conversation starter. The members of that association are all in the same Facebook group and community forum.
Every conversation that happens in those groups is Dark Social. You can’t really track it without self-declared attribution (we’ll talk about that in a moment), and it’s the strongest way to get someone to use your product. Someone who has the same pains and concerns, the same jobs to be done, tells them about your platform.
Personalized marketing strategies
They're likely to listen to it 10 times more than if you just went up to them and said, "Hey, I sell this software." The point I'm trying to make here is that Dark Social is huge. You need to understand how it affects your business, and how you can start getting your name mentioned more in those channels and those community groups.