What is dark social and how can you measure it?, Tim Hughes

What is dark social?

Dark social is a term that is used, not as some sort of sinister social media, but social media, as a salesperson or a marketer you cannot see.

Some people use the term "dark funnel", which describes the part of the buyer's journey you cannot see.

What do I mean?

Let's assume you share some content on LinkedIn and you hope your target customer will pick this up. Your sponsor, likes your article, which is how you can see what is going on in social, but she shares your article in a company WhatsApp channel.

I know sales teams in Microsoft Azure, use this as a sales tactic they share content with people who they know will distribute the content within their prospects. This is one way that Microsoft are about to gain influence in an account. Of course, this sharing in their prospects and customers is "dark" and this is another example of dark social and dark funnel.

Why does this matter?

If you think about the amount of content that is shared on social media that we can see, dark social, what we cannot see, is way bigger than that.

In fact, this article states "that 84% of consumers’ outbound sharing from publishers’ and marketers’ websites now takes place via private, dark social channels such as email, social networks, and instant messaging."

A few years ago, I was approached by a guy that had done some research for IBM and he found that 70% of social media shared was dark social. IBM didn't believe him and he happened to find me and want to talk to me as a kindred spirit.

Since that guy spoke to me, the channels where dark social happens have continued to expand and become more relevant than ever.

Why does this matter? As this article says .. "Because, this is where buying decisions happen. It’s how you create demand for your product or services. It’s where buyers go to learn and discover with industry peers."

"Sure, search engines like Google, review sites like G2, and research vendors like Forrester or Gartner still carry some influence — but not as much as people tend to think."

Your Funnel Is Not Their Journey

This article is correct by saying, that your funnel is not your journey. The buyer's journey is no longer linear and let's not forget that journey mapping is you trying to create a map for your buyers for you to sell to, not for your buyers to buy.

"A B2B buyer's journey is not about an individual person, but nearly always about a team of people who are working together to address a business need. Buyer journeys, therefore, are labels applied to the internal state of buying teams as they progress toward a purchase."

How Do I Track and Measure Dark Social?

In a way you cannot.

Google Analytics - This article goes into that in a little detail.

You also need to ask prospects (win and lose) and customers "where did you hear about us?"

You need a salesforce that is active on social media and are empowered as to how this all works.

So who's social selling?

In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.

But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling? Not according to Merrill Lynch.

"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"

The CRO (chief revenue officer), Richard Eltham of Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about social selling. See here.

“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind”

Kevin Murray who is the Head of Sales at MacArtney Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling here and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales here.

I don't believe you Tim!

If you check out this video of Chris Mason CEO at Oracle reseller Namos, fast forward to 19 minutes 55 seconds. Chris talks about a $2.6 million win from being on social, after completing the DLA Ignite social selling and influence course.

Here at DLA Ignite we don't do "hints and tips sessions" we don't want you to waste your money. Our social selling and influence methodology will provide your sales team with the stable platform for growth. It is also the only social selling program based on 70:20:10 change management principles which gives your business the mindset change and habit change they need in this digital world.

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