When consumers want information there are a handful of predictable places they will go. The first two places will be their trusted networks of friends and family and the other is the Internet. They turn to these places with purpose. They ask a specific question or enter specific keywords and generate results that help answer their questions. Traditional online advice seeking and giving has, until recently, provided a way to understand what consumers are looking for and what they’re willing to share.
What’s changed is not what consumers are looking for or the content that they are willing to share but how they share it and the role (or lack thereof) that marketers have in influencing buying decisions.
In 2011, Facebook was responsible for 52% of online sharing. By 2016, Facebook will only own half that responsibility and “online sharing” will be replaced. With short attention spans, the need for immediate gratification and the constant access to a smartphone, content is being shared faster than ever before and in ways that it cannot be tracked. Not only is content being shared in this way, but consumers make buying decisions in places that marketers cannot reach them.
An article link sent via Skype, a product detail page forwarded via email or a video link shared through text messaging is all social sharing taking place outside of social channels. It is dark social. Some refer to this as direct social or private sharing. Consumers are accessing information in ways that makes them anonymous. It used to be clear exactly who the influencers were, who the brand advocates were and the path someone took to make a buying decision.
Dark social gives consumers enormous control over distributing content—including brand content—without anyone knowing how they did it. By the time a consumer has learned about your product and is trying to choose between yours and your competitors, they will enter their dark social peer network for feedback. And once you lose your customer to dark social, the only thing that matters is that you have created interesting, shareable content tied to a quality product.
Given the amount of content, and the type of content people are willing to share—photos, videos, infographics, status updates, locations, reviews, articles, coupons—marketers face a huge challenge in not having access to dark social networks, particularly those that include large target audiences. Brands can, and should, still create relevant, engaging and shareable content, but they will not have control over who sees it or how it is shared. And, brands should focus on product quality in order to win in the peer-to-peer influence of dark social. The brand who empowers consumers to share great content tied to the best product will win.
Ultimately, creating content worth sharing and products people like, even in the age of dark social, is better than going dark all together.
