Measuring Dark Social’s Impact on Conversion and Attribution.pptx.pdf

Measuring Dark Social’s Impact on Conversion and Attribution.pptx.pdf

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  SA Uploaded byStephen Akadiri Measuring Dark Social’s Impact on… Conversion and Attribution.pptx PPTX, PDF 0 views Most of your traffic isn’t coming from where you think. It’s coming from Dark Social, the private … Read more More Related Content Recently uploaded Featured 2024 Trend Updates: What … Really Works In SEO & Content Marketing PDF by 21 slides ◦ 929.8… Search Engin… Storytelling For The Web: Integrat… Storytelling in your Design Process PDF by 39 slides ◦ 821.4… Chiara Aliotta Artificial Intelligence, Data … and Competition – SCHREPEL – June 2024 OECD dis... PDF by 21 slides ◦ 647.5… OECD Directo… How to Leverage AI to Boost … Employee Wellness - Lydia Di Francesco - SocialHR... PDF by 28 slides ◦ 265.1… SocialHRCamp 2024 State of Marketing Report … by Hubspot PDF by 43 slides ◦ 156.1K… Marius Sescu Everything You Need To Know … About ChatGPT PDF by 19 slides ◦ 190.6… Expeed Soft… Product Design Trends in 2024 | … Teenage Engineerings PDF by 8 slides ◦ 70.8K … Pixeldarts How Race, Age and Gender Shap… Attitudes Towards Mental Health PDF by 21 slides ◦ 53.7K … ThinkNow Marketing PPT_20251006_0… 2919_0000.pdfff PDF by 20 slides ◦ 0 views hk7066360 Smart Social Media Automation Tool -… Turrboo PDF by 18 slides ◦ 0 views Turrboo Best Place to Use Verified Binance … Accounts_ Money _ Cryptocurrency Network.docx DOCX by 5 slides ◦ 0 views usaallhub 5 types of market research every … start-up founder should know PDF by 8 slides ◦ 0 views ThinkSurvey Service Marketing on Pricing 2.2 … pricing.pptx PPTX by 26 slides ◦ 0 views its88rahulsoni Selling: Building Partnerships, … Chapter 1 - Selling and Sales People PPTX by 23 slides ◦ 0 views dgutierrez111 Unleashing Growth_ The … Power of Social Media Marketing for Brands.pptx PPTX by 5 slides ◦ 0 views maithilitrivoli Digital Marketing Complete Guide … (2025 Edition): What Is Digital Marketing & ... PDF by 9 slides ◦ 0 views Bluebird Digit… Is newsjacking still relevant if nobody… wants news? PDF by 35 slides ◦ 0 views KatieThomps… What Makes TikTok Viral … Hashtags So Powerful.pptx PPTX by 11 slides ◦ 0 views The Scale Pe… Website Design Tips Every … Business Owner Should Know.pdf PDF by 1 slide ◦ 0 views Zinavo Pvt Ltd Marketing Cloud Next: Onto the … Frontier - Session 5: Data Cloud PDF by 31 slides ◦ 0 views Next Frontier … Discover IPTVUNLOCK: Th… Future of Streaming 2025 PDF by 6 slides ◦ 0 views Ruth Sally BUKTI KEMENANGAN … HARI INI SABTU 11 OKTOBER 2025 PDF by 1 slide ◦ 0 views GRAB Social Media Accounts for Sale … Twitter Accounts.pdf PDF by 5 slides ◦ 0 views Snapchat21 The Evolution of Airline Logos and … What It Teaches About Logo Design in India PDF by 3 slides ◦ 0 views Creative Orion Digital Marketing Plan fo the … beginners. PDF by 15 slides ◦ 0 views praveenferna… GAME GACOR HARI INI KAMIS 0… OKTOBER 2025 PDF by 1 slide ◦ 0 views GRAB Instagram Accounts_For … Personal Branding, and Digital Engagement.pdf PDF by 3 slides ◦ 0 views linkedin539875 Website in a Day™: A proven … methodology for agencies PDF by 54 slides ◦ 0 views Anton Shulke AI Trends in Creative … Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf PDF by 29 slides ◦ 86.6K… marketingart… Skeleton Culture Search
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  About Support Terms Privacy CopyrightCookie Preferences Do not sell or share my personal information English © 2025 Slideshare from Scribd Measuring Dark Social’s Impact on Conversion and Attribution.pptx 2. Coined in 2012by Alexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic. The Origin of Dark Social @stephenakadiri 3. He discovered 56.5%of their shares were untrackable, a finding that changed analytics forever. @stephenakadiri 4. Dark Social islike a detective in a room with no footprints but clear evidence someone’s been there. @stephenakadiri 5. Reasons Why SEOsShould Track Dark Social Reveals hidden referral sources Spots untapped audience channels Tracks branded search lift Fixes inaccurate traffic attribution Strengthens content distribution strategy @stephenakadiri 6. Why It Matters Today Upto 84% of sharing now happens privately @stephenakadiri 7. Marketers risk losingthe true picture of their funnel. @stephenakadiri 9. Any content shared privatelywhere analytics tools lose the referral data are dark social content. @stephenakadiri 10. Copy-paste, HTTPS to HTTP transitions, and in- app browsers strip referral headers and tell analytics it’s “Direct” traffic… @stephenakadiri 11. Where Dark SocialHappens Messaging apps Emails & internal threads Slack, Teams & Discord Closed groups/f orums PDFs & slide decks Screenshots & offline recommend ations 12. Screenshots push people toGoogle you instead of clicking a link. Screenshots 13. Missing Referral Headers Links shared privately lose referral info. @stephenakadiri 14. Copy/Paste & ShortLinkS Copying creates new sessions. Use tools like Bitly to properly track traffic. @stephenakadiri 15. 02 03 Add UTM tagsto URLs so source and campaign info travels even in private channels. @stephenakadiri 16. The Dark SocialPath Someone sees content privately Searches brand later Appears as Direct or Organic traffic. @stephenakadiri 17. Example of DarkSharing: @stephenakadiri 18. 1. Private Conversations @stephenakadiri 19. 2. Slack Groups 20. 3. Links InPDF 21. 02 03 Why Marketers ShouldCare Dark Social shares are authentic Endorsements. @stephenakadiri 22. 02 03 Chartbeat found 69%of “social” referrals actually came from Dark Social channels. @stephenakadiri 23. Measuring Dark Social ishow marketers stay relevant. 24. How do wemeasure dark social? @stephenakadiri 25. Use a LayeredApproach Tech + analytics + human insight = overlapping signals. @stephenakadiri 26. Use UTM Parametersand Short Links Everywhere Newsletters PDFs CTAs Add UTMs to: @stephenakadiri 27. Use link shortenerslike Bitly/Rebrandly for rebranded links and get click, location, and device data from them. @stephenakadiri 28. Advanced Segmentation inAnalytics Create a GA4 segment: Direct traffic landing on deep pages @stephenakadiri 29. Track View-Through Conversions Compare branded search volume and direct visits before, during, and after campaigns. 30. Surveys and FeedbackLoops Ask “How did you hear about us?” @stephenakadiri 31. Social Listening & Community Monitoring @stephenakadiri 32. Design Content for PrivateSharing @stephenakadiri 33. Map the DarkFunnel Create a diagram of your customer journey showing where hidden shares likely occur. @stephenakadiri 34. Reporting Tips toBring Dark Social Data Into Internal Discussions 35. 1: Combine DataSources Direct + branded search + survey responses = dashboard. @stephenakadiri 36. 2: Show FunnelStage Impact Use visuals to show leadership how Dark Social touches awareness, consideration, and conversion. @stephenakadiri 37. 3: Trend OverTime Plot Direct + Branded Search weekly against campaigns to prove uplift from hidden shares. @stephenakadiri 38. 4. Dark SocialKPIs Add a KPI like “Estimated Dark Social Conversions” to your marketing scorecard. @stephenakadiri 39. 5: Executive Storytelling Tell the story with screenshots, anonymized comments, and customer quotes to make Dark Social tangible. @stephenakadiri 40. Privacy Expectations &Transparency People expect private spaces to stay private. Laws like GDPR and CCPA require transparency. Disclose when links carry tracking parameters. @stephenakadiri 41. Avoid Over-Targeting & Protect Sensitive Data Don’t bombard people with hyper-personalized ads. Keep UTMs generic and safe. Use aggregated, anonymous data and opt-in surveys. 42. Practical Tips toMaster Dark Social Track what you can Ask your customers Build for private sharing with breadcrumbs @stephenakadiri 43. Practical Tips toMaster Dark Social Train leadership on the Dark Funnel Use QR codes, trackable share codes, and custom landing pages @stephenakadiri #brightonSEO 44. Dark Social isHere to Stay Audit “Direct” traffic Map the Dark Funnel Use breadcrumbs Focus on small, consistent moves: Listen to communities Educate your team Stay ethical @stephenakadiri 45. Remember, always: 1. Trackhidden traffic sources 2. Use UTMs and short links 3. Design content for private sharing @stephenakadiri 46. Dark Social ishere to stay. It’s today’s digital word- of-mouth, and the key to smarter attribution. @stephenakadiri 47. Thank You! Stephen Akadiri Editor's Notes #7 Cookies and pixels fading. This means we are losing a lot to tracking and retargeting visibility. As tracking disappears, dark social is now more crucial than before. #12 Screenshots leads to word of mouth marketing or recommendations. Recommendations work so well, I call it a mouth-to-mouth campaign. It builds trust over time #13 Dark social happens in private, untrackable spaces like WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and DMs. It’s where people share links, recommendations, and opinions outside public view. Even with referral links or UTM tags, most of that activity still goes unseen, but it drives real influence. #14 When someone copies and shares your link, the tracking info, like referral headers, usually disappears. That’s why analytics show it as “direct traffic.” But short links, like Bitly, help a bit, they act like breadcrumbs, letting you see how many times that link was clicked and where it spread. So while you can’t see who shared it, you can still trace the movement of your content through dark social. #16 Here’s how the dark social path works, someone sees your content in a private chat or DM, but instead of clicking the link, they later search your brand or type your URL directly. When that happens, analytics tools record it as direct or organic traffic. So the real source that private shares, stays hidden, even though it played a key role. #21 Marketers should care because dark social shares are genuine word- of-mouth, people sharing content they truly trust. They’re not ads or paid mentions; they’re authentic endorsements that carry more influence than any campaign. Tapping into that helps brands build credibility and community-driven growth. #22 Ignoring Dark socials can misattribute 20–50% of conversions. #28 To identify possible dark social traffic in GA4, create a segment for direct traffic landing on deep pages, pages other than your homepage. That’s because genuine direct visitors usually type in your homepage URL, not a long blog or product link. So when you see direct traffic entering on deep pages, that’s a strong signal of dark social activity. #30 Mix multiple choice and free text so people can write “WhatsApp” or “Slack.” #31 Monitor mentions in semi-private forums and combine with traffic spikes to see Dark Social influence. #32 Assume people will screenshot or forward your content so be on track. make your brand visible even when links disappear. Use branded visuals, short URLs, or QR codes to keep your identity and source clear wherever it’s shared. #33 Create a simple customer journey diagram and mark points where hidden shares likely happen, like between “Content Discovery” and “Website Visit.” These are the stages where users copy links, screenshot posts, or share in private chats. Visualizing this helps executives see how dark social quietly drives traffic that analytics can’t directly trace. 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