Dark posts are used to target new audiences outside of your brand’s feed, serving them content based on many demographic factors. See the benefits.

4 Benefits of Dark Posts on Social Media | Union

4 Benefits of Dark Posts Over Organic Posts for Brands on Social Media

In need of a social media strategy for <a href="https://union.co/services/performance-media/social-media">reaching new audiences</a> and helping them get to know your brand with zero effort on their end? Dark posts are an ideal <a href="https://www.falcon.io/insights-hub/topics/social-media-strategy/what-are-dark-posts-on-social-media-2018/">option</a> on channels including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, where you can choose that approach instead of boosting organic posts on your main feed.<h2>What is dark posting?</h2>
Dark posting is the creation and publication of a social media post without it appearing on your public profile or timeline. Dark posts are used to target specific groups with laser precision and can be an extremely effective way to reach your audience with highly relevant content. 

With dark posts, brands are able to target new audiences and serve them enticing content based on age, location, behaviors, interests and other details that would help you understand whether a user would be interested in the products or services you have to offer.
“Typically it’s best for targeting to be persona-based in this case,” said Union Senior Paid Media Strategist Allie Robbe. “You need different ways to segment your audience so you get learnings for future targeting that you can apply to different channels.” But you can actually do this with non-dark posts now too, by selecting an in-feed post to promote and layering on all of this targeting.
So, if targeting is so similar, what benefits do dark posts have that your typical in-feed posts don’t?

Dark posts are also known as unpublished posts, since they won’t take up space on your brand’s main social feed like organic posts and boosted posts do. Rather, dark posts only <a href="https://www.falcon.io/insights-hub/topics/social-media-strategy/what-are-dark-posts-on-social-media-2018/">appear</a> in the form of sponsored content in the feeds of the people you’re targeting, who may not necessarily follow your brand yet. This means you have a chance to strategically catch people in the awareness phase, providing value based on what you know about them already.

Dark posts don’t clog your main feed

“As you move into the consideration and decision phases, you can make dark posts more clickable and advertising-focused since they’re temporary, rather than permanently a part of your feeds,” Robbe said. “For organic content, you’re trying to entertain, engage and give something back to your audience. But at some point, it helps to drive the sales messaging home to a user.”
She pointed out that dark posts can help with lead gen, by capturing emails, or with promotional posts, by pushing a discount code.
“You don’t want to clutter your organic feed with this kind of content because you can lose followers and miss out on the chance to build strong relationships,” Robbe said. “If you’re constantly promoting on your feed with sales and asking instead of giving, you’re going to lose brand trust.”

You can push sales messaging with few repercussions

Any brand with a sales strategy should be building out organic social media content based on a content calendar, where timing matters. But with dark posts, Robbe said, “You don’t have to wait for the organic posts to be published in order to launch your dark posts. If a certain post doesn’t fit into your content calendar until the end of the month but you want the subject matter to be promoted longer than that, you can build it into a dark post.”
Instead of being affected by the content calendar, Robbe said, flight frequency is more contingent on the paid dollar budget for each channel. “You want to make sure, based on the budget and target market, that you have the dollars to reach the right people with your content. So when you’re planning your dark flights, start with your budget and who you want to reach – instead of starting with the content you want to push out – and back into it that way.”

Dark posts don’t have to perfectly align with your content calendar

“A/B testing is important for both consumers you already have, as well as new consumers,” Robbe said. “Dark posts in particular are important for A/B testing because you can take the same image and promote it with two copy variations. Without dark posts, you’d end up with duplicate images on your feed.”
She added that A/B testing can help brands learn to better support their existing customers by seeing what copy and design approaches truly keep them entertained and engaged. As for new followers, she said, this posting strategy teaches brands what really captures their attention for the first time.
“When you’re A/B testing, make sure you really know the learning you want,” Robbe said. “Is it the kind of copy that appeals to the user, or which images draw them in? Is it whether numbers in the headlines or certain calls to action are more clickable? Determine your goals and desired end results, and back into what you need to change about your dark posts in order to find that.”
 Ready to plan out your dark posts? <a href="https://union.co/contact">Contact us</a>.

They offer a great opportunity for A/B testing

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