Most people know that when you follow a company on social media that you may see ads from that company. Do you ever wonder how you are getting ads from companies that you don’t follow? When your trackable web behavior reflects the target audience for a company’s product or service, you may see one of these posts.

These posts are generally known as dark posts. It’s an ominous name, but there’s no need to be scared. Dark posts simply show up as sponsored content in the feeds of specifically targeted users. They can include text, photos, videos, promotional offers, or links to a website

Why would you use a dark post? Dark posts can be great for brand awareness and lead generation. It allows for intimate connections and for the brand to communicate on a more personal level. Dark posts allow you to develop more sophisticated ads, saving you money, and allowing you to create much more strategic and targeted social content. By using dark posts, you also avoid annoying your loyal fans because the only people who see these posts are the people you’ve carefully selected, and they’re getting ads tailored to their interests. 

Brands can reuse and adjust content to appeal to different audiences. For example, a brand can customize posts to call out specific cities (think when the band at a concert starts with “Helloooooo New York/LA/DC/ETC.”) and create several variants across different ad sets set up to geo-target each city. This gives targeted audiences the sense that your brand is everywhere, and reinforces brand recognition. 

Additionally, dark posts are highly specific, which means they are also highly variable. Rather than waste money and confuse your audience, you can use A/B testing to create multiple versions of ads for your audiences to see which ones perform better.

In summary, dark posts allow you to reach hyper-targeted audiences with engaging authentic content. They also give you the power to test variants in copy, call to action buttons, and more. You can avoid ad fatigue and reach your audience through different voices. They are a great option to include in your marketing strategy to reach your target audience and convert them into customers.

Debbie is co-founder, chief of customer success at Buzzy Rocket and yellow lab lover. From LA to London, she is well known as an expert in creating that certain elusive magic that drives explosive growth at the intersection of companies, customers and mobile. She has proven strategic vision, and isn’t afraid to get in the trenches. In fact, she’s been doing this at companies big and small for 25+ years. Her background includes executive level positions at both public companies and startups where she has proven over and over again that her passion, drive and results oriented perspective get it done. She is tenacious, loves the game changer and loves to win.

Debbie is co-founder, chief of customer success at Buzzy Rocket and yellow lab lover. From LA to London, she is well known as an expert in creating that certain elusive magic that drives explosive growth at the intersection of companies, customers and mobile. She has proven strategic vision, and isn’t afraid to get in the trenches. In fact, she’s been doing this at companies big and small for 25+ years. Her background includes executive level positions at both public companies and startups where she has proven over and over again that her passion, drive and results oriented perspective get it done. She is tenacious, loves the game changer and loves to win.