by Team AllYourVideogames | Jul 30, 2022 | Facebook |
The growth in the use of the internet and social networks has changed the way companies advertise their products and services. Some say that for a business to really exist, it needs to have an online presence. However, it is not enough to be present, it is necessary to make yourself noticed. One of the ways to do this is through the dark posts.
Every minute, thousands and thousands of content are posted. With that, we fell into a sea of ​​online saturation. And, immersed in this immensity of publications, you need to know what to do to stand out and how to deliver your posts to the right people.
We always talk here about the importance of investing in the production of quality content and how this can take your business to a new level of social media. But on the internet, if content is king, distribution is queen.
Learn more: [Course] Intensive Facebook and Instagram Ads
It's not enough to produce the best text, photography or video in the world. Creating the perfect copy for your offer is not enough. You need to know how to get your content delivered to the right audience.
Facebook and other apps are an excellent choice of distribution channel. Its numerous segmentation features are an important tool in content delivery.
Among these features is the possibility of creating a dark post. That's what we're going to talk about now.
The right content for the right audience
The great insight for those who want to sell online is to understand that consumers are increasingly assiduous for personalized communication.
The idea, then, is to find ways to develop this: to know and add resources to your business strategy that make it possible to deliver the right content to the right audience.
Now, how do you do that if your store sells a wide variety of products, ranging from baby clothes to home products? Or if you, a photographer, cover corporate events, weddings and children's parties?
It is practically impossible to communicate assertively with such different audiences in a single piece of content. But then, you might be asking yourself: “should I post personalized content for all these audiences?”.
The answer is yes, but not on your Facebook page or your Instagram profile. And this is exactly where dark posts come in.
What are dark posts?
Dark posts are an ad format created for Facebook or Instagram that are hidden on the platforms. When published, they don't appear on your page, but are delivered directly to the feed of the users you've targeted.
For clarity, see the example below:
In it, Camila talks directly to those who entered the Social Sell training page, started the course registration, but did not finish it.
She has access to who these people are through the Facebook Pixel's targeting features and is able to send this ad directly to them as dark post.
That is, only people who have gone through this process of not finalizing their enrollment in the course will receive the announcement. After all, what sense would it make to show it to other people?
The great insight here is the possibility of carrying out this more direct communication with the consumer. It's sending him content and offers that directly meet what he's looking for.
Imagine if Camila published this content as a regular post on her page and you hit her for the first time. This copy would not add anything to you and would probably still cause strangeness, after all, you had never started a Social Sell subscription.
We understand then that:
A dark post is a sponsored, targeted post that does not appear on the advertiser's page or profile. Being served only in the news feed of users who fit the audience targeting chosen for the ad.
How to create dark posts?
Dark posts are created through Ads Manager. Any other method, like the boost button for example, will not create hidden ads, but will only promote a post that is already visible on your page.
To create a dark post:
Step 1. Access the Ads Manager and click Create Ad/Create in the upper right corner of the screen;
Step 2. Define the objective of your campaign;
Step 3. Set up your ad targeting. That is, define to whom it should be delivered;
Step 4. Set a budget for your campaign. We've already given tips on this step here;
Step 5. Once that's done, you'll get to the stage where you'll choose whether to just promote a pre-existing post or create a dark post on the social network. To do this, select the option create ad.
Step 6. Now, just finish setting up your ad creative, with image, copy and link. Once this is done, your dark post will be created.
Usage examples for dark posts
As we said, dark posts do not appear on the timelines of pages and profiles. Therefore, you will not find this type of publication just by accessing these channels.
One way to find out which dark posts a business may be running is by accessing the business's ad library. As we taught in the post Two easy ways to monitor your competitors on Facebook.
A tip is to use this feature to talk to the slice of your audience that is more in the middle or bottom of your sales funnel. An example of this is the remarketing Facebook ads, like Camila's that we show in this post.
Here, we have already indicated 5 foolproof ideas for remarketing on Facebook and Instagram to sell more.
On Instagram, you can also use this feature to distribute different content without having to break the pattern of posts or the mosaic of your feed.
Advantages and disadvantages
Among the advantages of using darks posts in your business’s marketing strategy, we list:
Don't flood your timeline: you can create dozens of dark posts daily without having to fill your page or profile with publications;
Placements: you can even choose Stories to run your dark posts;
Test: you can do a/b tests with your content to measure which ones bring the best results;
Right audience and messages: your post will be delivered exactly to the audience it was created for. That way you can send different messages to different audiences.
As for the disadvantages, there is only one to list:
social test: because it is an ad that does not appear on your profile or page, the comments and reactions you receive also end up not appearing. This can be seen as a downside considering that these numbers can be important social proof.
However, there is a way to resolve it. If you happen to create a dark post and notice that it has gathered social evidence that is interesting to keep public, you can turn it into a regular post on your social media page.
We have already taught here how to turn ads into Facebook page posts.
The ability to create dark posts is yet another extremely simple feature, but it can add a lot to your company's digital marketing strategy.
Used correctly, it can help you communicate much more assertively with your audience.
Have you already used this feature? Tell us here in the comments.
