Latest / Social Media Marketing with Fexingo: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Platform Strategy / Why Brands Are Building Dark Social Communities
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I have a number for you — eighty-four percent of outbound sharing from publishers and brands now happens through private channels. Not public feeds. Not retweets. Not reposts. Private messaging apps, email, SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, Discord. Luna: That's from the latest ShareThis / RadiumOne study, right? The dark social data. It's been climbing every year, but eighty-four percent is a threshold. Lucas: It's the new normal. And most brands still measure social ROI by looking at public engagement — likes, comments, shares they can see. But the real sharing, the sharing that actually drives purchase decisions, happens in the dark. Luna: Define 'dark' for someone who hasn't heard the term. It sounds ominous. Lucas: It's not sinister. Dark social just means any sharing that can't be tracked by the analytics tools marketers rely on. When someone copies a link from a website and pastes it into a WhatsApp group, that's dark. When they text a product page to a friend, that's dark. No referrer header, no click-through attribution. The brand sees a spike in direct traffic and has no idea where it came from. Luna: So it's the conversation that happens off-platform. Which is actually where trust lives — a friend's recommendation in a private chat is way more powerful than a brand post. Lucas: Exactly. And brands are starting to wake up to that. The shift we're seeing in mid-2026 is that companies are no longer just trying to track dark social — they're actively building communities inside those private channels. Luna: You mean like brand-operated WhatsApp groups? I've seen Sephora do that with their Beauty Insider community. They have dedicated WhatsApp lists for top-tier members. Lucas: Sephora's a great example. They launched what they call 'Sephora Squad' — private WhatsApp groups where VIP customers get early access to drops, can ask product questions directly, and share feedback. The engagement rate in those groups is over sixty percent, compared to maybe two percent on a public Instagram post. Luna: And the feedback loop is real-time. They're essentially running a permanent focus group inside a messaging app. Lucas: Nike does something similar on WeChat in China. They have a mini-program that integrates with WeChat groups, where members can share running routes, challenge each other, and get coaching tips. It's not about selling shoes directly in the chat — it's about building a community where the brand is a participant, not a broadcaster. Luna: That's the key distinction. If you join a brand's WhatsApp group and it's just a feed of promotional messages, you're going to mute it or leave. The brands that succeed are the ones that add value — exclusive content, real human interaction, a sense of belonging. Lucas: Right. And the interesting thing is that this isn't just for B2C. B2B brands are jumping in too. HubSpot has private Slack communities for their certified partners. They share product updates, best practices, and job postings. It's a high-touch channel that builds loyalty in a way that a LinkedIn post never could. Luna: But how do you measure ROI on a private Slack group or a WhatsApp chat? You can't just look at open rates or click-throughs like you would an email. Lucas: You have to change the metrics. Instead of impressions, you look at retention — how long do members stay active? Instead of click-through rate, you look at net promoter score among group members, or repeat purchase rate. Sephora tracked that Beauty Insider members in their WhatsApp groups spent forty percent more annually than members not in any private community. Luna: That's a concrete number. So the attribution isn't about tracking the last click — it's about cohort analysis over time. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a smarter way to think about marketing in a privacy-first world anyway. With iOS changes and the decline of third-party cookies, dark social is actually more privacy-compliant by design. The brand never has to track an individual user's web activity — they just see aggregate behavior from the community. Luna: It's almost like dark social forces marketers to be better at their jobs. You can't rely on a retargeting pixel anymore. You have to create something worth sharing privately. Lucas: That's the core insight. The best dark social strategy is to make content that feels like a gift when it's shared — something that makes the sender look good or helpful. A discount code that only works for friends. A guide that solves a specific problem. A behind the scenes video that's not posted anywhere public. Luna: One brand that nails this is Glossier. They have a private Slack for their top reviewers called 'Glossier Gals.' Members get early access to new products and can give feedback before launch. The conversations there are incredibly candid — people literally say 'this formula is too drying' and the brand listens and adjusts. Lucas: And that candor is the value. When a brand shows they're willing to adapt based on private feedback, it builds immense trust. Those members then become evangelists — they share products in their own friend groups, which is dark social that the brand can't track but benefits from. Luna: You know, this is exactly the kind of marketing conversation that sparked something for me personally. I started a small private chat for listeners of another podcast I did, and it's become this incredible community. Which reminds me — Lucas, we've talked before about why we keep Fexingo ad-free. Lucas: We do. And it's because we think the value of these shows is in the substance, not in trying to sell you something between segments. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your work, that's the goal. Luna: If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep the show independent and ad-free. Lucas: And we genuinely mean it — no pressure, no perks, just knowing you're helping the show exist. Now, back to dark social: the other big trend this year is brands using private channels for customer support. Luna: Oh, that's a smart play. Instead of making someone call a 1-800 number, you let them message a brand's WhatsApp or Messenger bot. Lucas: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines does this well. They handle over fifteen percent of their customer service through WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The response time is under a minute, and customer satisfaction scores are higher than phone support. And because the conversation happens in a private channel, customers are more willing to share personal details like booking numbers. Luna: Plus, that's a data-rich interaction. The airline can see what issues come up most, and they can proactively offer solutions before the customer even asks. Lucas: Exactly. And they can follow up later with a relevant offer — like a hotel upgrade if the customer complained about a delayed flight. All within the same chat thread. It's conversational commerce that feels natural, not creepy. Luna: But there's a risk — if a brand uses private channels to push too many sales messages, it backfires. The intimacy of the channel means the bar for relevance is higher. Lucas: Hundred percent. That's why the best practice is to treat dark social communities as a two-way street. You listen more than you broadcast. The brands that win are the ones that use these channels to learn about their customers, not just to talk at them. Luna: So what does that look like operationally? A brand has to staff these channels with real people who can have conversations, not just bots with scripted replies. Lucas: Right. And that's a cost. But the trade-off is loyalty. A study by Meta last year found that customers who message a brand on WhatsApp have a sixty-eight percent higher lifetime value than those who don't. The investment pays for itself. Luna: Sixty-eight percent — that's hard to ignore. So for a marketer listening today, what's the first step? Should they start a WhatsApp group for their top customers? Lucas: I'd say start small and listen first. Pick one channel — WhatsApp if you're in a market where it's dominant, WeChat if you're in China, Discord if your audience is gamers or tech-savvy. Invite your most engaged customers manually, don't just blast a link on social media. Luna: Curate the membership. Make it feel exclusive. Lucas: Exactly. Then spend the first month just observing what people talk about. What questions do they ask? What frustrations do they share? What do they praise? That's your content roadmap. Then start adding value — a weekly tip, a sneak peek, a chance to give feedback. Luna: And measure retention and sentiment, not just revenue. If people stay in the group and participate positively, that's a leading indicator of future loyalty. Lucas: Right. And one more thing — don't try to track every share. The whole point of dark social is that some conversations will always be invisible. Embrace that. Focus on creating share-worthy moments and trust that the sharing will happen naturally. Luna: It's a shift from control to cultivation. Instead of trying to manage the message, you nurture the conditions where good messages spread. Lucas: That's the headline for 2026. The brands that win in dark social are the ones that stop trying to be everywhere and start being deeply valuable somewhere private. Luna: Alright, I'm going to go audit my own WhatsApp groups. Thanks for the nudge. Lucas: Good luck. And if you find a group worth studying, send us a note — we might feature it in a future episode.