Gone are the days that all ads look like ads and influencers don’t have to disclose sponsored content. These days, social media is becoming less intrusive, but more transparent when it comes to advertising with darkposting.
Darkposting is the middle ground between obvious brand posts and influencer lifestyle content. But exactly is darkposting, and how does it work?
What is Darkposting?
Pioneered by Facebook, darkposts are social media ads that don’t show up on the brand or page's timeline like a regular boosted or sponsored post.
For most social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, you can choose between boosting your organic content or creating a darkpost.
However, darkposts are enabled by default on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.
Darkposting is commonly used to A/B test ad performance, such as testing different headlines, markets, and images.
It’s a great way for brands to keep a clean social media appearance on their main pages, while being able to experiment with their audience feed posts. In combination with whitelisting on Facebook, creators can give brands limited use of their handles or pages and post darkposts for them.
While under the name or handle of the creator, darkposts appear on timelines and feeds without affecting a creator’s main channels.
How Does Darkposting Work?
Darkposting creates the illusion that creators create and share the content themselves. However, if you’re thinking that your favorite influencer replied to your message on a darkpost, chances are it’s actually a brand representative talking to you.
Clicking or interacting with darkposts of any kind counts as interacting with a sponsored post. With this, interacting with a darkpost will affect what kind of ads you will be served within a social media ecosystem in the future.
Don’t Get Tricked by Advertising
When it comes to advertising, social media sites are becoming sneakier with how they present their ads.
While most people would agree that darkposts are a lot less annoying than regular ads, it’s always good to mindful of how they impact your social media experience.
That being said, ads aren’t always bad. They’re the trade-off that many social media sites use to provide us their services. Darkposting is just another way for them to blend into our feeds seamlessly.
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