Dark Social Isn’t a Threat — It’s Your Demand Gen Edge
“You can’t track trust. But that’s what drives pipeline.” – Chris Walker
The Play:
If your attribution software is telling you half the story — it’s because buyers are talking about you in places you can’t see.
Slack DMs. Discord threads. WhatsApp chats.
That’s dark social. And it’s where real influence happens.
The problem? Most marketers ignore it.
The opportunity? You won’t — after reading this.
The Framework:
Dark Social → Demand Creation → Differentiated GTM
Stop Over-Tracking, Start Listening: Attribution tools miss the whispers. Add “How did you hear about us?” to your forms and actually use the answers.
Build Shareable Content: Podcasts, memes, founder takes, and customer screenshots travel further than PDFs ever will.
Amplify via Employees: Turn your team into your distribution engine. Give them swipe copy, clips, and a reason to post.
Use Case:
Cognism pivoted their GTM from “leads” to real demand.
They leaned into content that sparked conversation and let dark social do its thing.
→ Result? More pipeline from untrackable channels than paid ads.
Tools + Prompts:
Tools: Typeform, Slack, HubSpot, Bit.ly
Prompt:
“Group these free-text responses to ‘How did you hear about us?’ into themes. Suggest what content to double down on.”
Try This:
Reply with DARK SOCIAL and I’ll send you my “dark signal” tracking stack + attribution prompt bundle.
Also — here’s the full breakdown I wrote for Databox →
Read the Article
PS – Just because you can’t track it, doesn’t mean it isn’t working. Some of your best buyers are already talking about you.