In the shadow of Social Media
Digital Transformation:
From simple email exchange, to whatsap messages, forums or private facebook groups, dark social is any online information sharing that is not public. The term "dark social" was used for the first time in 2012 in an article by The Atlantic [1] to describe the invisible traffic generated by an article that circulated much more privately than in public.
The three points to remember:
The dark social has become a major tool in the customer / reader relationship, for both brands and the media.
The traffic is huge via the dark social (84% of shares in 2016), but its virality remains lower than in public.
Brands and media are exploring the possibilities of Dark Social as a vector of content on voice assistants or chatbots.
From simple email exchange, to whatsap messages, forums or private facebook groups, dark social refers to any sharing of information online that is not public. The term "dark social" was used for the first time in 2012 in an article by The Atlantic [1] to describe the invisible traffic generated by an article that circulated much more privately than in public. But the dark social corresponds to multiple realities depending on the periods and uses. The number of content shares in private conversations has exploded in recent years, from 69% to 84% of shares between 2014 and 2016, pushing brands and the media to take a very close interest. After having taken a few years to be considered as a real lever of audience, it is today at the center of very advanced web strategies, whose objectives and means vary a lot according to the actors who resort to them.
To discuss it, we invited Thomas Rudelle, Head of Social at AXA France, Anne Kerloc'h, Associate Editor and Social Media Manager for 20 Minutes and Raphaël Labbé, founder and CEO of Wiztopic. The session was moderated by Maxime Drouet, Director of the Digital Department at Burson-Marsteller I & E and Aurélien Viers, Director of the Visual Pole at Obs.
The perception of the dark social seems to have changed since 2012. Passed a fairly confidential universe of insiders claiming their independence from major platforms of public sharing, it was then taken over by digital companies. "When we started talking about dark social in France in 2014, we were on something very anxiety-provoking, presenting this as a series of traffics impossible to measure. Since 2017, I have the impression that there is a reversal of the term in a more positive version, "analyzes Maxime Drouet (Burson-Marsteller I & E).
In fact, instant messengers and conversational robots are today the subject of important developments at digital giants like Facebook, which develops tools and strategies for brands on Messenger [2]. At AXA France for example, the main interest of these new tools lies in the customer relationship.
"In customer relations on social networks, the dark social has all cannibalized. On October 2017, our customers complain more than 80% on Facebook Messenger. Thomas Rudelle (AXA France)
Without neglecting public content, especially for reputation issues, the insurance industry has recently adopted a massive way the dark social in its work logics. With a focus on the development of Wechat, which now accounts for a third of the time spent on its phone in China [3], dark social seems essential for the digital strategy of a brand. But what benefits does it represent on a daily basis? For Thomas Rudelle (AXA ), this makes it possible to manage certain problems more serenely. "On hot flow with the resolution of an urgent problem, there is an asynchronous and fast side at a time that is very pleasant. It's less stressful than the phone because you can take the time to work on your answer, but at the same time the customer is satisfied because he feels he is being answered right now, "he says.
Another significant benefit for a brand is in the collection and processing of data facilitated by messaging tools. "The messages that are sent to us at night, when our offices are closed, are not lost and are treated the next morning. The customer is notified via a notification on his smartphone, "says Thomas Rudelle (AXA ). Some brands, such as Orange bank, are choosing their own ad hoc messaging system that allows them to not rely on a Facebook tool.
RENEW THE CONFIDENCE AND CREATE A COMMUNITY
For the media, the interest of dark social is not exactly the same as for brands. In a context of increased media mistrust, the priority is to maintain a bond of trust through listening to one's community. 20minutes for example bet on private Facebook groups on books, series and a third wider for 18-30 years. "We have a very responsive community. It is a tool that journalists use to contact readers, consult them on editorial issues, or even obtain information, "says Anne Kerloc'h. In the local editions of the newspaper, the fact of being able to directly contact the media on Messenger allowed the journalists to maintain a link with their readers, and to obtain later information and testimonies.
"It pushed us to more transparency. The position of the media is so contested that it is necessary to re-explain the manufacture of an info step by step. The fact that the journalist takes the time to respond and being at the level of his readers, it is rather well seen. »Anne Kerloc'h (20minutes)
In the brands too, the dark social brings a certain closeness to the customer who consolidates a bond of trust. "In one and a half years of experience, we have seen the same uses emerge for our customers with the AXA brand as with their families. They share pictures of their homes when asked, they react with emojis and gifs for example, "says Thomas Rudelle (AXA ). "Our customers do not dare call us late at night because they are afraid to disturb. On the other hand, they feel much more comfortable sending us a message on Whatsapp. If we answer within three minutes, that means we were available, "continues Raphaël Labbé (Wiztopic).
For the media, this bond of trust is reflected in the creation of a community, faithful and active. Instead of multiplying the public pages, 20minutes prefer to focus on dedicated groups that he considers more effective to generate commitment, and a stronger link to the media. "Pages and groups are two different strategies. We do not benefit from a statutory media image, patrimonial, which makes that we will follow our page for our name. I do not necessarily believe in the proliferation of pages on themes to increase commitment "Anne Kerloc'h analysis.
"The dark social helps us to refine our editorial offer. »Anne Kerloc'h (20minutes)
Once this community is established and maintained, the media can use it to probe it and refine their editorial offer. Thus 20minutes, on his group "Young Me" intended for 18 - 30 years, proposed in partnership with OpinionWay weekly questionnaires to members of the group, all in the form of dialogue with four journalists of the title. "We got a response rate of 35% to 60%, which is huge compared to traditional marketing studies. We are talking about a selfie of generations, because it is the readers who make it themselves with us. They helped us a lot, and we acquired these reflexes by asking them questions, "explains Nathalie Desaix, director of marketing and communication for 20 minutes.
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE?
So where should we concentrate our efforts to develop our digital strategy? While private sharing may seem more effective than public sharing, reflexes related to these new practices are not yet automated in brands and the media. "An article on how to manage your ISF for example, it circulates almost exclusively via the dark social. We explain to our customers that for this type of content work public sharing is a waste of time. But they have their eyes on what is public, while they practice the dark social daily. There is a lot of work to do, "says Raphaël Labbé (Wiztopic). Anne Kerloc'h acknowledges doing similar work with the journalists of 20 minutes. "They are very demanding training and explanations on uses and networks. To explain the interest of the dark social, they are asked to look at how many articles they share in public, and how much they send in private on the same day, and it is often much more privately, "says t -she.
"If the traffic is sometimes huge via the dark social, the virality is not the same as in public. There is a balance to find. »Raphaël Labbé (Wiztopic)
Without abandoning the public networks sometimes deemed too intrusive by users, it seems that the equilibrium point for the presence of brands and media on social networks is to be determined according to the content, the platform, the uses and the target audience. "We subscribe rather in a logic of complementarity. Our brands must be generalist and general public. So if we want to get the under thirty
s, you have to go where they are: on snapchat, instagram and private couriers, "analyzes Thomas Rudelle (AXA ). "It remains a problem of use. Adults are used to using Whatsapp with their children, it is a channel of communication that they accept, "says Raphaël Labbé (Wiztopic).
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND VOICE RECOGNITION
technological innovation remains intact. Artificial intelligence, materialized by conversational robots, seems the technology most used by brands and the media to understand the dark social. 20minutes has for example designed a rather elaborate chatbot which answers in total independence to the majority of the questions put by the readers. "On Messenger, our robot has somewhat crushed the exchanges but we developed a tone and a personality that immediately created the support and sympathy. 20bot knows how to make humor, sends punchlines, even makes psychological support. He answers, explaining that if the reader wants to speak to a human, he must send an email. It works on demand, based on keywords, and within the limits of artificial intelligence. It is a limited exchange, but with a fairly satisfactory opening rate, "develops Anne Kerloc'h (20minutes) .Car at this point, conversational exchanges between a brand and a user totally managed by a robot do not seem conceivable. "Despite the injunctions of platforms to develop bots at first glance, we think that with an industry that touches on issues as complex as ours, we will be bad with exclusively a robot. We also believe that the human messenger is fundamental, "explains Rudelle. He explains this choice in particular by the diversity of the requests addressed to the brand on the dark social, ranging from the declaration of loss to the sending of CV, through the request for sponsors. "It's similar to the switchboard, demand typologies are extremely varied," he says. With a dark social more and more invested by brands and media, the trend to loss of human relationship on these supports is closely monitored. Voice recognition could also play a role. Personal assistants in the home could find their place, even if there are still few convincing examples. "The voice needs to be focused on a specific demand, whereas all the tools we are talking about here are dispersal tools," analyzes Maxime Drouet (Burson-Marsteller I & E). For Rudelle, it is in the car that the personal assistants will develop the most, because it limits the use of the smartphone and being absorbed by the screen. But everything will depend on the validation of these innovations by the uses.
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