Dark social refers to the sharing and discovery that happens in private channels — Slack communities, DMs, WhatsApp groups, private Discord servers, word-of-mouth — that attribution tools can't track. Your buyers are talking about you in places you'll never see. Dark social is why direct traffic spikes after a product gets mentioned in a popular newsletter, and why 'How did you hear about us?' surveys often return 'a friend' or 'can't remember.'
For example, if someone shares your article in a 500-person Slack community of startup founders and 50 people click through, your analytics shows 50 direct visits with no referral source — that's dark social traffic you can't attribute but absolutely should be creating content for.
We help clients build content that travels through dark social — practical, opinionated, shareable content that founders forward to their networks.
Relevant Cactus Services
We implement Dark Social strategies for B2B tech startups every day. Book a free 30-minute call to get a concrete plan for your situation.
Book a free strategy call →Demand Generation
Demand gen is the full-funnel marketing strategy designed to create awareness, generate interest, and drive pipeline for your product.
Lead Generation
Lead gen is the tactical activity of capturing contact information from potential buyers — gated content, webinar registrations, demo requests, contact forms.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
ABM flips traditional demand gen: instead of casting wide and filtering, you identify a list of specific target accounts and run personalized marketing just at them.
Intent Data
Intent data tells you which companies are actively researching topics related to your product — reading articles, comparing vendors, downloading relevant content — even before they fill out a form on your site.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC is the total cost to acquire a new customer, including all sales and marketing spend.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
LTV is the total revenue you expect from a customer over their entire relationship with you.