by M LeMont
Have you noticed that the number of Retweets and Likes is declining?
But if you are an Author or Marketer who cares, right?
The only thing that really matters is “Link Clicks” to your Amazon product page or website,” but Clicks also seem to be falling.
Here’s what’s happening.
People are finding different ways of sharing content using private channels like Twitter Direct Messages, Chat Groups, Texts, Email, Facebook Messenger, What’s App, Etc.
While public engagement is a great way to build relationships on Twitter, it is also a great way to find conversation starters.
Twitter urges users to "spark conversations and support your points of view by sharing tweets from your timeline, even if they're from people who aren't part of the direct message."
According to studies, 65-85% of users share links outside of social media channels, making it hard to identify.
The other day I had a message pop on my iPhone that said text this Tweet to anyone in your Contact List.
If you’ve shared a tweet this way, then you’re using “Dark Social,” the word Dark means it’s impossible to track where the link originated.
Thousands of people share tweets privately-- copying links and sending them to friends, family, coworkers, and having discussions about your tweet-- Referral marketing at its best.
The bad part is the activity doesn’t show up in your stats as Clicks.
You can only track it by using a link shortener tracking system like Bilty that lists them as Direct (Dark Social)
Here’s what it looks like for one of my tweets.
Nov 2
Total Clicks 75
Email, SMS, Direct 57 (Dark Social)
Other Websites 14
Twitter 4
A total of 75 Tweets and 57 were unidentified and another 14 from websites that posted the link, but Twitter Analytics only reported 4 Link Clicks.
What is 'Email, SMS, Direct' in my Referrers analytics?
Bitly explains it like this.
'Email, SMS, Direct' is any website traffic that doesn't provide referral information.
For example, when a link is accessed via an email, text message, or directly pasting into a browser, it's starting a new browser experience and Bitly is unable to identify where it originated.
The industry standard term is 'Dark Traffic', which is not specific to Bitly.
And remember, Twitter Analytics doesn't recognize the traffic at all, so it would appear that you had no clicks.
Now you know how to effectively track the data by tagging your tweets with a link shortener.
It will help you make better marketing decisions and keep you from getting discouraged and throwing in the towel.
That's it! Want to learn how to gain Twitter followers? Grab a copy of my book, How To Gain 100,000 Twitter Followers, The Secret Revealed.
Learn more about link shorteners at Bitly.com.
Posted on 11/24/2021 at 03:15 PM
