​​The “dark influence” of the Meta advertising campaign

As Growth Marketers, we also try to track what others cannot measure.

In today’s post, we’ll show you an example of this:

We use the concept of the “dark” influence of Meta advertising campaigns. While it may sound ominous, it’s quite common in digital marketing. It refers to the fact that the direct effects of your campaigns, especially on social media platforms, are not immediately measurable and, therefore, remain hidden.

Let’s consider a typical situation:
A person sees your ad on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, clicks on it, but doesn’t make a purchase. Instead, the person exits the app and opens Google to search for your brand, product, or services. They land on your website through Google and may later complete a conversion (e.g., making a purchase).

Most analytics tools would never be able to track these steps. That’s because you won’t find any mention of Meta as the source of the conversion on these tools. Instruments like Google Analytics attribute the traffic and conversions to Google Search because it’s the last traffic source. As a result, the click on the Facebook ad goes unnoticed, leading to missing Facebook data in your Google Analytics attribution reports.

The result is a report heavily focused on bottom-of-the-funnel traffic sources. These generate high conversion rates, while other contributing sources are neglected.

Investing in “dark influences” can help accelerate growth and uncover the actual impact of your social media campaigns. Smart marketers understand that impressions and campaign objectives at the top of the funnel, like reach and brand awareness, have value for growth. However, when it’s challenging to measure their impact, understanding the importance of “reaching” your audience becomes complicated.

Focusing on increasing your share of media presence and the appearance of relevant target audiences is crucial for scaling. Maximizing reach and ensuring that your ad impressions are visible help fill the funnel and boost results.

But how valuable are Facebook ads in this context?
That remains a mystery for most, especially when they are working with standard configurations and don’t have access to expensive third-party attribution tracking tools.

We’ve found a way to analyze and optimize our clients’ ads from this perspective as well. If the concept sounds interesting, send us a message, and we’ll set it up for your company too!