The way people interact online is shifting, with more conversation happening in closed groups than ever before. As a modern marketer, it’s important to understand what’s happening on the other side of the internet. If you don’t know how quickly the dark social revolution is growing, it’s probably because you aren’t a part of it.

Buzzsumo released a Content Trends Report earlier this year, which analysed the stats of 100 million posts published in 2017. The data uncovered a key insight – social sharing has halved since 2015.

Halved.

HALVED.

So the question is, are you still running the same content distribution strategy you were three years ago? If you are, it’s performance is bound to start sliding faster than the price of Bitcoin. It could be time to diversify your marketing portfolio and exploring new ways to distribute your brands content.

I started encouraging clients to invest in closed communities, groups of ambassadors, and content optimized for private sharing back in 2016. It was a tough sell as the ROI wasn’t quite as instant, and brands were used to running direct response ads on Facebook that rewarded them with instant gratification.

The thing is, instant gratification doesn’t help build long-term, sustainable marketing channels. Think SEM vs SEO. Both are important but with SEM you win today, and with SEO you win tomorrow.

Building, or leveraging, closed communities online is one way your brand can set itself up to win tomorrow. The way people interact online is shifting, with more conversation happening in private than ever before. If you want to see what’s happening on the other side of the internet, start spending time there. It’s that simple. Join groups, contribute to communities, and monitor your share patterns. You’ll be surprised how much of your communication is happening off the feed once you are taking notice.

As part of my exploration, I’ve joined hundreds of groups. Some great, some terrible, some I don’t even remember. To save you the time I’ve documented six secret communities I think every marketer should be a part of. These are my favorite marketing communities, so I hope you can get value (and add value) to at least one of them 🤓

Here are six communities that every marketer should be a part of:

  1. Influencer Marketing Professionals (Global Group) – LinkedIn Community
  2. London Product Marketers – Facebook Community
  3. Growth Hackers Amsterdam – Meetup Community (you might need to find one in your region)
  4. Content Distribution Hacks (Secret Group) – Facebook Community
  5. B2B Content Marketing – LinkedIn Community
  6. Marketers Chat – Slack Community

The thing I love about communities is that they are less about the channel and more about the content. If people love a niche or a topic, they will participate on whatever channel gives them more access to that. We’ve been focusing so much on ‘the channel’ as marketers, that we’d be lying to ourselves if we said the message hasn’t gotten slightly neglected over the last few years. I think this shift in consumers behavior might be just what the industry needs!

Side note: because this is a publication about Social Media and Marketing, I’ve assumed your interests are pretty similar to mine and recommended marketing focused groups.