The Shadow Funnel: Social Media Beyond Content Curation

When was the last time you looked at your social media contact list? How many of those people do you know? More importantly, how many of those people actively engage with you and your brand?Is there a point to using a social media platform if nobody is engaging? How does your organization benefit from what otherwise amounts to an online soapbox?We believe there's a better way to approach social media engagement. A way to systematically create genuine connections between users and your brand that isn't based on sales, promotions or deals, but instead is built upon authentic relationships. This is the approach we are exploring at HeyOrca. We call it the Shadow Funnel.

It began with a Twitter Chat

The idea of using social media to create a shadow funnel came about as we were planning our very first HeyOrca Twitter chat. #OrcaChat as part of a broader initiative to take a more proactive approach to organic social media than the usual scheduled content curation. It would be the first step towards developing a community of tightly-knit social media enthusiasts like ourselves.Part of this initial planning stage involved close collaboration with Vishal Rose, a social media and guerrilla marketing veteran. When we asked Vishal how we could use social to approach lead generation, he recommended that we complement our upcoming Twitter Chat with other social media groups in Facebook and LinkedIn as a way to continue cultivating these relationships.Although we decided not to pursue this lead generation strategy at the time, choosing instead to concentrate our efforts on the success of #OrcaChat. We found the idea of coordinating our social media marketing efforts across multiple communities intriguing.

What is the Shadow Funnel?

As we continued to grow our #OrcaChat community and to build close relationships with many of our regulars, we realized that in a way, we were building a place where strangers could become friends. Why not create other communities throughout which these relationships could develop further? Someone completely new to HeyOrca could come across #OrcaChat and become part of the community, later join our newsletter, and eventually become interested in HeyOrca or know someone who might be. We named this strategy the shadow funnel.Prospects at the top of the funnel are lurkers, or hidden audiences that can observe your brand from afar without engaging. Through your own social media and relationship building efforts, they will progress through different levels of engagement with your brand and thus move down the funnel.When they reach the bottom of this funnel, the would've become raving fans of your brand, independent of whether they are a client. It's an invisible, informal funnel held together by human connection and driven by genuine relationships.The shadow funnel has several unique characteristics:

• No prospect email or contact info is required
• The goal is to make connections, not sales
• Everyone is welcome, not just your ideal client profile

Shadow Funnel strengths

• More engagement. Every day companies struggle to connect with prospects on social media. By leveraging the shadow funnel, your organization can become more engaging and attractive to people who've never even heard of you before.
• Deeper relationships. When you have honest, engaging discussions with people online, you're demonstrating that you value people for who they are and not what they can buy.
• Better broadcast power. You can build your online brand up to the point where people will tune in just to hear what's being said, even if they don't actively engage.
• More genuine referrals. When you have a strong relationship with people, they are more likely to refer you to one of their peers.

The shadow funnel delivers far more than mere dollars and cents. In fact, one could argue that the benefits are worth more to the brand in the long run, than an immediate sale. A positive brand image and a strong online community will drive higher numbers of qualified prospects to your other funnels.

Shadow Funnel limitations

• It's a support funnel. As great as the shadow funnel is for building relationships, it cannot carry an organizations sales needs by itself. It's a support strategy meant to bolster existing marketing and sales efforts.
• Not suitable for early stage startups. Very early stage startups may need to focus on growth first. The shadow funnel is best suited for companies that already have well-performing marketing programs in place.
• Unpredictable. Like anything on social media, you can't control everything that goes on in the shadow funnel. You can't pick and choose who joins your groups, nor what people talk about. You can try to steer the conversation, but the tighter your grip on the community, the less inviting it will be.

Maximizing the Shadow Funnel

• Set proper expectations. The shadow funnel is not meant for lead-generation. It's a relationship-building program and it should be treated as such.
• Focus on community-building. Resist the temptation to pitch your product. Prioritize being a resource for the members of your online community and building connections between you, them, and other community members.
• Use formal/informal groups. Give your community somewhere to congregate. Set up Twitter chats, LinkedIn Groups, official user forums, etc. You should also join and participate in other groups to build relationships away from your home ground.

At HeyOrca, we are actively exploring this idea. Since our early Twitter chats, we've developed a long-term vision for our organic social media strategy. We have plans to create private groups in LinkedIn, Facebook and Slack. Possibly even hosting offline meetups to meet our online friends in person. We're excited to see how it turns out - so far so good!For more best practices on using social media to launch your brand to the stratosphere, be sure to check out our Ultimate Social Media Guide for Digital Agencies.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.0.72" background_repeat_1="no-repeat" background_repeat_2="no-repeat" background_repeat_3="no-repeat"][et_pb_column type="1_3"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.0.72" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" border_style="solid" module_alignment="left"]

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[Sassy_Social_Share][/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built="1" admin_label="section" transparent_background="off" allow_player_pause="off" inner_shadow="off" parallax="off" parallax_method="off" padding_mobile="off" make_fullwidth="off" use_custom_width="off" width_unit="on" make_equal="off" use_custom_gutter="off" background_image="https://heyorca.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/039-Deep-Blue.png" custom_padding_tablet="50px|0|50px|0" custom_padding_last_edited="on|desktop" global_module="6738"][et_pb_row global_parent="6738" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" background_size="initial"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Newsletter Subscribe Stripe" global_parent="6738" background_layout="dark" text_orientation="center" border_style="solid" module_class="blog-font" _builder_version="3.0.80"]

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[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code global_parent="6738" _builder_version="3.0.80"]<div id="hsformContainer2"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><!--[if lte IE 8]><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><script charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript" src="//js.hsforms.net/forms/v2-legacy.js"></script><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><![endif]--><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><script charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript" src="//js.hsforms.net/forms/v2.js"></script><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><script><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> hbspt.forms.create({ <!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> portalId: '596637',<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> target: '#hsformContainer2',<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> formId: '47463799-6377-48e8-b179-635f156dee3c'<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> });<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></script><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></div>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_cta global_parent="6738" title="The Ultimate Social Media Guide for Digital Agencies" button_url="https://try.heyorca.com/ultimate-social-media-guide/" url_new_window="on" button_text="Download now" use_background_color="on" background_color="rgba(255,255,255,0)" background_layout="dark" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" custom_button="off" button_use_icon="default" button_icon_placement="right" button_on_hover="on" button_letter_spacing_hover="0" module_class="blog-font" disabled="on" disabled_on="on|on|on" _builder_version="3.0.80"]"In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore defines a market as a group of individuals who can reference each other. Put another way, for every market there is a social media community waiting to be born."[/et_pb_cta][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]