dark-social-attributor

name	dark-social-attributor
slug	aaron-dark-social-attributor
displayName	Dark Social Attributor · 暗社交归因
summary	暗社交归因/直接流量分解/自报来源字段/分享链路UTM
description	Use when the user asks to "figure out where our direct traffic really comes from", "measure dark social", "add a how-did-you-hear-about-us field", or "show social drives signups without click data"; produces a share-link/UTM hygiene spec for owned share surfaces, a self-reported attribution field design that replaces an existing form field (free-text first, coded later), a GA4 direct-traffic decomposition read (deep-URL directs, mobile-app skew, private-push correlation) with every derived number hard-labeled Estimated/proxy, and a branded-search-lift proxy from GSC plus Wikipedia pageviews — the declared dark-social method behind ECHO O2. Not for paid-channel attribution reconciliation (platform-claimed vs analytics conversions) — use attribution-reconciler. 暗社交归因/直接流量分解/自报来源字段/分享链路UTM
version	20.1.0
license	Apache-2.0
compatibility	Claude Code and compatible agent-skill hosts
homepage	https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/aaron-marketing-skills
when_to_use	Use when direct traffic is unexplained, social ROI is questioned without click evidence, share buttons carry naked URLs, or a how-did-you-hear field is being designed: declares the dark-social estimation method (ECHO O2) and specs the instrumentation — share-link/UTM hygiene, a self-reported attribution field that replaces an existing form field, GA4 direct-traffic decomposition heuristics, and a branded-search-lift proxy via GSC + pageviews.py. Every derived number is Estimated/proxy by construction. Not for reconciling paid-platform conversion claims (attribution-reconciler) and not the metric dictionary or write-back loop (social-measurement-loop).
argument-hint	<GA4/GSC exports or site> [share-surface inventory] [existing form fields]
metadata	{"author":"aaron-he-zhu","version":"20.1.0","discipline":"social","phase":"observe","geo-relevance":"low","hermes":{"tags":["marketing","social","observe"],"category":"social"},"openclaw":{"emoji":"📣","homepage":"https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/aaron-marketing-skills"}}

Dark Social Attributor

Makes the unmeasurable share loop estimable — honestly. Dark social is the traffic that arrives with no referrer because the link traveled through a DM, a group chat (微信群 / WhatsApp / Slack / Discord), a newsletter forward, or an address-bar copy. This skill declares the estimation method and specs the instrumentation; it never turns an estimate into a Measured number. It is the Observe-phase upstream of the ECHO O dark-social sub-items (see echo-benchmark.md): dark-social method declared and Estimated-labeled before any social-ROI claim (ECHO O2) and the dark-social instrumentation coverage rows (ECHO O6–O7 — share-link/UTM hygiene live plus a self-reported attribution field running). Its labels are also what keeps the ECHO O1 denominator-integrity veto passable downstream: proxies pass when labeled proxy.

Scope guard: this skill produces the dark-social method doc and instrumentation specs only. Paid-channel attribution reconciliation — platform-claimed vs analytics conversions, dedup, incrementality — stays with attribution-reconciler; this skill covers only the organic share loop. Owned-loop email legs (newsletter forward prompts, share-and-refer sequences) hand to email-sequence-designer; opt-in records go to consent-registry; the ECHO profile result and the ECHO O1 veto verdict stay with social-quality-auditor; the metric dictionary and write-back loop stay with social-measurement-loop. No posting, tracking-pixel injection, or DM automation anywhere — closed platforms (X/IG/TikTok/LinkedIn/微信/小红书/抖音) enter as user exports or proxy-labeled reads only.

Quick Start

Decompose our GA4 direct traffic — here is the landing-page export for the last 90 days: [paste]. How much is plausibly dark social?

Spec share-link hygiene for our blog and docs. Share buttons exist on [pages]; the newsletter is on [platform]. Short links + UTMs where they belong.

Design the "how did you hear about us" field for our signup form. Current fields: [list]. Replace one — do not add.

Skill Contract

: a dark-social attribution pack — (1) a share-link/UTM hygiene spec for owned share surfaces, (2) a self-reported attribution field design that replaces an existing form field (free-text first, coding plan later), (3) a GA4 direct-traffic decomposition read with each heuristic labeled Estimated/proxy, (4) a branded-search-lift proxy read (GSC + ), and (5) the one-page declared-method doc — plus the standard handoff summary.