What is a Dark Post?
A dark post (officially called an "unpublished page post" on Meta) is a social media ad that doesn't appear on your business page timeline. It exists only as a paid ad, visible exclusively to the audience you target.
Your followers never see it unless they happen to be in the target audience. Your page feed stays clean.
Why Dark Posts Exist
The problem they solve is simple: if you want to test 10 different ad variations, you don't want 10 promotional posts cluttering your page. Dark posts let you run extensive A/B testing behind the scenes.
Common uses:
- Testing ad creatives — run multiple image/video variations without publishing all of them
- Targeting different audiences — show different messages to different segments (e.g., one version for cold audiences, another for retargeting)
- Localizing content — run location-specific ads without confusing followers in other regions
- Controlling brand perception — keep your page editorial while running direct-response ads separately
Dark Posts on Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
On Meta's ad platform, every ad you create through Ads Manager is technically a dark post unless you specifically choose an existing page post. When you create a new ad in the campaign builder, it's unpublished by default.
The post accumulates engagement (likes, comments, shares) just like a regular post — it just doesn't live on your page. You can find and manage these posts in the Page Posts section of your Meta Business Suite.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because they're invisible on your public profile — they only appear in the feeds of your targeted audience. They exist in the ad system but not on your page timeline, so your followers and page visitors don't see them.
Dark posts let you run multiple ad variations with different creatives, copy, and targeting without flooding your page with promotional content. You can A/B test 10 different headlines and your page still looks clean. Boosted posts are simpler but show up on your timeline and offer fewer targeting options.
Yes. Even though dark posts don't appear on your page, people who see them in their feed can like, comment, and share them. That engagement accumulates on the ad itself and can be viewed through your ad manager. Some advertisers use this to build social proof before turning the ad into a visible page post.