The rise of social media (and the demise of the microsite)

In today's times we need to start making life simpler, not more complicated, sometimes less is more, especially when communicating to consumers. Is there still a place for the "microsite" in today's world? Predictions are that the microsite is dying a slow and painful death. How’s that possible? Aren’t microsites the defacto standard for “getting bang for your buck” in the online world? They certainly have become the standard approach to get and give consumers “all the information they need” in today’s marketing landscape. And there are some great examples. Really cool ones. But at best they have a finite life and very often the brilliant content they house is simply ditched as the campaign comes to an end. Social media profiles and Facebook Pages in particular, provide a very viable and long-term alternative to brands paying R100 000 (plus) a pop, for a fancy life-limited flash microsite that when built, does not magically attract thousands to visit it. So why then is social media such a real and viable alternative? 1. You won’t lose your brand identity and audience engagement You spend significant corporate energy on positive brand perception and awareness. And then you start over completely from scratch with an entirely new brand or product. Why? If you are reaching an entirely different audience and your current brand would be confusing, then you may in fact want to build out a new brand, however, in that case, you probably won’t be launching a microsite, you’ll launch a full site. In most cases, microsites are subsets of, or promotions for the main site, with exactly the same audience. Do you really want to work at building up multiple brand identities? And do you really not want to benefit from the brand building in one category for another related category? 2. You won’t lose the ability to leverage your audience By way of example, you launch an awesome site with a fantastic user experience, great products, and unrivaled customer support. Someone writes up a positive article about you in say, the Business Times. Readers start clicking over to your site. They see you sell running shoes. They just read about how great you are, so they feel confident about purchasing some products from your site. But maybe those same readers also need some clothes to go running in. If you had a separate runningclothes.com microsite, you’ve just missed a great opportunity to reach a targeted and motivated audience. 3. You won’t have to double your resources The microsite will use the same template and content management system. So it seems like a low overhead to maintain it . But wait, as you build out the content of both sites, you have to decide which content to put where and decide how to spend marketing, PR and advertising resources. When you issue a press release, which site do you talk up? All of them? What if you have 20? And you are likely doing social media too. Do you now maintain 20 Facebook pages and 20 Twitter accounts? If you have built the microsite specifically for an advertising campaign, what happens when the campaign is over? Do you maintain the site? Abandon it? Take it down? This question gets more complicated if the microsite included a social networking element. You’ve gotten your audience engaged... oh now you need to dump them. 4. You can keep your consumer (and fans) engaged for the long term The rise of the microsite has left a great big graveyard of micro sites in its wake. Many filled with brilliant content, discarded as campaigns come to an end. The beauty of social media as a platform is that you have a springboard for future campaigns that does not require any media spend, you have a ready made audience who have interacted with your brand in the past. Most of the functionality that we see in microsites can be built into a Facebook page where once you have an interaction it is likely that you will acquire a new fan who is not just a fan of your new campaign but a fan for the long term if you treat them well, and if you do it right, that fan will bring with them their own network of friends. And as for video - rather than let it fall into a big black hole why not house it within your Facebook Page. This way your fans can access it whenever they need it and your messages keep spreading rather than just being campaign based. Social media is changing how we market. Creating long term content hubs through social media using interactivity as a point of initiation, is a real and viable alternative – and also happens to tell the consumer ”everything they need to know”. Only it is not as capital intensive as a micro site and can last in perpetuity! Which route would you want to follow as a brand with a view of keeping fans engaged in the long term?

Has your Social Media Strategy been vetted?

Social media needs a business focus. With social media network Facebook out-pacing Google statistically in March, the need for solid social media strategy development couldn’t be more in demand. Optimising your business for social media is not just about addressing the technology you have. You have to look at the cultural shift that is happening. Businesses need to understand that collectively and globally priorities are very different than they were ten or even five years ago. You need to think of social media as not only a communications channel. If you think of social media as the most disruptive resource since the Internet and the Web, one that could change the way you touch and interact with your customers, one that could change the way you market your product and services more directly, more effectively - then you will begin to see the possibilities you're playing with. Most businesses start their social media strategy as more of a test. They try the toe-in-the-water, stop-gap approach. They try a one off blog, Twitter account or Facebook page that isn’t integrated into anything and most people - even those within the company - might not even be aware of it. This isn’t a bad way to start, there’s a lot of learning that happens in this phase but it doesn’t qualify as a strategy, and more often than not yields poor results. The real problem is that the supposed “organisational alignment” with the overall communications strategy just isn’t supporting the business strategy to begin with. And because they are not aligned they are not achieving efficiency. This problem isn’t unique to social media. It plagues all communications groups; advertising, marketing, PR etc. So, what should brands and companies trying to adapt to new media and align their businesses to social media do? 1. Take a careful look at your actual objectives No - that’s not just a list of goals or tactics but a clear focus on what one wants to achieve. Be it brand awareness or lead generation, even customer referral. But most importantly - how does what you do in social media link to the business objectives and deliver results to the business and customer (yes them too!) 2. Unpack what initiative you should and could actually leverage with social media Be realistic... does anyone care that you are trying to get more people to open a bank account, change tyres or wear a pink ribbon. Well hell no .. not if it’s not relevant. Relevance is what social media is about. Would you potentially care about being the “African Quiz champion” to a general knowledge quiz on Facebook. Well probably not unless you were a loyal supporter of Zain Africa, a telecoms operator in Africa, who sponsors a TV quiz that has a solid following. Leveraging this initiative has seen the brand build a Facebook community of over 40 000 loyal users in just 2 short months and increase its digital presence cost effectively. 3. Look at the value chain within your company What’s your point of sale, packaging or the website got to do with social media? Plenty! They are all touch points to interact and pull your consumer into a centrally “housed” community. The value of having a direct communication channel (community) is double the value of all the marketing campaigns and ad spend you have done to date. Have your Social Media Strategy Vetted! These insights are part and parcel of Popimedia Innovations' expertise amassed from hundeds of Social Media campaigns across many industries including Banking, Insurance, FMCG, Motor, Mobile, Airline and more. If this thinking appeals, then contact us to assist in developing your strategy. Social media strategy development is offered as a once of cost service to clients that will lay the foundation for future marketing and social media initiatives.