When it comes to digital marketing, driving results should be a key goal. After all, isn’t that the point? However, one of the biggest challenges that many of us in the field face time and time again is exactly that—driving results. It’s not that easy. There are loads of methods and approaches that can be implemented and tons of different kinds of analysis that can be done beforehand.
None of these guarantee success, though. As mediums become saturated, engaging audiences can be even more difficult.
So, what’s the best way to drive results for your campaign? Of course, this is a very deep question and there are many tools and tactics for you to choose from. There is one thing that can be said though.
If you are looking at driving and measuring results for a specific campaign, a microsite may just be what you’re looking for.
A Micro-what?
Microsites are individual web pages which act as separate entities for brands, usually existing on their own domains or on subdomains.
There are numerous things that microsites can help brands achieve, such as targeting a specific type of buyer persona or highlighting a campaign.
They can consist of something imaginative like a short story for example. Typically, microsites are loaded with information and intend to engage as many users as they can. As such, they are usually non-application based sites.
Some of the best microsites out there consist of great content focused on customers’ needs rather than content pertaining to the brand itself. Brand websites, on the other hand, would typically be more focused on the services or products they’re providing.
Self-promotion should be the last thing on the list for microsites. Microsites should focus on being more informative, entertaining and educational.
The aim of a microsite’s content (no matter what the topic), should be to add value to the reader/user it is interacting with. This is how successful microsites can drive tons of traffic and why coming up with engaging content should be one of the most important driving forces when building a microsite.
Users can be incentivised to complete the ‘call to action’ of your microsite through prizes or simply through providing an enjoyable/enriching experience within the microsite.
Check out these examples
There are several examples of great microsites out there. The immersive Cocainenomics which was used to promote the Netflix show ‘Narcos’ is one. Hugely content driven, this microsite provides an in-depth and behind the scenes look at the Medellín cartel and leads users into a quiz where they can test their knowledge on the subject.
BurgerBff is another well-done microsite. In order to support their Burger BFF campaign, Mellow Mushroom created this microsite and it features cartoon versions of their menu items. BurgerBff.com promoted a contest where the winner could win a trip to Seattle or Denver with their best friend.
In conclusion
If done right, microsites can be a great way to promote and drive results for your campaign because you have so much artistic leeway to be appealing and innovative. This can result in virality around a product or event and there are other benefits too.
Through focused content, brands can achieve improved search-engine ranking for specific keywords. Microsites have the ability to deliver highly targeted content to specific segments of a brand’s audience. Although microsites are not meant for self-promotion, brand awareness is among key benefits that can be gained from a successful campaign microsite.
Of course, as with other aspects of digital marketing, successfully driving results for your campaign through the implementation of a microsite depends on skilful execution and a well thought out concept, target and goal. Getting the word out and driving visitors to your microsite can also be facilitated through paid advertising on social media and other platforms.
*We are a UX-focused team of developers and designers. Our goal is making our products understandable at any level. The result is web and mobile applications that take minutes to learn and are easy to implement in any company, big or small. Find out more about Soda In Mind here
