The death of the microsite, act IV

by Robin Grant in News on 13 April 2009 at 18:04 Google+

It’s been a while since I last wrote about the death of the microsite, but this week there’s been some comment worth noting on the subject. Firstly Martin Kelley on O’Reilly Broadcast:

With the rise of the real-time update streams being popularized by Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed, users are becoming accustomed to a constantly-changing flow of pictures, videos and new snippets. Even actively-maintained websites seem locked in languid stupor in comparison.

This will change company’s interactions with customers, who will start to expect and then demand real-time interaction [...] The style will shift from slickly-produced mass marketing to a one-on-one responsive back and forth. Smart marketers will think less in terms of selling and more in terms of relationship building.

And then a nice article from Brian Morrissey in Adweek, with this killer quote:

Clients want more of an emphasis on igniting conversation and less on the rich, textured sites that have typically accompanied their campaigns. The goal, as EVB CEO Daniel Stein put it, is to “stop building $1 million microsites that attract [only] 10,000 visitors.”

Advising a client to skip a $200,000 microsite in favour of a free Facebook page or social network built on Ning for $25 per month might be the right move, but it begs the question of whether the agency can make money.

Well, the simple answer is that digital agencies with teams of designers and flash developers to pay have some serious restructuring to do, assuming they even realise that restructuring is needed (after all, they are the ones who advised their clients to build the flash microsites in the first place).

However, those of us whose agencies are built from the ground up to focus on conversations are probably in a much better position to both give their clients the right advice and to profit from it…

Update: More from Steve Rubel in Ad Age:

Digital marketing is still wired for the destination web era. To succeed going forward, we have to change our thinking. “Earned media” through direct public engagement in the venues where our consumers spend time will become the only way to truly influence a behavior change. The greatest advantages will go to the first movers who embrace this shift.

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  • http://twitter.com/adjustafresh/statuses/1510382161 adjustafresh (Scott Kiekbusch)

    Twitter Comment


    Good stuff RT @wearesocial: The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/seanpowell/statuses/1510472364 seanpowell (sean powell)

    Twitter Comment


    Good arg! I’m weary of quickly putting proven paths to bed, though. RT @wearesocial:The death of the microsite… [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/daniseuba/statuses/1510563219 daniseuba (Dani Seuba)

    Twitter Comment


    RT @wearesocial: The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/razorshine/statuses/1510683064 razorshine (Riaz Kanani)

    Twitter Comment


    Rt @RobinGrant: The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://www.madebymany.co.uk Tim Malbon

    The fact that Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed accounts are free and Ning costs $25/month are red herrings. What you do with them is more important than the tools themselves, and that's where the value lies. Creating a compelling, premium experience that works both for the site owner and their audiences are likely to remain difficult and require specialists for some time to come.

    Sites that work will exploit the addictive real-time-ness of streams of Twitter-like data, but make it mindlessly easy for non-expert, non-geek users to understand and manipulate. The tools and content that will help us do this will be be part-machine, part community and part-expert created. We'll want to be able to get it everywhere we are online and off.

    Knitting all this together with what's out there in the billions of social spaces, niche communities and blogs – especially at the level of your own identity and its portability and usefulness – will continue to be a very complex job, probably for a few years at least. And making it all work at both a data level *and* providing a premium user experience will be as difficult – if not more difficult in relation to the data side of things – as it always has been. Even if you have the right ideas, building it properly will also remain tricky. Scale and optimisation will continue to be toughies.

    The next generation of social software will likely be made from lots of free/cheap stuff but it won't be any easier to get right. One of the enduring problems with microsites has always been their strategic un-joined-up-ness. The fact that they were always easier to get done than a 'proper' site kind of encouraged rubbish thinking and lazy planning. Making them even easier may be like giving a child a loaded gun. Look no further than Skittles: they managed to fist themselves (and I bet they paid for the privilege too).

  • http://strai.typepad.com/ Mark Cridge

    Agree that agencies are going to need to radially change due to the huge shifts that are accompanying the rise in social media (which in themselves are probably dwarfed by the changes required as a result of the recession!) What I constantly bang on about though is its simply not enough to replace one outmoded agency model, with another that is too closely aligned to one particular sphere. i.e. that of social media, or of mobile, or interactive TV of whatever is going to be big this year.

    Brian was absolutely right to highlight how this shift is taking place within established digital agencies (my own comments on that are here http://is.gd/scoT), but he rightly points out that a comprehensive approach over all methods is going to be essential in the future.

    Separately he also put together a nice post on the relationship between paid and earned media which you can find here http://is.gd/rBYZ

  • http://www.riazkanani.com Riaz Kanani

    It should go something like this: The microsite is dead.. long live the microsite. Whilst Facebook, Friendfeed, Twitter et al represent the walled garden social cloud we know today, the microsite of the future will integrate into these technologies and break down those walls.

    This is good for the user – more 1-1 conversations between brands is good news. Of course in the short term that might also mean an increase rather than a decrease in the price of development by those “restructuring agencies” ;)

  • http://twitter.com/msamayoa/statuses/1511168778 msamayoa (msamayoa)

    Twitter Comment


    a lot of sense here! concur 100% – especially w/ last point! RT @RobinGrant: The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/gredge/statuses/1511905493 gredge (Greg Wood)

    Twitter Comment


    Short, sharp glimpse into the future: are some digital agencies about to become as overweight as most trad-ad agencies? [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/RobinGrant/statuses/1512327985 RobinGrant (Robin Grant)

    Twitter Comment


    @Armano @jowyang – would be great to get your comments on this – [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/samhinks/statuses/1512484532 samhinks (Sam Hinks)

    Twitter Comment


    Agree whole heartedly. Content is king! RT: …… The death of the microsite [link to post] from @RobinGrant (via @markcridge)

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://www.daanjansonius.com Daan Jansonius

    I agree in part. I was actually shocked to see a figure of $200,000 quotes for a microsite. So in that sense there is a big change ahead.

    Like you mention, Facebook and Ning offer some excellent facilities for marketers to converse with their consumers. And even for the companies that want more control and freedom, there are plenty of open source initiatives such as WordPress and Drupal which offer them that. There is no need for agencies to re-invent the wheel, other than it gives them the opportunity to work at an extreme premium.

    It's not the building of the destination that will be important, it's helping companies interact with their customers. Content is key on the web and far more important that a nice and flashy website which Google is unable to index!

  • http://one-size-fits-one.blogspot.com Anjali Ramachandran

    Microsites are easy. Period. I like some microsites that have been built of late, but the reason why I like them is more important. They engage my interest momentarily. Momentarily. That's the important word. Another microsite comes along and boom! If it engages me enough, my interest is shifted.

    As Tim said, :”The next generation of social software will likely be made from lots of free/cheap stuff but it won't be any easier to get right”. So what will? That we're still navigating. But it's difficult, alright. We need to discourage lazy planning. But what that will herald is still in waiting.

  • http://twitter.com/jowyang/statuses/1515417423 jowyang (Jeremiah Owyang)

    Twitter Comment


    Great conversation comparing microsites to social networks [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/veza/statuses/1515422270 veza (Vesa Kortelainen)

    Twitter Comment


    Great conversation comparing microsites to social networks [link to post] (via @jowyang)

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/thomaspower/statuses/1515482994 thomaspower (Thomas Power)

    Twitter Comment


    Liked “RT @jowyang: Great conversation comparing microsites to social networks [link to post]” http://ff.im/-26xYt

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/papadimitriou/statuses/1515493943 papadimitriou (Paul Papadimitriou)

    Twitter Comment


    RT @jowyang:Great conversation comparing microsites to social networks [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/rokoz/statuses/1515498602 rokoz (Rokoz)

    Twitter Comment


    RT @jowyang
    Great conversation comparing microsites to social networks [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/immersion_io/statuses/1515506243 immersion_io (Immersion I/O)

    Twitter Comment


    The death of the microsite, act IV / we are social [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://padajo.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/the-perfect-microsite-is-now-social/ The Perfect Microsite… is now Social « Padajo
  • http://twitter.com/MartinWSI/statuses/1515616637 MartinWSI (Martin Duncan)

    Twitter Comment


    RT @thomaspower Enjoyed reading and thinking about death of the microsite act 4
    [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/RobinGrant/statuses/1515821659 RobinGrant (Robin Grant)

    Twitter Comment


    Some interesting debate on my Death of the microsite post – [link to post] – what do you think?

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/matt_j_kendall/statuses/1515961560 matt_j_kendall (matt_j_kendall)

    Twitter Comment


    @emmasimpson shift in output means a shift in structure. Interesting conversation here: [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • Stewart Atkins

    Regardless of the tool it still comes down to having something interesting to say or content worth interacting with. There is a lot of social media which is just self indulgent and some brands are merely copying that. Innovation whether in the agency model, the tools or the communication channel tends to succeed best when it has some basis in what has gone before albeit hopefully the best of what has gone before.
    New agencies will be about synthesizing all the various changes and helping steer brands through a path to customer dialogue. With the ever changing landscape many brands have even less bandwidth than before to cope with understanding and penetrating the mist. Thinking and insight can still command a premium.

  • http://twitter.com/macervoni/statuses/1516124833 macervoni (macervoni)

    Twitter Comment


    Interesting article on brand microsites and how they might just be dead. I don’t believe. [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://www.miserly.co.uk Jeremy Parsons

    Microsites still have their place, because they allow the organisation to have a place to deliver a particular experience. The challenge for the creative community is to deal with the fact that the microsite is ephemeral and a part of the experience – and in particular consumers like engaging from social media spaces so the over-ambitious microsite shoots itself in the foot.

    I rather like http://www.comparethemeerkat.com, for instance. It's a moment of fun, backed by some social media engagement, the whole enriching a TV+radio campaign.

    We're in the middle of a time where the total web experience is being shaken up, and I don't see anyone yet with a credible story of where it will all end. My own view is that the social media experiment is now in its transformation stage – we've seen plenty of caterpillars, and it can't be long before we see the first butterfly.

  • http://twitter.com/theholodeck/statuses/1516349348 theholodeck (Andy Hyatt)

    Twitter Comment


    RT @deliciousmedia: RT @wearesocial: The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • Macervoni

    Not to completely disagree here, but when it comes to brands and consumer packaged goods, a microsite may be necessary depending on what the business goals are. For example, if you are driving awareness of a product improvement, of course it's imperative that you incorporate social media as a form of consumer conversation and feedback, but a microsite that holds product information, houses a landing page for promotional activities (awareness driver) and incorporates social media extensions (facebook connect, social bookmarks, etc.) will really help perpetuate said goals. Finally said, there is SEO to think about. Finally we come to the important factor of branding. Lots of my clients are in the food/beverage industry. They rely on a premium looking microsite to show beauty shots of the product that will enlist the consumer to read through recipes and then ultimately trial or purchase the product incrementally.

    Again, I agree with everyone's thoughts, but just as the microsite seems to be looked at as an easy way out, done strategically it can be very successfully in the overall plan. This goes for any social media plan, it comes down to strategy and not using a cookie cutter.

  • Charlie Reay

    What about people slagging off products via third party social media with no control? OK say you moderate it – and moderate it well – what's the cost? Which client is brave enough to allow that to happen?

    And also, what we're really talking about here is a full-scale restructuring of a client's communication strategy. That isn't something that is going to be sorted by a product launch marketing campaign for example. Gimme a microsite!

  • Facebook User

    It's not not just the microsite that's dead (and I think you are digging specifically at Flash fluff in your articles) – but the website and browser as we know them are fading away too.

  • http://twitter.com/preeps76/statuses/1519171158 preeps76 (preeps76)

    Twitter Comment


    The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post] everytime something new and popular comes along, something else has to die, lol

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://think.sisumarcom.com Tony Long

    It's simple: ROI. A $3,000 investment is much easier to justify than a $250,000 investment. If the million-dollar microsite drives $6MM in sales, who cares? But that's the point: it's very hard to do that. Plus, a microsite is a cul-de-sac on the Internet, where a conversation just keeps going…and going…and going. As long as the client / brand has the testicular fortitude to ride the conversation, a lot of good can result for little money.

  • http://www.contentandmotion.co.uk/online-pr-agency-services/ Roger, Online PR Agency C&M

    Nice post Robin. I agree.

    The world should stop polishing turds and go do something meaningful.

  • http://twitter.com/crgonzalez/statuses/1555425660 crgonzalez (Carmen Gonzalez)

    Twitter Comment


    The death of the microsite [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://www.atomiclatina.com Carmen Gonzalez

    I agree with Tim Malbon's point above that:

    “Sites that work will exploit the addictive real-time-ness of streams of Twitter-like data, but make it mindlessly easy for non-expert, non-geek users to understand and manipulate. The tools and content that will help us do this will be be part-machine, part community and part-expert created.”

    Instead of companies investing in ad budgets to buy bells and whistles from graphic and web designers, I see them investing more in the content and relationship building psychology. They'll aim for writers and experts who can aggregate and harness all the tools available — be they free or inexpensive — to drive a lasting (lifetime) conversation with consumers. A 250K dollar web site is a poor investment. Put that into long term R&D on conversation building through free social media tools and you've got a more robust model.

  • http://qubemedia.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/5-of-the-rest-and-5-of-the-best-220409/ 5 of the rest and 5 of the best (22/04/09) « Qubemedia’s Weblog

    [...] Death of the Microsite [...]

  • http://www.i-boy.com/weblog/ George Nimeh

    Feeling compelled to play devil's advocate, just a bit …

    Yes, the bespoke-CMS-microsite is dead (or dying), and all those agencies that invested all that time and effort to create and sell their special system should pack it in. In this game WordPress, Blogger and just a couple others are the winners. For some companies, using WordPress instead of Vignette (for example) is smart and could potentially save certain companies a ton of cash. Agencies should be helping smart companies make that transition, where possible. And they'll make money from doing it.

    But to imply that all micosites should be canned and that conversations are always king is a step too far, for me. Look at Uniqlo. Or Lynx Blow. Look Puma's new Lift site. Check out Lacoste Red. And a ton of others. These are highly creative and engaging campaign sites that attract attention and entertain.

    Robin, is *everything* a conversation? Can't I just buy something? Or have a little fun watching something? Must everything be lean-forward internet? Can't we sit back every once in a while?

    As Mark mentioned, this discussion fits nicely inside the wider context of “Paid media vs. Earned media”… something @armano and @fredwilson @bmorrissey and I (@iboy) have been discussing quite a bit lately.

    It isn't Paid vs. Free for a reason: Because it isn't free.

    It takes time and money for brands to generate traction, interest and conversations. The idea that a Ning, Facebook or Twitter feed or whatever can be done for free or on the cheap is a fallacy.

    Blanket statements like a “250K dollar web site is a poor investment” is silly. Go ask Hertz or Amazon how much they spend on good 'ol fashioned web design and build. Sure, they're spending on social media as well, but not everyone can put Twitter, blogs and Facebook at the centre of their universe. Even Jet Blue, with hundreds of thousands of followers certainly spends a hellofalot more on the “basics” than they do on social media.

    And while we're at it, microsites are not necessarily a the “cul-de-sac on the Internet” … They only are if you plan them that way and don't make them part of the wider user experience and architecture of your activities. These things need to fit together or they'll all die on the vine, regardless of what they do or how cool they are.

    You can't outsource your brand to a Facebook group or a Twitter feed. They're pieces to the puzzle but not the only pieces.

    More soon …
    @iboy

  • http://twitter.com/TweetingLeila/statuses/1605039783 TweetingLeila (Leila Thabet)

    Twitter Comment


    The death of the microsite, act IV [link to post]

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://twitter.com/AnnMargaret/statuses/1657923827 AnnMargaret (AnnMargaret)

    Twitter Comment


    Great debate @wearesocial re. death of the microsite: [link to post] – i say brands need a central home but multiple touchpoints= good

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/05/great-game/ The great game / we are social

    [...] competitors, so conversation agencies will do the same to PR agencies (and, I have to say, to the digital and other agencies also trying to [...]

  • http://testicularcancersymptoms.org/ testicular cancer symptoms

    It's not not just the microsite that's dead (and I think you are digging specifically at Flash fluff in your articles) – but the website and browser as we know them are fading away too.

  • http://geoffnorthcott.com/blog/2009/06/visualizing-the-decline-of-the-destination-web-the-rise-of-the-social-web/ visualizing the decline of the destination web, the rise of the social web » *supercollider

    [...] been a lot of discussion lately about the end of the destination [...]

  • http://www.digitaltip.com.au/index.php/death-of-the-microsite-a-casestudy-bonds-art-attack/ Digital Tip » Death of the microsite a casestudy: Bonds Art Attack:

    [...] Adam Ostrow asks Is Social Media making corporate websites irrelevant? I agree with him and with We Are Social and say microsites are being killed off by social media (and search).  Even David Armano just [...]

  • http://modestadventurer.com Traveller_Adventure

    This is quite impressive, I am pleased to read this post, keep posts like this coming, you totally rock!
    Cheers,
    Buat Duit Dengan Blog

  • http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/09/rise-real-time-web/ The rise of the real time web / we are social

    [...] I’ve been banging on about the death of the microsite for quite a while, but I’d never spent the time to fully articulate my [...]

  • http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/loosing-to-the-social-web-visualized/ Loosing To The Social Web: Visualized | Digital Buzz Blog

    [...] (via Martina on Adverblog) that talked about the end of the destination web, along with adage, we are social and adweek about how the times are fading for websites and microsites are dead – Geoff posted [...]

  • http://micheal-smith898.myopenid.com/ 34dfSDER45

    With the rise of the real-time update streams being popularized by Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed, users are becoming accustomed to a constantly-changing flow of pictures, videos and new snippets. Even actively-maintained websites seem locked in languid stupor in comparison.

    This will change company’s interactions with customers, who will start to expect and then demand real-time interaction online marketing [...] The style will shift from slickly-produced mass marketing to a one-on-one responsive back and forth. Smart marketers will think less in terms of selling and more in terms of relationship building.

  • http://www.unmissable.com/blog/2009/11/losing-to-the-social-web-visualized/ Losing To The Social Web: Visualized | Unmissable Prize Promotions and Incentives

    [...] (via Martina on Adverblog) that talked about the end of the destination web, along with adage, we are social and adweek about how the times are fading for websites and microsites are dead – Geoff posted a [...]

  • http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/11/socials-monday-mashup-3/ We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #3 / we are social

    [...] then read on. This post from Unmissable blog looks at the decline of the ‘destination web’ (a topic we’ve covered here in the past) and suggests that the sun is setting on branded websites and microsites as social media swallows [...]

  • http://digitalrecruitmentdigest.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/losing-to-the-social-web-visualized/ Losing To The Social Web: Visualized «

    [...] (via Martina on Adverblog) that talked about the end of the destination web, along with adage, we are social and adweek about how the times are fading for websites and microsites are dead – Geoff posted a [...]

  • williamsacott

    Clients want more of an emphasis on igniting conversation and less on the rich, textured sites that have typically accompanied their campaigns. The goal, as EVB CEO Daniel Stein put it, is to “stop building $1 million microsites that attract [only] 10,000 visitors.”

    Advising a client to skip a $200,000 microsite in favour of a free Facebook page or social network built on Ning for $25 per month might be the right move, but it begs the question of whether the agency can make money. By best web hosting company

  • http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/12/social-blog-2009/ The best of the We Are Social blog, 2009 / we are social

    [...] The death of the microsite, act IV A post looking at the death of the microsite and the rise of the real-time web, and what impact it will have on the agency landscape, with some insightful debate in the comments. [...]

  • http://www.hostplannet.com/ whosting

    HI this is whosting..It's not not just the microsite that's dead (and I think you are digging specifically at Flash fluff in your articles) – but the website and browser as we know them are fading away too.www.hostplannet.com

  • John

    No ones arguing that a poorly thought out/executed brochure micro-site is a heavy chain around a corporate neck. However, from experience I can assure you that well planned, integrated micro-sites can generate interest, mcse online.