The benefits of having a micro-site

A more and more popular thing in the business world is for brands to have sub brands, a good example of this is Adidas and Adidas Original, Quicksilver have Roxy and the whole of Virgin! Virgin is the perfect example of creating a brand and using it for many different purposes. The Virgin Group is a very strong brand, founded on strong values such as changing the industry they are in, quality products/services, good value for money, innovation, competitive challenge and last but certainly not least, fun.  This philosophy is embodied by the company's founder, Sir Richard Branson, who has applied the Virgin values to all of its subsidiary brands.  So whilst Virgin started in the record and music industry, it was able to find success in many other various domains such as travel, mobile phones, airlines, games, financial services, films, internet, television, cosmetics, radio and more... The brand was so strong that this could translate to almost anything and these individual brands have served to strengthen the group itself and add consistency and diversity to the company.

 

The modern internet age has its own trend in regards to sub brands and these are called micro-sites.  Nowadays, many companies have a different site for each micro-brand, which adds benefits to not only the brand as a whole but also each entity within it.  These sites are very specific and concentrate on one product or service but they are increasingly serving other purposes.  The following is a list of some of the other benefits of a micro-site:

  • Detail - A micro-site is an opportunity for companies with wide ranges of different products to go into more detail.

  • Avoid Overcrowding - Some sites are overcrowded and this seriously affects the sites navigation, sometimes making it difficult to understand. This solves that issue by offloading some of this to another more streamline and specific site.

  • Target Audience - The more relevant the site, the more likely people are to be engaged by it and call to action and this is one of the main benefits of a micro-site.

  • Create a Community - A micro-site is a great opportunity to get people talking about your product or topic, it can be very powerful.

  • Strengthened Brand - Creating a micro-site for one product is a good way of being a specialist in that domain and this will strengthen the entire brand.

 

These are just some of the benefits that creating a micro-site can have, but the biggest reason for creating these types of web sites is increasingly for Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR).  There are many examples of this, but the finest for me, seems to be Starbucks.

 

Little Britain: Starbucks - a symbol of globalisation

 

Starbucks has often been used as a symbol of capitalism, a big American company that has been heavily criticised for its huge expansion in addition to many of its ethical practices.  In an attempt to improve their brand image and become and socially responsible company, Starbucks has used CSR to great effect and has given each cause, its own micro-sites.  The three micro-sites Starbucks have are:

  • V2v.net/starbucks - is a site dedicated to the partnership between Starbucks and v2v, a social network that promotes direct contact among volunteers.

  • starbucks.com/sharedplanet/ - is a project dedicated to the way Starbucks buy their coffee, minimizing their environmental footprint and their involvement in local communities.

  • red.starbucks.com - this site is about Starbuck's partnership with Product Red, the brand created by U2 singer Bono. This aims to help fight AIDS in Africa.

 

These micro-site campaigns are extremely effective ways of improving the Starbucks image and ensuring that they are viewed as a socially responsible company, engaging in activities to better their environment and everybody they are involved with.  The sites are also developed to create communities, an extremely powerful tool in the era of digital media and social networking.  These micro-sites seem to strengthen the company in its long term plans by making the brand sustainable. 

 

In the case of micro-sites used for CSR, they also enable the creation of micro-communities using social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  This is because the subjects approached usually raise awareness about a subject and have a philanthropic benefit.  Communities are particularly powerful in the case of micro-sites which address social issues, as the topic usually engages the reader emotionally.  For communities to be truly engaging however, it is often more beneficial for them to be within the website rather than using a famous portal (such as Facebook).  A community within a website ensures that from an SEO perspective, the site generates a far larger amount of traffic, rather than sending this to other sites.  However, for a website to have a strong community, the technology and build of the site must be of the highest quality to enable all of the complex features to be enabled and create a vibrant place for people to meet and exchange ideas and thoughts.  Without a team of technical experts behind the initial development of the website, the community can become unstable and unsafe and this is why specialists are needed to make decisions regarding the languages used and how to best use the tools available.  With their help, a community driven micro-site, is a great opportunity to increase traffic, strengthen a brand, create a long lasting brand image, engage an audience and generate results.  There are many platforms which are commonly used to create strong communities including Joomla, WordPress, Drupal and more.

 

The benefits of a micro-site are numerous and when used in the right situations and context, the improvement in results can be tremendous.  With people becoming more and more aware of their image and their impact on the environment, it seems micro-sites that address Corporate and Social Responsibility are extremely good tools.  If you succeed in first of all engaging the end user and then getting them to interact and communicate through your site, the benefits will be endless and your website will be successful.

 

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