Microsites have allowed ad agencies to avoid jumping through hoops to get a campaign rolling. Agencies have found it much easier to register, build, and host their own independent sites than to struggle against corporate restrictions. The problem with the agency approach to microsites is that until very recently it has mirrored the agency approach to advertising:

1. Broadcast your message now to generate a spike in awareness and traffic.
2. Report on that spike.
3. Repeat 1 and 2.

Even when they’re not tied to a campaign, most microsites fall into the same trap. They get a lot of attention as they are developed and launched, but after that they slowly die on the vine. Or quickly. With luck, a viral hit can prolong a site’s life. But in general, a month after ads have run and your microsite has experienced explosive traffic, your agency — and your audience — has moved on.

Without new, high-quality content on a regular basis, after the initial spike, microsites are the living dead. That’s right, Zombies.

Real engagement features living content

This hit-and-run approach doesn’t engage consumers online. Consumers are not just looking for more information. They crave authentic, conversational engagement and deeper relationships. Merely adding a share button and a “follow us on Twitter” icon doesn’t engage.

A microsite should be an opportunity to engage your customers. Frequency is key, but ad agencies are not in the business of creating quality content over time.

Think brand journalists, feedback loops, UGC, video, podcasts, etc. The microsite is not a final destination, it needs to be a piece of a comprehensive integrated campaign and a potential portal into deeper content and conversations about the brand.

Cool technology is not engagement, either

Microsites are often a vehicle for showing off cutting-edge technologies, like some new Flash capability or video content. The latest appears to be augmented reality. A quote from Ilya Vedrashko’s post surveying some recent augmented reality sites sums up the new-technology microsite angle: “It’s jaw-dropping only the first time you see it. After that it quickly regresses from ‘neat’ to ‘meh’.”

The technology-driven site relies on the wow factor and viral sharing. And in most cases it results in the usual: traffic spike, then free-fall.

So are microsites really the living dead?

That depends on your definitions of microsite and dead. Ad agencies selling brand awareness and traffic spikes to their clients will continue to produce microsites tied to traditional advertising. The current ad agency/client relationship structure will continue to result in the same short-shelf-life microsites.

However, a number of brands and content/interactive agencies are turning the ad agency microsite concept on its head and finding great success.

Building a better microsite

Rapid deployment using content management tools like WordPress allows smart brands to deploy microsites faster and more cheaply. When those expensive, Flash-heavy, multimedia productions popular just a few years ago are replaced with rapidly deployed platforms, microsites become more affordable. But that only partially addresses frequency. Robust content management capabilities can speed the process, but a brand or agency still needs to create continually fresh content.

Many brands find that blogs fill many of the needs previously addressed through microsites. Corporate blogs are no new topic, so we’ll avoid lumping them in to our survey of microsites. However, it is worth mentioning that corporate blogs can deliver the same thing as a well-executed microsite: frequent, high-quality content.

Channels as microsites

Increasingly, content and social channels are serving the needs previously addressed by microsites. People already using these channels are more apt to interact with the brand via familiar functionality — like Facebook or YouTube. In addition to their Will It Blend? microsite, Blendtec maintains a Will It Blend? YouTube page with 206,564 subscribers. Do they really even need the other site?

In their Twelpforce television advertising, BestBuy promotes BestBuy.com/Twelpforce. It’s a BestBuy page that pulls in hash-tagged Twelpforce feeds. Not exactly the best execution — more content would go a long way. But using Twitter as part of a campaign landing page is a right idea.

Takeaway

If you’re investing in a microsite, take a long-term, content-driven approach. Build it using tools that facilitate content management, not with tools that merely deliver the latest in technological bells and whistles. Understand that a microsite is just one part of engaging with your customers online.