Have you ever wondered when to use a microsite, a website, a landing page or a facebook (Social) page. Here is a comparison table to help you decide.

Criteria

 Main Website Microsite Landing Page Social Media Page
Perception Central, official and permanent source Timely Short-term use Official and permanent user generated content.
Communication Focus Broad and resembles whole corporate-speak Specific Topic, Product, or Audience Specific Action Driven by public postings
Audience Broad Specific Specific Broad/Specific
Content Broad Product Specific/ Topic Specific Campaign Specific Driven by public postings
Branding Sticks to Brand Guidelines Optional branding Sticks to the Call-to-action Depends on social channel
Flexibility Rigid (especially by IT, Compliance and security Requirements) Flexible to meet quick marketing needs without facing compliance issues Flexible to optimize conversion Flexible to initiate conversation
Conversion Less conversion more structure Controlled and more personalized environments produce higher conversion rates Concentrated messages with limited choices simply produce moreclicks. Less conversion, more engagement
Positioning Sticks to brand positioning Test line extensions and experimentwith brand positioning and marketing messages in ways one wouldn’tdare attempt on their corporate sites. Change Positioning to optimize conversion Depends on brand perception
Engagement Informative and Low engagement Support most viral or word-of-mouthcampaigns that contain content that’s entertaining, irreverent and, in someways, unexpected. Low engagement, more conversion Highly engaging
User-Generated Content Used as an Official source of information Able to allow public posting, sharing and commenting as its perceived as distant from official sites. Majority runs one-way submission forms User generated content is regarded as the main source of content
Control Full Moderated, Allow public comments and viral content on approval. Full Not controlled
URL Long and different to remember (Sub sections and multi-level: forward slash, question mark,then equal sign) Short and able to remember Long and different to remember (Usually includes UTM Tags) Short and able to remember
SEM Normal Can carry content solely related to its purpose, so ads are given better quality scores and clicks can be purchased at lower cost Can carry content solely related to its purpose, so ads are given better quality scores and clicks can be purchased at lower cost Normal
Cost Increment Low High Medium Low
Rich Media Multi-purpose use, scoped for normal content Used when extra Video/Games/upload bandwidth is needed Used when extra Video/Games/upload bandwidth is needed Cloud based and support Rich media usage.