Website Research: One Direction

One Directions website is a great thing to research because they are just starting out as a band. They've just released their debut single, and as we are going to create a website for a debut artist, this is a great way to learn about how to market and promote our own artist. In particular I'm going to look at the ways the audience is able to interact with the band and purchasing opportunities through the website.

The first thing you see before going through to the actual website is their new music video for 'What Makes You Beautiful'. This is a great way to promote the single and it's video as the audience will most likely click and listen. There are also links below the video, showing people where they can buy the song/video.

Interactive Opportunities:

• Twitter, Facebook and YouTube links
• A 'Latest News' section where you can read up to date news as well as reading previous entries from the past year.
• Videos are everywhere on the site; actual music videos, interviews, behind the scenes etc.
• Fan of the week
• A competition to design One Directions Twitter background
• Tour Diaries for individual band members
• Opportunities to comment on different pages around the website
• A newsletter which anyone can sign up to
• Fan Art galleries which people can submit their art to via Facebook
• Galleries for each band member so the audience can just look at photos of their favourite
• An Air-Miles competition – way to build up a fanbase in other countries and identify other markets.
• Link to SyCo website
• View their tour dates and the locations of each one

At the bottom of every page, they have the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube links, and the first two show the amount of fans the band has on each. By having them on every page it's making it almost unavoidable for the audience to not click on one of them which is effective marketing.

There is also a live twitter feed on the side of the website showing what One Direction is up to, which will be popular amongst the younger generations (their target audience) who have come to expect constant live information, rather than having to wait for something to be shown on television etc. and the proliferation of Web 2.0 and social media has enabled this.

As the fans are able to sign up for the One Direction newsletter they feel like they are getting special access to the band as they get news before everyone else. They get information on the tour, signings and appearances amongst many other things making the fan feel close to the band. Also there are galleries. some for the whole band, some for each member, and some for fan artwork. This interactivity is greatly appealing to young girls who have time to spend making things for the band. There is also a 'latest photo's' bar on the side which allows the fans to keep up to date with the band.

There are video playlists, updates on the singles placing in the charts and commenting facilities which all work together to make it interesting for the fans. It makes them want to check the site to see if anyone has replied to their comment, see if there's a new video or if the single has changed position. It is these draws which helps make the site and band so successful.

The competitions allow the audience to feel like they are involved in the bands lives, and encourage them to actively participate rather than just watching and listening to the band. It increases publicity and as fans are writing about the competitions on Facebook and Twitter or just simply talking about it to others. This is made even easier by the fact that the target audience are very prominent in terms of social media users so the news is spread quickly around.

Purchasing Opportunities:

• Gift Prints - a photo of One Direction with their printed signatures on it
• The CD - only the single so far which you can buy in three different places online; I-Tunes, HMV and Play.com
• There is a shop on the website where you can buy merchandise such as clothes, mugs, jewellery, books, bags etc.
• Tour tickets - they recently made an announcement about their 2012 tours, which are available to buy soon
• The music video; although you can't buy it directly off the website, fans are able to buy the video off of I-Tunes.

The website has a shop, which has a significant amount of merchandise on it. There's a wide range of items as they are trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, as they could buy whichever product fits their lifestyle. The prices are fairly affordable which would be popular amongst parents who are forced to buy the merchandise for their children.

As well as allowing you to buy group 'personalised prints' there is also the option of buying one just with your favourite band member on it. This is playing on the fact that most girls have a favourite and so will probably only want a poster/t-shirt/print with that member on. By making the band members seem more individual, it was easier for the audience to pick their favourite and it is also a great way to increase profits.

By putting all these interactive and purchase opportunities in one place, it makes sure the fans constantly visit the site so that they can know everything about the band. It is really clever marketing as the site is always updated and has a lot of videos for the fans to watch, letting them see inside the bands lives. The interactive elements of the site make it really interesting and makes sure that the audience won't get bored whilst on the site.