Report: Growing Number of Moms Using Social Media

Mediaweek.com just published some great insight into moms' social media vs traditional media habits thanks to a new research report released by BabyCenter.

According to the article and the report, 63 percent of women report being active on social networks. When compared to a similar study done in 2006 when just 11 percent claimed to be social net regulars, we can see that moms' priorities and community is continuing to change. Most also claim that as their personal time is constrained, they end up sacrificing time with magazines and newspapers compared to before they had children. BabyCenter data indicates that "women with new babies at home cut back on media consumption by as much as three hours, with print taking the biggest hit. According to the report 49 percent of respondents claim to read magazines less after giving birth, and 46 percent said the same about their newspaper usage."

The article and report go on to details that "moms develop two distinct friendship circles: their real friends and their mommy friends - who they may or may not have actually met in person. Because these women are so social, and so information hungry, they often meet other mothers in similar child-rearing stages on sites like BabyCenter and a variety of mommy blogs."

To read the complete article visit: Report: Growing Number of Moms Using Social Media

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What is Word of Mom?

Since starting this blog, I have discovered that blogging is more difficult than I expected. My admiration for those who blog faithfully has greatly increased, with a special spot held to mom bloggers because as a busy mom and entrepreneur, I find it incredibly difficult to squeeze more time out of day to write something inspired (in a peaceful, writing-condusive environment). I've been seeking advise from fellow bloggers about how to get through my "Bloggers Block" and have heard some fantastic suggestions. While I contemplate implementing vlogging (video blogging), some structure to my posts and peer blogger support, I have been watching the online mom blogger world join together to support one of their own - again proving the power of the word of mom.

Online sadness and heartbreak was projected worldwide last week when a 17 month old Madeline Alice Spohr died. I didn't know her or her family; I had never even read the family blog (written by mom blogger Heather Spohr of www.thespohrsaremultiplying.com) until numerous mom bloggers tweeted their shock and heartbreak and I just had to find out what they were all talking about. I was instantly in tears and emotionally distraught the next day as bloggers worldwide expressed their sorrow and started blogging about their grief. I couldn't stop reading, nor could thousands of others. These are the best of the worst kind of blog posts. They hit you in the gut and make you think about your own life. You relate in some small way to someone you've never met but now feel some sort of kindship to because of an experience, emotion, reaction. You see the bigger picture more clearly, realize that sweating the small stuff is stupid and discover that seeking support from your community is not defined by borders.

Mom bloggers came together to support one of their own. When floods of visitors overpowered the Spohr's website and their server dumped them for going over-capacity, mom bloggers banded together to get it transferred to another server (it was twitterer @princessJenn from Canada who came to the rescue, btw). In mere hours housands of dollars (there was a tweet about hitting $10,000 by mid-morning) were raised for the Walk of Dimes in Maddies's honour and teams across the USA have been formed to Walk For Maddie http://sarcasticmom.com/walk-for-maddie/

This universal support system, this innate ability to relate to another person soley based on the joint experience of loving a child, is the foundation of word-of-mom. I don't think even Maddie's mom could have envisioned the impact her experience would have on moms worldwide. When it comes to spreading messages, especially when its for the greater-good, moms are the influencer and source.

My thoughts continue to be with the Spohr family.

How to Reach the Mom Market

I watched this interview with Tricia Mumby on "Word of Mom" marketing a number of months ago but was recently reminded of it (thanks to a posting from Mommy Blog expert Jennifer James). Tricia gives some good insight into how to reach moms; a must see for anyone who wants to tap into this market.

"At the recent CMA From Mass to Grass conference, Tricia Mumby from Mabel's Labels gave a great case study on the power of "Word of Mom" marketing. Here, she spends a minute busting the myth that you can't find women online and offers a suggestion on one way to reach these powerful moms offline."

Moms Love Videos

I've been forward the same video advertisement three times in the past week by some mom friends. That's right, its an advertisement for JC Penny. What attracted my attention was the fact that these aren't women who normally send me things. In fact, one of them never sends me links to look at so when she did, I knew I had to take a look.

This is so typical of today's mom. They love to watch videos online because they can choose when and where to watch it; they can determine when it can fit into their busy schedule and it provides them with useful (or in this case funny) content in an easy-to-consume manner. And if the video is appeals to their core values (in this case, a dilemma all moms/wives face when husbands give them thoughtless gifts), they will forward it to everyone they know. Each of my friends forwarded the link to 10-15 women. Reminder, this is an advertisement; talk about good bang for your buck!

This is one of the best examples of how a brand can engage with moms using today's technology and grassroots PR efforts. Reaching them is harder than ever before because moms are a moving target - they may read a paper one day but not the next, watch TV one night but not again for another 5 days, listen to the radio in the morning while they drop the kids off at school but then switch to their IPOD to listen to a podcast they downloaded the night before. There's no consistency.

Moms rely on other moms to give them the latest and greatest tips but they also want to be the one the first one to supply that information to other moms. Moms like being influencers because it raises their status in peer groups (you become the 'go-to' person for great info) but it also appeals a core value to be a better mom - the more info you have, the better you will be as a mom.

Think about how your brand is using PR to engage moms. Do you need to put your current PR efforts in the doghouse for a while?