Connecting With Moms Using Social Media

The 75 million moms in the U.S. influence 85% of all household purchases ... and word-of-mouth is most frequently mentioned as the way moms are motivated to purchase a product, visit a destination or use a service. If you're attempting to reach moms through word of mouth ... kinda like a no-brainer ... you should consider how you're using social media.

Numerous research studies indicate that moms are time-starved and often too busy to pay attention to traditional media. Moms often find TV and magazine ads increasingly irrelevant to their lives because women want to be "connected with," not "sold to."

Women and Conversations

What moms really want is to engage in a conversation. Did you know that conversations are different for women and men? For women, conversations are to share information, create connections and establish and nurture relationships. For men, conversations are to transmit information, solve problems and establish or defend status.

Women rely heavily on websites and blogs to research a purchase, or a destination, they're considering. But, sometimes the huge volume of information can be overwhelming ... and, let's face it, not always reliable. That's where other moms come in.

Research indicates that what moms value most is "hearing opinions from other moms." But, you can't summon moms ... you have to find them where they are, online and offline.

She's Got to Believe it!

Twitter, Facebook and dozens of popular mom blogging sites provide discussion forums and reviews of products written by other mothers -- and video reviews by bloggers are growing in popularity. That's because when viewing a video, you can see the mom's expression and/or body language (50% of communication); hear her tone of voice (30% of communication); and hear her words (20% of communication). For this reason, videos are most believable ... viewers get 100% of the communication!

Develop Messaging That's Relevant to Her

You should use social media to find out about moms and then develop messaging that's relevant to the moms who are your best customers. Go to Summize.com and enter your brand or destination to find all the women on Twitter who are talking about your brand already. What are they saying? What do you want them to say? Why should they say it? What are you doing to help them to share the information you want shared, while helping her to establish and nurture relationships with other moms?

Mom Panels- - A Great Idea!

Some brands and destinations are developing panels of moms who act as advocates for their brand. A great example of this is Walt Disney World's Mom Panel, a group of Walt Disney World enthusiasts selected by the company based on their positive impressions and knowledge of the Disney World Resort. Moms planning a vacation can go to the Walt Disney World Moms Panel and get their questions about restaurants, hotels and attractions answered by the mom "experts."

There are 20 moms on the panel, and thousands applied ... it's a coveted position among moms. It's really cool; you get to meet the moms who are answering your questions, which helps to connect and establish relationships with them.

Disney understands that to be successful, you don't "market to" moms anymore; you "market with them." They're basically saying, "We trust your opinion and want you to be part of our brand development."

House Parties -- An Old Concept Made New

When Kraft sought to increase brand awareness and trial of its Hispanic focus food brands with mothers, they recruited 1,000 Hispanic moms with favorable opinions of Kraft's brands to host parties in their homes.

Kraft partnered with House Party (www.housesparty.com) to recruit the moms. House Party provided a free party-planning, media-sharing website and Kraft provided free product samples and coupons to hosts. During the party, nine Kraft brands were sampled. An estimated 13,000 people attended the parties.

The intent to purchase the featured products increased among partygoers and hosts. Additionally, half of the hosts said their guests told others about the party, while guests said they told at least 20 people about the event. Now, that's how to use word-of-mouth!