Social Media Moms

Posted: June 11th, 2010 | Author: Lee Gustafson | Filed under: Brands, Social Media | Tags: Brands, Rewards Programs, Social Media, Social Media Moms | 1 Comment »

Some say that “Mom” invented social media. Of the 82 million moms of all ages across the U.S., 26 million are mommy bloggers; grassroots, Oprah-like brand advocates with loyal followers who can change the trajectory of a brand and its products.

Today’s social media moms rule the social web with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, FriendFeed and more. From family, fashion, finance and fun to technology, travel, cars, and healthcare, moms account for $2 trillion dollars worth of purchases.

We recently collaborated on a research project for a brand in the Fast Casual segment of the restaurant industry. Part of our investigative work was to learn how the client’s Fast Casual brand could deepen its social engagement relationship with its core audience of social media moms, socially connected and social active moms on-the-go .

We offer a few of our insights from our research and a few of our lessons learned about social media moms.

Social media moms never leave the house without their mobile phones. They use their phones to coordinate, expedite, communicate, and ferret out information they need to stay connected, feel empowered and be in control of their lives.

Social media moms:

•      Are not won over by push messages (e.g., alert notifications) alone. Brands need to join the conversation with moms.

•      Are looking for a relationship with her brand of choice — a two-way dialogue that shows the brand is listening and responding.

•      Seek transparency. They don’t expect brands to be perfect, but they do expect honesty.

•      Are busy so don’t waste their time. Be authentic, clear and genuine.

•      Love to be comfortable with their decisions. Information is key to their comfort level, so make their homework easy.

•      Think pragmatically and emotionally. Brands need to cover both sides of the conversation.

•      Enjoy stories. Social media is about communicating — telling a story — which is extremely different than selling.

To create an effective social platform to reach and engage social media moms, a systematic and integrated approach is needed:

AWARENESS > PARTICIPATION > LOYALTY > ADVOCACY

Grow Awareness With Listings And Content

•      Be where the information is for moms. Integrate local market content. Google Biz, Yelp, Urbanspoon, City Search, Local.com, Yahoo Local and Bing.

Build Participation With e-Marketing and Rewards

•      Rewards programs and ongoing e-communications with special offers aren’t just essential to building engagement with social media moms; they are an expected part of her relationship with the brand.

Mobile Apps Promote Loyalty

•      With over 40 million iPhone and mobile users and a high consumer demand for delivery and take-out meals, mobile apps are becoming an increasingly important way for consumers to order food from their favorite restaurants and a growing revenue stream for fast casual businesses. A mobile app gives social media moms the ability to create her order, place it at her favorite location of choice, pay for it order directly from her device and push alert notifications of special offers and time-sensitive deals to her.

Build Advocacy With Review Sites

•      Connect, share, participate and engage in social media moms’ online conversations as a means to take the pulse of her community of fans and loyalists, gain critical insight and instant feedback from her, address her customer service issues, etc. Be an active part of her communities and causes because moms will embrace and support the brand if it sincerely joins in.

•      Embrace, share and integrate her reviews about the brand on Yelp, Urbanspoon, Foursquare and Gowalla.

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