Among marketers, there is a huge fascination with mothers and trying to reach that mom who has kids in that 0-24 age range. Everyone seems to want to talk to them. And maybe social media is the new way to get at them. I read recently about a study in Quirks magazine by BabyCenter.com and comScore that 91% of moms now use social media regularly --that’s a 20% increase over the past 2 years! And Facebook is a favored channel, with 9 out 10 moms having used Facebook in the past 6 months (compared to 80% of the general population).
Social media savvy moms also seem to be eCommerce moms. Mothers who are active social media users tend to shop more online than moms who shun social channels. In fact, social media moms are responsible for 32% of total online spending in the 2nd quarter of 2013. And social media content has an influence on their purchase decisions. The study found that almost ¾ of moms rely on social media recommendations. But friend opinion posts are more influential than brand posts, and ones from a fellow mom are even more impactful – further underscoring the importance for companies to win over social-surfer moms. Moms are also more active on Pinterest than the general population – communicating their preferences, dreams, aspirations, and attitudes through pictures.
All this digital activity makes a lot of sense. Given that a typical day of in a mother’s life is a juggling act of work, parenting and home responsibilities, social media and eCommerce better enable moms to do more research, manage household purchases and easily mass-communicate with friends and family.