Reaching the Social Media Mom

As we ring in 2011, many marketers are looking for expanded ways to increase their visibility and relationships with online moms. Holly Pavlika shares some suggestions on how to connect with these Social Media Moms.

1. Prepare for a more sophisticated Social Media Mom.
She’s going to be concentrating on her own marketing efforts and building her personal brand. She’s looking to be fairly compensated, and she wants a long-term relationship – not a one-off program.

2. Watch Social Media Moms start leveraging their expertise.
Many Moms have taken expertise from prior/current careers and are looking to leverage it. Not only is she a Mom, but perhaps a doctor or chef. Combining her Mom expertise with a specialty gives her more currency to negotiate bigger relationships with a brand.

3. More focus on the Latina Mom.
Latinas are a very important market that is just starting to be tapped into. Disney has already made their move and invited eight Moms to their fall social event. Latinas are digital and very family-focused.

4. Rethink your budgets and where they are spent.
Are your current efforts netting the end result you desire? A recent Café Mom study showed Moms spending a lot of time on multiple communities. Brands need to make sure they’re covering her bases.

5. Evolve your mobile strategies and tactics.
Moms are mobile and increasing their use of mobile every day. She rarely leaves the home without it. And she uses her phone for more than communication.  Eight million U.S. Moms and 20 million moms worldwide want phones that can deliver information to her fingertips.

6. Create a strategy for branded apps.
Do you have an app strategy? Moms love apps. Create an app that adds value to her life. A tool that simplifies, enhances and saves her time will ensure your brand is a part of her daily life.

7. Develop a content strategy.
Moms love entertaining, informative content. If you want to take advantage of her incredible sharing and relationships, you need content. Moms love video, games, polls, blogs, forums and content to engage with. Do you have a cross platform content strategy?

8. Develop new content platforms.
Studies show Mom watches TV —  but usually with her children while on her computer multi-tasking. So chances are she’s not really paying attention to regular programming. So if she is watching, it needs to be particularly relevant, helpful and engaging. Maybe that’s why so many Mom-directed TV sites are popping up and why video content is so popular with Moms. Take a closer look and you’ll see many of the Social Media Moms adding .tv to the end of their personal URLs. Maybe it’s time to consider a webisode series.

9. Reinvent customer service.
Good customer service is important to Mom. When it comes to talking to brands, Moms often use Twitter for solving conflict. Is Twitter the new customer service? It might be time to rethink the role of Twitter. It’s not a message board for a brand. It’s not a news service. It’s a two-way dialogue with your customer.

10. Integrate social into your web properties.
More and more brands are incorporating social sharing features across the content on their webiste, as well as adding Twitter and Facebook links. Moms like to share if the content is relevant, entertaining and worthy.

11. Think about causes and being eco-friendly.
Moms care about the world they are bringing baby up in — what their child is eating and interacting with, and what their future will be like. A new baby often triggers a focus on eco-friendly products as a way of setting examples for their children. Moms are extremely aware of our environmental issues — and if it isn’t the environment, she is involved in causes.  She likes things that support her community, so but make it easy for her to be involved.

12. Develop programs with her for next year.
Moms will smell insincerity. The best way to understand what she needs and is looking for is to partner with Mom. So if you don’t currently have a Mom panel on your team, it’s time. So many brands are missing the mark with their marketing efforts geared towards her. Trust her. She’ll make a great Assistant Brand Manager.

Happy New Year everyone!  And remember that Moms will continue to rule the social web in 2011.