Saturday Catch-Up with our man from McVay Media

Moms Get Connected

Moms are important decision makers when it comes to family purchases. About one in five people online in the USA are a woman aged 25-54 with one or more children. It’s no surprise that marketers are increasingly targeting online moms.

BabyCenter.com recently released a survey of over 5,000 moms. Over half of the moms surveyed say they are “addicted” to their smartphone. “The majority of moms sleep with their cell phone next to their bed and more than half check their phone first thing in the morning and last thing before they go to sleep,” said Tina Sharkey, Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter.



This week in connected, some fast facts on today’s connected mom:

>> The majority (68%) of moms know how to use most of the features on their smartphone and 75% troubleshoot their own phones. (BabyCenter, 2011)

>> There are 35.1 million USA Adult Female Internet Users with Children. (eMarketer, 2011) That’s 90% of women with children in the USA.

>> Seven out of ten moms have made a purchase online in the past 12 months. (Experian Simmons, 2011)

>> More kids at home means that moms are more likely to shop online. Moms aged 40-50 with three or more children at home are 92% more likely than the average user to visit sites like Shopzilla.com, Target, and Wal-Mart online to shop. (Nielsen Online, 2011)

If you are trying to reach moms, be a valuable resource to your audience. Give them special offers, how-to videos, or tips and ideas. Burst Media printed in a recent report on online moms, “Most moms say online ads promoting products geared towards the family and home fall flat, but online ads that offer product coupons, sales promotion codes, and/or other incentives resonate better.”

>> Over half of the women surveyed said they purchased a smartphone immediately after having children. The most important features on the phone went from the address book and text messaging to the video camera. BabyCenter reports that more than half (52%) of the moms surveyed have ten or more apps downloaded, with nearly 25% of the apps being for her kids.

>> Seven out of ten moms use their smartphone while shopping. Moms are 25% more likely to use their smartphone than the average shopper. The most frequent uses of apps while shopping are researching information about a product and comparing prices with other stores. (BabyCenter, 2011)

>> Razorfish and CafeMom recently did a survey together which reported that websites (24%), referrals from friends and family (21%), information from search engines (19%), and mobile web browsing (12%) were the most common sources online moms used to make a purchasing decision.

>> There is a growing number of moms who blog. According to eMarketer, approximately four million moms blog, and that number will grow to 4.4 million by 2014. Blogging moms write about everything from couponing and parenting to travel and technology.

Moms are looking for opportunities to connect with other moms online. Shared social interactions about experiences with brands are highly trafficked. That means that any brand with a strong social impression stands to gain—and negative stories will spread faster.

About the Writer

Future-minded and passionate, Daniel Anstandig’s experience includes developing digital business strategies for media companies, designing content strategies for broadcast and interactive, and coaching executives. He is President of McVay New Media, and editor of Radio-Info.com's new media newsletter, "Connected."