Moms Will Travel For the Right Reasons

Summer time is in full swing.  Families are traveling to historical sites and theme parks across the country. Moms are packing their bags for business trips as well.  It's the season when many brands decide to use travel as way to bond with social media moms.  If history serves me right, the first mom blogger FAM trip was hosted by Disney World in 2007.  They invited 14 mom bloggers to enjoy the magic of Disney during a four-day, all inclusive paid journey to Orlando.  It produced thousands of blog posts, tweets and FlickR pictures and caught the attention of other companies who quickly jumped on the travel bandwagon.  Unfortunately, many mistakes were made in those early days but with the benefits of hindsight, you can plan the perfect media trip for your brand.  Here are considerations to ponder before booking airline tickets and rolling out the red carpet.

• Establish Your Goals: Before the first invitation is issued, your company should establish goals in inviting moms to your retail location or headquarters. Is it one-time-only blog posts and tweets you seek or is it a long-term relationship.  If it's the latte, you need to have some parameters of budget, communication and contact strategy before you reach out to moms.  A random invitation with no real purpose will only confuse the mom and bring you disappointing results in the end. Remember - you are opening the door to a relationship.  The first question a social media mom will ask when receiving your invitation is, "What does your brand want from me in return?"

• Pick the Right Date:  I recently got an invitation to visit an upscale resort in Mexico with a group of social media moms.  The invite was beautiful and the trip looked magnificent.  The only problem was that the public relations team putting the event together had neglected to check the calendar of Social Media conferences.  They scheduled the trip right in the middle of BlogHer.  Although there is no official calendar for Social Media Moms, the most comprehensive list of events and conferences can be found at ShePosts.com, www.sheposts.com. Also take into consideration the life of a mom.  Avoid planning events during her busy times, Back to School, Halloween, Spring Break and Graduation season.  Mother's Day is another time that she prefers to be with family rather than your marketing team.

• Select the Right Moms: This sounds easy, but I can't tell you how many brands invite moms to events that just don't make sense.  Recently, I was on a trip to a family destination for toddlers with moms who had teenagers. They were all popular mom bloggers with large followings but in my opinion didn't fit the brand.  Additionally the brand had neglected to invite a culturally diverse group of moms and it was very apparent in the photos we took.  The trip was fantastic and I could tell the brand spent a great deal of money on the event. However, I could only imagine the additional exposure they would have received in the mom market by having the right moms at the event.  Trust me on this note of experience; sometimes you will gain a deeper, more valuable relationship with a mom who is lesser known than in inviting only the largest, most popular mom bloggers.  

• Expect the Unexpected: You are inviting moms.  Their lives involve children which mean their lives have many unexpected challenges and obstacles.  Don't be surprised when a mom asks you to accommodate her toddler or she needs to join the trip later than you had planned because her child has fallen ill.  It happens and in any relationship you have to give and take.

• Establish the Right Follow Up:  You've invested a lot of time and money in hosting your media event with moms.  You've established a relationship which can easily grow and benefit both you and the social media mom.  Talk to the moms before they depart about their expectations for moving forward and how they would like to see the relationship grow.  Just ask them.  The one thing moms have plenty of is opinions and they will be happy to share them before packing their bags and heading home.

 

One final bit of advice.  Don't forget to say "Thank You" once they return home.  It takes a great deal of preparation and work for a mom to leave her family.  She returns to piles of laundry, an in-box of emails and a home that most likely needs cleaning.  Show her you appreciate the time she gave your brand with a quick thank you note after the trip.

Have a great summer!

Stop Calling Us "Mommy Bloggers"

I have the benefit of being a mom and a blogger. In fact, mom is the probably the title I am most proud of possessing. Last week, I even became a West Point Mom. I am also a blogger. However, I am also a podcaster, a radio talk show host, columnist, author and business owner.

And, in some ways, my roles outside of my blogs makes me more influential for the products I love. So if you had to put a name on me, what would it be? I can assure you it would not be "mommy blogger." No one calls me "mommy," not even my children these days. I prefer to be known as a Social Media Mom or even a Social Media Influencer.

I've never, however, liked to use myself as a focus group of one so, recently, I went out on my Facebook page, not my blog, to ask other moms who blog, what they prefer as a title. My mission was to validate a rumor I've heard among mom bloggers that they hate to be called, mommy bloggers. Here's what I got back, although I will use names or blogs to protect the very opinionated.

First of all, the topic was hot. In less than 15 minutes, I received more than 50 responses. I've summarized some of the common themes and comments.

1) All moms who blog are proud of being moms. Some didn't really care if they are called mommy or mom; what was important to them was that their role as a mom was recognized by brands and peers.

2) Many moms don't blog about parenting or children. These moms felt like the term mommy blogger was limiting and implied that they only blogged about diapers, toys and laundry.

3) Mom bloggers don't call each other mommy bloggers. This tells me a lot about the division between moms, marketers and brands. If you truly understand your consumer or target market, then you should at least use their language when you are speaking to them or about them. One popular mom who blogs said it best, "I don't like to be called mommy anything except by my children.”

4) Why don't companies and the media call dad bloggers, "daddy bloggers?" Good question. Many moms asked this question and left it at that.

5) Mom bloggers use mommy blogger only to open the door to media and brands. They know if they use the term, marketers will be more open to talk to them because, after all, it's a term marketers understand since they coined it.

6) Mommy blogger sounds condescending and doesn't represent the professionalism of moms who own blogs. This is perhaps the comment I heard the most. The media is to blame for breeding the sexiness of the term. It started with “mommy wars.” Sexy sells but, honestly, does anyone thing of their own mommy as sexy?

So what do you call a mom who blogs?

I bestowed the title of Social Media Moms on these women a few years ago. I also use Power Moms as I believe their influence goes well beyond social media audiences. There were several terms and titles offered up but the moms on my Facebook page. Social Media Influencers, lifestyle bloggers, writer, and blogger were among those suggested. However, the most popular of all was, "I am a mom and I am a blogger." I'll leave it at that.

Dusting Off the Crystal Ball for 2011

Every January, I make predictions as to trends within the mom market and how companies might better connect with mothers in the coming year. However, what I've come to realize is that most marketing professionals are actually putting their finishing touches on their 2011 Mom Marketing plans now, making predictions for next year more timely and relevant. So why wait? Halloween is over, Christmas ads are fattening our Sunday papers already and moms are already exhibiting the behaviors I believe will drive the smartest marketing tactics for 2011.

1. Moms will hit the big screen, well the computer screen at least. Online mom broadcasting will become as popular and common as blogging. You see it with the emergence of The Pulse Network, the continued growth of MomTV and the expansion of most mom bloggers into " their blog name + tv.com". More and more moms are discovering the ease of connecting with their peers face to face via video chat, webisodes and online digital content. This means that companies will quickly follow in their desire to be a part of these digital communities. Marketers should begin to recognize that online video doesn't have to be professionally produced to be effective in capturing the attention of mothers and that enlisting moms to step in front of the camera to talk about your brand can be a great buzz builder.

2. Local will become the new global. Many of the most popular global and national mom bloggers are beginning to realize that they influence as many local moms as they do moms across the US. At the same time, they are also getting requests from local businesses to help them tap the mom market and localize social media. Moms are reacting by creating local sites that are scalable yet focus on an individual city or region. Two examples include Sarah Pinnix who gained popularity with her blog, RealLifeBlog.net and now with her local site, NC Blog Buzz Network and Andrea Deckard whose first blog, MommySnacks.net attracted brands like Pepsi and Disney and has since launched The Savings Lifestyle featuring Cincinatti.com, a local blog network. Both of these secondary sites contain local advertisement and attract moms in the local community.

3. There's a Mom-App for that. Moms love applications. Why? Because most of the apps they are downloading help them save time or money. Marketers need to recognize an application as another way to deliver relevant content to a mother and a means to continue a valuable dialogue. Remember the application doesn't necessarily need to be pushing content out but can be a branded tool that makes sense for you to sponsor.

4. Four-square for product, pricing and availability. Technology will finally catch up with moms who already tweet when they find a great price on bread at Wal-Mart or find a scarce toy on the shelf at Target during the holidays. In 2011, we will see moms covering each other's backs by sharing best price and product availability news all in one place. Currently this information is available, but scattered among niche topic blogs or Silicon Valley start-ups trying to race to market with the hottest new tool for moms. The problem with the latter lies with middle age or college men trying to imitate word of mom with databases and testosterone (no offense to anyone).

5. Companies will finally recognize Moms as business owners, inventors and professionals. I actually predicted this trend in 2010, 2009 and 2008. I actually have had it on my list since 1999. I think it's me, throwing it out there each year hoping it will be the year it finally happens. For the companies who do connect with moms as business owners, the payoff is great. This year, Kimberly Clark (through the Huggies brand) launched HuggiesMomInspired.com, a program that awards grants to worthy mom inventors. They awarded their first round of grants last month to 15 moms who have produced millions of online impressions via Facebook, Twitter, Websites and Blogs. Additionally, Kimberly Clark has won several industry awards for this innovative program. Supporting moms as business owners is a wide-open opportunity (but not for long) and allows brands to demonstrate their support of mompreneurs on a whole new platform.

It's my hope that I am sharing these insights with you soon enough to impact your 2011 marketing plans. Take a look at the programs and campaigns you conducted in 2010. Are the technologies and tactics outdated or have they passed the test of time? If it's time to try something new, you have five great ways to tap the mom market in 2011.