Marketing to Moms on Social Media

The Facts and Figure used in the article are just for indicative purposes, the  idea is to show  how influential and misunderstood the subject of discussion is.

Mom, Amma, Aai, Ammi, Maa… whatever you refer to them as, IDMs (Indian Digital Moms) these days wield more power compared to anyone else. They are getting increasingly internet savvy for various purposes. Be it for shopping products and essentials from e-commerce websites or keeping in touch with their near and dear ones with the help of social networking platforms. It only results in the advent of a new set of target audience, the IDMs.

While going through these interesting studies about Moms and their online behavior, I came across a survey conducted by Microsoft Advertising and Starcom Mediavest. It revealed that IDMs spend approximately 15 hours a week online, a startling fact. When inquired if they had bought anything over the internet, close to 50% gave an affirmative response and confessed of indulging in online shopping quite often.

The study outlines a couple of major points. Usage of technology is at an all time high and with the growing population it is ever-increasing. Meanwhile, IDMs are not only well read but are also very well versed with what they want and which is the best option (domain) that provides it to them at the right price.

The following are the key findings on the online behavior of Indian mothers carried out by Microsoft Advertising and Starcom Mediavest Group – (Pointers taken from their report)

• Mothers in India invest an average of 28.6 hours per week on media; 53 percent of that time is spent on the Internet.
• 56 percent of their total time on the Internet is spent for work or study.
• 87 percent claim that the Internet forms an essential part of their life and 56 percent plan to use it more often.
• 75 percent agree that search engines are the top source for online family product information and 82 percent use a search engine once per week. Despite these percentages, 72 percent still rely heavily on recommendations from family and friends while making a purchase.
• 90 percent say the Internet helps them stay connected with family and friends.
• 75 percent state that Internet is their ‘me-time’ activity and 49 percent say that it keeps them up-to-date.
• 51 percent trust recommendations from those who are professional or authoritative in specified areas for child/family product information.
• 66 percent seek information through email, e-newsletters and forums they join.
• 50 percent claimed to have made an online purchase during the past month with books being their major priorities.

Let’s understand the DNA of IDMs -

• Moms are more open to ‘sharing’ these days. They love to share their reviews, experiences, health, soaps etc. on social networking sites openly as compared to old days where there was no medium to convey your emotions and feelings.
• Money saver Moms are more attracted towards coupons, discounts etc. So if you are there to sell something, you know the right plug to pull. It has also been observed that if they are exposed to 50% and more discount, they are lured to buy things which they haven’t even used.
• They are open to experimenting with different brands.
• The Ask and Share behavior is very important among them. Moms love taking and giving advises.
• They come these days with a strong buying power and are influencing the way marketers perceive them thus making them possibly one of the major target audience.
• They take time to respond.
• Moms, though open to new things, are still a bit conservative and we need to accept that.

Why IDMs come Online?

• To communicate with family, friends, colleagues etc.
• For entertainment, watch TV shows, music etc.
• Need for resourceful info on health, parenting, cooking etc.
• For news and information by reading publications and magazines etc.
• Shopping! The word explains it all.
• Online Search on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. for various needs.

The above pointers influence and satisfy the need to feel enabled, self updated and self improvement.

So now the big question, how do marketers talk to them on Social Media?

Like they always say, “Content is the King”, everything revolves around that. Creating content and activities around the following will help you in making good and genuine efforts.

Make it Emotional: With all due respect, Indians, in general, are an emotional lot. Whatever they see they try to associate themselves to that and thus, give marketers an Achilles heel to target to. Talk about Kids, family, the spirit of motherhood, women empowerment etc. Such things are tried and tested to work wonders.

Creating contents which ignites a reaction like “Wow, that’s me!” more often than not will prove mighty effective.

For instance:- From 13 going on to 30. Who were you? What really mattered to you when you were 13 or 18 or anywhere between? How has that influenced who you are today?

Understanding the 10 phases in women’s life and use them to create content (Source: bookfloozy.wordpress.com) Brands can Focus from 28+ Phase.

• 0-7                  Child like wonder
• 7-14               The beginning of hormonal activity
• 14-21             Unfurling sexuality
• 21-28             Being affirmed by a man-the desire to procreate
• 28-35             Birthing, mothering, caretaking, putting others first
• 35-42             Leaving self out but occasionally looking beyond
• 42-49             Menopause approaching – is this all?  a desire for self-love
• 49-56             Birthing of a mature psyche – a desire to go away, live without rules and become more instinctive
• 56-63             Choosing one’s true purpose, work, vocation, finding one’s individual reason for being beyond the roles
• 63-70             Reflection – becoming the watchwoman, recasting all that one has learned, being whatever one has become

Provide Utility: Create utility based content to teach them something they can use. Focus on need based communication to create avenues that makes moms more productive and successful. Brands need to connect to moms with a more sense of community building and than just talking about product or services.

For example Nutrition for kids/teens: If a child suffers from poor digestion, no amount of good food will enable him or her to be well nourished. A healthy, effective digestive system is the only way that any child can absorb the nutrients in their food and assimilate in the body – if they are there in the first place.

Provide Sharable Content: Moms share content for a variety of reasons e.g. fun, entertainment, news, self expression or for that matter even supporting a cause. Align your brand in such a way that it should have maximum number of chances of its content getting viral. Identifying social influencers and get them promote you. Keep the content diverse and sharable. Moms love reading news, entertainment and lifestyle related reads everyday and not just that they even love sharing them. A good strategy would be giving them all this on your page only. This will get moms hooked on to your page. While working on ads, contests or any activities on your page the usability angle needs to be worked out. A typical Indian mom would love interacting on things that will be of useful and functional in her day to day life, e.g. parenting tips, food related stuffs, Child education etc.

Give them a Voice: Women in general, and Moms in our case, like to be heard. Create a community based environment and connect with them. Enable them and make them feel you are part of them. Stand out from the crowd and make them engage in conversations. Your social media platforms should be one of the best focused groups for them.

E.g. If you had an option, would you chose to be a Working mom or a Home maker? Tell us WHY?

Listen: Be there for Moms by addressing their issues and try helping them. Not only do Moms like to be heard, they also like if they know they are actually being listened to.

Reply to them, create apps from where they can reach out to you and solve their issues seriously. Show genuine interest.

Avoid Redundancy: Don’t post same messages, links etc. again and again. It’s a serious turn off!

Freebies: Send free samples, discounts, shopping credits, brand merchandises (If possible in case of your brand), let them try because we may never know what can click. If they don’t repeat purchase at least we can get some eyeballs.

Make the communication easy to digest and understand

Use pictures that appeal the general audience and more importantly to moms. Ensure that they strike a chord with the majority of your target audience and give out the information in as simplistic ways as possible. Moms do and will always be appreciating value and efficiency.

Conclusion:

Remember MOTHERS are your gateway to sales. In India, moms still hold the coveted title “Chief Purchasing Officer”  in almost every household. All the buying she does is not just restricted to herself but also for the baby, toddlers, the teenager, dad, mother, husband, etc. Safe to say for “The Entire Family” and she’s not someone who just buys nappies, powders and groceries, but in fact a lot more.

We Marketers tend to treat all Moms into the same Category, but as mentioned earlier, women go through many phases in life. When we say MOMs, people typically associate them with a mother of toddler or school going kid and form a stereotype. They tend to forget various other characters that she performs. For moms, they would love to see content revolving around those roles that she performs on a daily basis. And for business, we should identify which relevant phase of life they are in and then tailor content accordingly.

Talk to Moms and understand real insights on what they want, what challenges do they face and what they generally like. Thumb Rule is No two individuals are alike and so are mothers too, and getting to the core of their attitude and values is the KEY!

Sources: Based on my readings from the following websites Trendsspotting , India Digital Review, Alpha Newsx , Indusladies , Nine95, advertising.yahoo.com/,  She-conomy , Businessnewsdaily India Social ,  Economic Times  and Microsoft Advertising and Starcom Mediavest Group Research on Indian mom’s

Image courtesy: blog.sciencecreative.com

Featured image: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com