A few months ago a conversation started in the MumPanel
office about brands focussing a little too much on social media and in the
process forgetting about where they could connect with mums every day.
I’m an early adopter of technology. Most of my friends aren’t. Most of my friends
are mums. If you take notice of the media and rafts of marketing information coming your way you might be convinced that
every single person (including mums) are spending their entire life on facebook
and twitter. They’re permanently attached to their smartphone and asking all
their parenting questions on forums.
But this isn’t the whole story. I know
most of the mums in my daughter’s class pretty well now and only about a third are on facebook (even less use it
every day), I’m one of a handful on twitter and many don’t own a smartphone.
Some even share an email account with their husband.
Surprised? We aren’t.
We’re hearing the same story from mums across the UK, irrespective of their location, income or ethnicity. As the trend to
push brands online has grown we worry that marketers have forgotten that mums
HAVE to connect in real life, every day and in many different ways.
If you have
children, regardless of the amount of time you may choose to spend online,
you have to do the school run, go and buy new shoes, do drop offs and pick ups
at classes and organise outings to keep them occupied at the weekends. That doesn’t mean to say we don’t use
technology – I’m often checking directions to somewhere on my smartphone or
asking a question of mums on Facebook.
But every single morning I stand with 10 other mums and
we share information – this morning it was personal recommendations about where
to buy a new kitchen table. And because I know and trust these mums then that
word of mouth recommendation sticks. I’m much more likely to act on this than
on a tweet. Mums take social media to the next level – they integrate it with
their day to day social interactions – turning it into social living. But what
does that all mean for brands? Firstly social media is great - if your audience is there (and you should
test this). Secondly don’t let social media or online activity stand alone –
you are missing the opportunity to connect with mums on a wider and deeper
level. Finally, never forget where mums are everyday – in the supermarket, at
the school gate, living socially. Find ways to connect and build on natural
word of mouth recommendation.
Drop me a line to me at nicola@mumpanel.co.uk if you’d like a copy of our Soreen case
study on integrating spreading the word marketing online and at the school
gate.
Nicola
Great article, I work for Natures Purest, online and wholesale organic baby clothes,toys etc supplier, but I am also a mum at the school gates every day too. Yes social media is important, but for sure, that chatter at the school gate is GOLDEN!!!!I always try and go with a Natures Purest bag, bit cheeky, but it works
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