By Paula Adams The Power and Influence of Mommy Blogs
An estimated 34 million mothers go online monthly. They are now among the savviest internet users be it for getting their news, shopping, and making the purchasing decisions for their families or personal blogs. Moms are turning to the web to network with other moms, share stories about parenting, their kids, and life in general via their blogs and twitter. Many of them becoming influential among their peers – other mommies. Brands like Nintendo, Campbell’s, Hallmark, and Frigidaire just to name a few, have been tapping the mommy blogs to reach one of the most important consumers out there – the financial decision making woman we all know and love as mom.
EA has recently tapped into the mommy blog community to promote their new title, EA Active, placing these women on a 30 day weight loss challenge – http://www.hotmomreviews.com/?p=142. That is just an example of one of the many blogs participating. Chevy sponsors the “Mom Squad” – test drive Chevy’s Traverse and enter for a chance to win 1-hour massage session – http://mommymadnessdfw.com/massageenvy_dfw.html. Frigidaire has “Frigidaire Moms” who get to try out their newest line of products and talk about it. There are five teams, each of groups of 10 mommy blogs. Wal-Mart has the Elevenmoms (there’s actually 21 mommy bloggers who are part of this group) who share ideas for saving money, living green, host a YouTube show and much more on behalf of Wal-Mart.
eMarketer recently published studies with notable information and stats for companies trying to reach moms:
1. More than one-half (53%) of the US female Internet population of 79 million actively participated in some type of social media at least weekly. Of the female social media participants, 75% took part in social networking and 55% used blogs.
2. A survey by Razorfish and CafeMom found that Websites, referrals from friends and family, and information from search engines were the most common sources online moms used to make a purchasing decision. They were less likely to use TV, magazines, newspapers or radio to make their purchasing decisions.
3. Women are so enthusiastic about reading and writing blogs, they are stealing time from other media to spend more in the blogosphere and on social network sites.
Next month the mommy’s are off to the Blogher Convention in Chicago, which has been sold out for the four months now. They not only see this as a learning workshop, but also as an opportunity to meet up with their ILF (internet life friends). As of May 16, 2009, more than 51,000 members have listed over 22,000 blogs by women, organized by topic, and that number is expected to continue rising.
