Sure, everyone has heard of the “mommy blogger” phenomenon by now. But how are these moms engaging with social media and mobile on a daily basis? Three-quarters of U.S. moms visited Facebook in March 2012, and moms make up more than one-third of Pinterest’s monthly audience, according to new data from Nielsen. And moms are not only social – they’re also on-the-go: more than half of American moms are using social media via mobile device.
The study looked at how mom’s social and mobile use (in March 2012) compared to the average American:
- moms are 61% more likely to visit Pinterest than the average American
- 38% more likely to become a fan of or follow a brand online
- 27% more likely to visit Blogger — about 1 in 3 bloggers are moms
- 50% of moms access social media via mobile, vs. 37% of the overall population (NM Incite, Oct 2011)
However, Nielsen’s data for the “The Digital Lives of American Moms” only examined those accessing these social sites from home computers in March 2012. It would be very interesting to see how the numbers (and comparisons to the general population) might change if mobile access was included.
So how do moms respond to brands on these social and mobile platforms? Moms are 75% more likely than other women to trust information from brands on social sites, according to an April 2012 study by performance marketing firm Performics.
In this study of nearly 3,000 active U.S. social networkers, mothers are approximately 61% more likely than other women to own a smartphone, 16% more likely to visit Facebook daily and 46% more likely to visit Google + daily.
Mom bloggers control more than two trillion dollars worth of purchase power, according to Performics, making their greater willingness to trust brands on social sites a very big deal. In addition, moms are 45% more likely to make a purchase as a result of a recommendation on a social networking site than other women.
Finally, the study details how moms (or “mombassadors”) are more willing than other women to “champion” their favorite brand on social media:
- Recommend companies/brands via social sites (34%)
- Discuss companies/brands on social sites after seeing an ad elsewhere (48%)
- Talk about companies/brands they follow on Facebook (24%)
- Link to a company/brand ad (23%)
- Post a company/brand ad (53%)
- Post interesting or relevant content about a company/brand (50%)
These studies make it clear that 1) moms are highly engaged on social media, and that 2) there are significant opportunities for brands to get moms (many with potentially large followings on social sites or blogs) on their side.
