BSM Media CEO: You No Longer Market to Moms, You Market With Moms

As part of our preparation for the recently released report, “How Moms and Retailers Interact Online,” Senior Analyst Jeffrey Grau spoke with Maria Bailey, CEO of BSM Media, about how moms shop online and use social media to share opinions. She also discussed how brands are successfully engaging moms on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and mom-centric online communities. Here’s a clip from the full interview, available on eMarketer Total Access.

eMarketer: Tell me more about what moms expect in an online relationship with brands.

Ms. Bailey: Moms expect brands to be their partner in parenting. They expect them to share their values and they expect to have a relevant dialogue with those brands they support. For instance, Lands’ End is very active on Twitter among millennial moms. They know if they have a problem with a product, all they have to do is tweet to the Lands’ End person and their problem will be resolved.

Recently I commented on Twitter that I was having a problem with my Comcast service. Within a minute I must have had 20 moms tweet me back to say, “You need to tweet @comcastcares and make sure they know about it.” I took their advice and within one hour I had someone from Comcast at my front door, and within 30 minutes I had a phone call. Now I am extremely loyal to Comcast because I know if something goes wrong, I can communicate with them through channels that are natural for me. They’re on the playground with me.

eMarketer: Do you have other examples of brands that have successfully engaged moms online?

Ms. Bailey: Sure. Build-A-Bear Workshop is very popular. CEO Maxine Clark is on Twitter at ChiefExecBear. The company actually holds Twitter parties where they give away products online and all the moms meet up, play games and socialize.

Zhu Zhu Pets, which were the hottest toy this Christmas season, actually did the first-ever mom-and-child Twitter party, complete with trivia games and hamsters as prizes—in the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention that I ran it for them. During a one-hour period, the Zhu Zhu Pet Twitter party attracted over 1,800 moms online and produced over 9,000 tweets. It was the No. 3 trended topic on Twitter for that hour.

So when you do really creative things like bring the moms and kids together and create something fun with a platform for them to socialize, it can be very, very effective.

eMarketer: What are some of the common mistakes brands have made in marketing to moms online?

Ms. Bailey: You no longer market to moms, but you market with moms. Moms will take your brand message and decide how it relates to them and their lifestyle. To a marketer it might be comfort and affordability, but to a mom it might be durability and fashion. Marketers have to really look at these moms as their marketing partner and not their target consumer group.

eMarketer: Do you recommend that marketers reach out to targeted online communities that, for example, might focus on children with special needs, if the brand has products that address the needs of that community?

Ms. Bailey: Absolutely. For a long time marketers would just go after large sites that had the best CPM. I find that marketers get a better return when they enter really targeted, somewhat smaller communities and Websites, because the moms who are running them are so appreciative.

If I’m a mom running an autism blog, Website or community, and let’s say Office Depot comes to me, I’m going to say, “This big brand cares enough about what I’m doing to work with me. I’m going to reward them for that.” The exposure and the ROI is much higher than going to some of the large portals like iVillage because you get that personal interaction. Those women feel indebted to you, because you’ve validated what they’re doing.

The full version of this interview is available here, to eMarketer Total Access subscribers only. Every day they have access to new interviews with digital marketing leaders and trendsetting entrepreneurs.

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