Mom Bloggers

It’s been the year of the mommy blogger, as companies of all sizes have fully recognized the potential impact of blogging moms on consumer purchasing decisions.

So what will 2012 bring? As one who has been involved in connecting bloggers with brands for many years, I’d like to proffer these projections:

• Wheat and chaff. Brands will become more selective about whom they work with. No longer will they blast out information and product samples to mass lists of a thousand or more moms, many of whom don’t cover relevant topics, reach the right target audience or have enough posting frequency or readership to make even the most minimal effort worthwhile. Instead, companies will be discerning in the numbers and quality of the bloggers they contact.
• Defining influence. These same brands will look beyond UVMs and even Facebook and Twitter numbers to more closely identify true influencers.
• No need to apply. Brands will get increasingly frustrated with the lack of professionalism among many mom bloggers – leading to a further narrowing of the field.
• Raising the bar. As bloggers partner with brands for more paid activities, the cost of hiring these moms to serve as ambassadors, host special events or create content will rise.
• Fear factor.  When blogging was young, many companies feared doing or saying “the wrong thing.” For 2012, companies will feel more comfortable about making their expectations clear.
• Analyze this. Brands will take a much closer look at measurement. Most companies have moved beyond the “gotta be in social media” stage to the “what does this get me” level. Eventually, bloggers will have to demonstrate that they can drive traffic or accomplish other key corporate objectives. Right now, only the top few are succeeding in doing that. At some point, visibility and buzz alone will not be enough.

 Marketers, what have your experiences been with mom bloggers this year, and what are your own predictions for 2012? Mom bloggers, do you agree or disagree with the points above?

Last week, I had the opportunity to publish an article in PR News, a leading publication for the public relations industry. The story was written to bring the PR community up to speed on how brands and mom bloggers  can work most effectively together today — and to illustrate how that interaction has changed. As only PR News  subscribers can access the original link, I thought I would share the complete article with you below:

 HANDLING THE CHANGING SPACE OF MOM BLOGGING

For anyone out there who still thinks “mommy blogging” is all about caring and sharing – I’m a mom, you’re a mom, let’s help each other – it’s time to wake up and smell the freshly minted greenbacks. Yes, diapers, deadbeat dads, poop and puke are still covered daily in what was once called the momosphere. Yet the focus of blogging moms has evolved in recent years to the point that for many, blogging is no longer a form of expression or community but instead a means to a monetary end. One of the most discussed topics at mom-focused blogger conferences these days is monetization – specifically, how moms can turn their blogs into bucks. Some of those conversations center on requiring brands to pay bloggers for posting reviews — not something that I support. In fact, building both an audience and credibility by reviewing products or otherwise posting about brands for no charge should be simply the point of entry for mom bloggers who want to be considered for future, profitable business partnerships.

What to do once that baseline has been built and those blogger-brand relationships established? As the social media mom-space matures, companies need to find ways to reward those who support their business. In my point of view, bloggers who regularly provide quality visibility for a client’s brand for free should be recognized whenever possible with other, paid opportunities, as the natural progression of that corporate or agency connection. These can take the form of hiring moms to:

• Serve as “Brand Ambassadors.” The term has a number of possible definitions. It can encompass creating a planned, ongoing series of branded blog posts – very different from an occasional mention. It might involve promoting a company at a blogger conference by talking up the brand and handing out samples and materials, or serving as the brand’s official spokesperson in any number of other capacities.
• Write content for your Web site. Many of these women are bloggers because they like to write and are good at it. If you’re targeting moms, why not enable them to hear from other moms like themselves, against the backdrop of your brand?
• Act as advisors on everything from SEO to Facebook design. Many of these moms are more deeply involved in certain aspects of social media than most publicists will ever be. Consider tapping their expertise.
• Host virtual or live events. Mom bloggers like to connect with other mom bloggers, whether virtually – say, via a Twitter party — or live and in person. They may be more likely to do so if it’s a popular mom blogger inviting them to gather together.
• Participate in Advisory Boards. What does a mom want? When it comes to your business, why not ask the experts? We did that not long ago via our social-media mom Parkbench Panel, for a family-focused Hewlett Packard project. As in that case, the feedback can be both surprising and productive.

Of course, when embarking on any such formal relationship, both bloggers and brands must disclose that it is a paid one.

Today’s moms are pitching not only for a chance to review your product or take that free trip to Disney World or get invited to that unbelievable event, but also to have companies recognize them in a bottom-line way for what they have accomplished and what they could achieve for brands.

Not that all mom bloggers are worthy of such recognition, however.

Some have difficulty grasping the concept of a post that’s not simply cut-and-paste, the significance of deadlines, proper grammar, the correct spelling of brand names or the idea of actually doing what they promise they are going to do (review the product they are sent; attend the event to which they have RSVPd). Others believe that, by virtue of the fact that they are mothers and have a blog – period – they are deserving of, indeed entitled to, an array of perks and privileges, and they will complain, across all social media channels, if their experience is less than what they consider perfect. It is these bloggers – the irresponsible ones and the ones whose expectations are not based in reality– who give the whole social media mom-space a nasty name.

Fortunately, there remains a pool — albeit a small one — of real professionals, many of whom in a former life (or also in this one) are themselves marketers. When it comes to brands recognizing and rewarding bloggers with business opportunities, these moms’ names will be mentioned over and over again. Brands and agencies must understand that working in an ongoing manner with women who can partner with them in a professional way to achieve business goals will ultimately be more effective than the increasingly common mass outreach to every mom blogger in the universe. The cream will eventually rise to the top, and the rest will simply curdle.

Brands, how are you interacting with mom bloggers right now? Moms, what are you doing to make yourselves appealing to brands?

 A few weeks ago, I posted about how companies can and should recognize bloggers for good work by considering them for paid opportunities, whether blogger ambassadorships, content-writing gigs, consulting projects, or fulltime employment. The post made the point that after a blogger has established her street cred by blogging well about your products, for no charge, it’s time to look for ways to validate and expand that relationship.

Now I’d like to talk about what bloggers can and should do to position themselves for those opportunities. In fact, that was the topic of a panel presentation I participated in at last week’s BlogHer, called  “Minding Your Own Business: Bad Blogger Pitches (The Other Side of the PR-Blogger Relationship).”

The most important thing a blogger must do to be taken seriously by a brand is: be professional.

In an effort to best illustrate what agencies and brands consider professional, I’d like to share 5 examples of what is NOT:

1. Complaining in social media about PR people. I mean, REALLY. Fact is, you never know where we may wind up — one day a lowly publicist at an agency, the next head of PR at a company you’d kill to work with. We’re your gateway to opportunities. Don’t slam the door.
2.  Grousing about 1) not being asked to review a specific product 2) not being invited to an event 3) everything. Do the math. There are thousands of mom bloggers out there. We can’t send you all products and we can’t invite you to every event, unless they all take place at Madison Square Garden.
3. Opting in to review a product and then not reviewing it. And not bothering to tell us you’re not going to review it. Or why. Or not returning our email or call when we ask, politely, for feedback. Or reviewing it in March when it was sent to you for Christmas. And is no longer on the market. Making your post worthless.
4. Posting a review and getting all the facts wrong. Minor points such as the spelling of the client’s name, the price or the link.
5. RSVPing to an event and then not showing up, with no notice beforehand or apology afterward. Which is even worse than cancelling the night before, after all the arrangements have been made, and all those extra meals, products, massages, etc., have already been paid for, in advance, as you would for a wedding. Dropping out is not only unprofessional, but just plain rude.

To the professionals out there — you know who you are.  Keep it up–we love you and will bend over backward to find great opportunities for you. To the rest, my best advice is: Follow their lead.

Energizing, exhausting, overwhelming –yes, I’m talking about BlogHer, the world’s largest conference for women in social media. More than 3600 women (and a few courageous men) turned out last week for 2 days of networking and education, with a strong dose of primping and pampering (false eyelashes and a hand massage, anyone?) thrown into the mix. Each blogger had her own agenda, of course. “Newbies” came to learn how to get started, more established bloggers to see old friends and explore new corporate partnerships. Some bloggers spent all their time at the keynotes and seminars; others passed some hours sightseeing or at the pool. And of course, there were parties. Lots and lots of parties. It was, after all, BlogHer.

So how was this, my third BlogHer in a row (not counting BlogHer Business and local meetings) different from those in the past? For one, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak on a panel, called Bad Blogger Pitches (The Other Side of the PR-Blogger Relationship). More on that in a future post. In addition, based on the subject of my panel and some similar ones, there seemed to be more of a focus on professionalism — helping bloggers to realize that if they want to go beyond blogging for pleasure, if they want to turn their blogs into a profitable business, they need to understand what brands expect in return. Brands themselves, meanwhile, showed more thoughfulness in their approach to bloggers. Whether that meant offering the chance to settle back in a cozy room and cook up S’mores with Hershey or relax in a spa-like setting with HTC, some companies focused mo

I love BlogHer. Between local and national meetings, this week’s annual conference will mark my fifth BlogHer event. I love the energy, the giddiness (tiara and boa, please!), the massing of moms and other women with a common interest, and most of all, seeing old blogger friends and connecting with new ones. I also enjoy learning from the speakers, and I am absolutely delighted that, this year, I will be a speaker myself.

I hope that you’ll join me and fellow panelists Stephanie Agresta and Stephanie Smirnov – we’ve been called “the power Stephanies,” which I think is a hoot — on Friday, August 5, at 10:30 a.m. for  ”Minding Your Own Business: Bad Blogger Pitches (The Other Side of the PR-Blogger Relationship).” We’ll be talking about what brands look for when selecting bloggers to work with and what bloggers can do to attract brands’ attention.

If you’re going to BlogHer, I’d love to meet you. Please stop by to introduce yourself at the end of the session.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

 I can’t keep myself from smiling at the new TV ad from Toyota for Venza, all about the boomer generation’s lack of “sociability” in social media. In the commercial, a daughter laments the paucity of her parents’ Facebook followers. Interacting with online followers, in her view, is living. The commercial then shows scenes of her parents having a blast mountain biking with friends in real life (after driving to meet them in their Venza, of course).

Which brings me to one of my favorite questions: Do moms socialize in real life more as a result of social media, or less?

There’s no doubt that overall socialization, in the broader sense of the term, has improved as a result of social media. A University of Texas, Austin, survey of 900 current and recent college graduates concluded that Facebook provides opportunities for friendship, intimacy and community and in general causes us to be more social.

 But does networking on line make moms more social off line?

One dad — my husband, bless him — was a late convert to social media. His sole connection: Facebook. He started with it to “get up to speed” for work. And now… He spends a lot of his time not only catching up via Facebook but also meeting some of those folks he’s connected with– high school classmates or former work buddies – over lunch. I’d say that, for him, social media has created additional real life sociability.

I, on the other hand, definitely communicate online more regularly with people outside of my day-to-day circle, but don’t necessarily see them in person. While there is only so much time in the day to do anything – work, sleep, eat, take care of the kids – I wonder if that online time could be better spent over dinner or drinks either with those social media friends or others.

Blogging began as a way for women to connect with others virtually – then grew to conference after conference designed to bring them together in real life.

There are even new apps out there designed to take us away from the screens and into more “live” sociability. One called Sonar is said to link with your Facebook, Twitter, and/or Four Square account and send you alerts when you have a friend nearby. The idea behind the app, according to the founder, is to create a personal interaction and perhaps a friendship.

 Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together, has a skeptical view of the Internet’s impact on real sociability. She believes that technology is dominating our lives to the point that it is causing us to become less human and providing us with a false sense of the real world.

 Moms, what is your take on social media? Does it make you more social in the real sense of the word – or less?

Marketers, what programs do you have to help bring friends together, live and in-person?