Mom Bloggers

My latest post for Engage:Moms  ran today, and I thought I’d share its contents with you here as well:

One of the most popular topics at mom-focused blogger conferences is monetization – how bloggers can turn their posts into cash. Some of the conversations center on getting brands to pay bloggers for posting reviews—not something that most brands are inclined to do or that I support. To me, building an audience by reviewing products for no charge is simply the point of entry for bloggers who want to be considered for future, profitable brand partnerships.

That said, as the social media space matures and bloggers’ focus shifts from simply enjoying blogging to wanting to profit from it, companies need to find ways to reward those who support their business. In my point of view, bloggers who regularly provide 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 relationship.

Following are some ways companies might consider working with mom bloggers:

Brand Ambassadorships. Although an ambassadorship can take many forms, it generally means engaging a mom blogger to serve as the official spokesperson for your brand. This could involve, for example, an ongoing series of blog posts (yes, more than one or two posts becomes a paid scenario) or promoting your brand at a blogger conference in return for you sponsoring her trip.

Content.  We have more than once hired bloggers to create content for clients’ Web sites. For Canadian toy company MEGA Brands, we ran a search for MEGA Bloks Moms, who regularly contribute to the MEGA Bloks Family Club, a membership-only section of the brand’s Web site.  For Music Together, a global network of music classes for kids and the adults who love them, we are recommending mom bloggers we know to be qualified and reliable.

Counsel.  At Child’s Play, we have compensated bloggers for a number of advisory roles, from explaining certain technologies to designing Facebook pages.

Hosting.  Consider asking mom bloggers to host Twitter parties, as we have, or live brand events.

Advertising.  Bloggers would really like you to advertise on their pages. Why not follow up a great review that generated traffic with a “thank you” ad that produces additional traffic?

Jobs! There is a great pool of talent out there. Keep it in mind.

Child’s Play Communications and Blogathropy.org are delighted to announce the Finalists for the 2011 Bloganthropy Awards, a unique program created by the two organizations to recognize women bloggers who use social media to support a good cause.

For the second straight year, Procter & Gamble is sponsoring the Bloganthropy Awards, this time through its Give Education program. The company will present a total of $5,000 to the winner and finalists.

The winner will be announced at a special event taking place Friday, June 24^th, at the Type-A Parent Conference in Asheville, NC. The Bloganthropy Awards presentation ceremony sponsors include: MAM USA, Toy State, Backyard Safari Outfitters, Music Together and Fairy Tales Hair Care.

We received more than 100 entries for this year’s Bloganthropy Awards. Narrowing down the list of accomplished women was incredibly difficult. The five finalists are all passionate activists who make a significant impact.

“Bloganthropy.org’s goal is to encourage bloggers to rally support for good causes through social media,” explains Debbie Bookstaber, co-founder of Bloganthropy.org. “The finalists for this year’s Bloganthropy Awards are catalysts for positive change.”

Candace Lindemann, co-founder of Bloganthropy.org, adds: “The Bloganthropy Awards enable us to recognize bloggers who are making a difference in their communities by giving voice to issues that matter to them and resonate with others.”

The first annual Bloganthropy Award was presented in 2010 to Katherine Stone, publisher of the blog, Postpartum Progress, the most widely read blog on post-partum issues in the U.S.

 The 2011 Bloganthropy Awards finalists are:

•  Susan Niebur, Toddler Planet

An astrophysicist and mother of two young boys, Susan has battled inflammatory breast cancer four times, surviving countless surgeries, intense radiation and chemotherapy.  Through her blog, Susan has spread awareness about inflammatory breast cancer, “the cancer that kills without the lump,” and has lead thousands of women to join the Army of Women, a movement founded by the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation for Women that provides women afflicted with breast cancer access to potential research studies and participation in treatment trials. Susan sits on the board of the American Cancer Society, is active in its More Birthdays campaign, and has been featured by media across the country.

• Lydia Yeung, Ever Ours; Henny Vallee and Lucia Dinh Pador, Utterly Engaged

After the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, Lydia Young,  Henny Vallee and Lucia Dinh Pador mobilized to raise money in support of Japan disaster relief efforts. To date, For Japan with Love has raised more than $66,000, with all proceeds going to Shelter Box USA, a charity that provides shelter, water, blankets and other emergency supplies to families affected by disasters around the globe.

•  Andrea Roberts, Reece’s Rainbow

Andrea Roberts is the proud mother of 9-year old Reece, who was born with Down syndrome. Out of appreciation for the support they received following Reece’s 2002 birth, in 2004 Andrea and her husband founded Reece’s Rainbow—an outreach program for families with kids born with Down syndrome at an Atlanta, Georgia hospital. In 2006, Reece’s Rainbow expanded to encourage the international adoption of orphaned children with Down syndrome, through grants totaling $1.5 million.

•  Jess Wilson, A Diary of A Mom

The mother of two daughters, one autistic, Jess uses her blog as a forum to unite the widespread autism-support community, whose goal is to improve the lives of the 1 in 110 children living with autism. In April, 2011, at President Barack Obama’s personal invitation, Jess attended an autism conference at the White House as a parent advocate and continues to garner support nationwide for autism awareness.

•  Melissa Ford, Stirrup Queens

The mom of twins conceived through fertility treatments, Melissa Ford started the Stirrup Queens blog as a result of her own personal struggle with getting pregnant. Stirrup Queens serves as a meeting place and resource for individuals and couples dealing with infertility, prematurity and pregnancy loss. She has been invited to speak at a congressional briefing on infertility and has met with Congressman to discuss the Family Building Act. 

 About Bloganthropy.org

Bloganthropy.org aims to empower bloggers to become philanthropic leaders in their communities. The annual Bloganthropy Awards recognize those who have made a difference by using social media to effectively promote a cause or charity.

 About Child’s Play Communications

Child’s Play Communications specializes exclusively in public relations, social media and word-of-mouth communications for products and services targeted to moms. Based in New York City, the agency has launched an exciting array of proprietary services to engage this influential market through traditional media, online and in-person, including the award-winning Team Mom™, the agency’s own network of mom review-bloggers. Recent company awards have included Bulldog’s PR Innovation of the Year and Social Media Innovator of the Year. For additional information, please visit our Web site, our blog, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at SheCon, a new conference targeted to women bloggers.  The panel title was “Get Connected: Building PR Relationships” and the idea was for marketers to offer bloggers a frank look at what brands and agencies look for when choosing bloggers to work with. Having moderated or spoken on many panels that adressed how brands should best interact with bloggers, I was looking to forward to addressing the flip side of the coin: what bloggers should do to make their mark on brands. The format was Q+A. Here are some of the questions, and my answers:

What do brands look for when choosing bloggers to work with?

Numbers. Blog numbers, Twitter numbers, Facebook numbers. Influence too — comments, RTs, speaking gigs, traditional media appearances, etc. — but we start with numbers. And yes, we also understand that there are niche blogs for which numbers are not so important.

Quality. Believe it or not, we really don’t get excited if you just cut and paste our press releases. We really DO want to read about your personal experience with the brand. What did you or your child like? Why?  We look for posts that offer length and depth — that demonstrate that a blogger has made an effort. And we love photos and videos. The better the quality of the review –  how it’s presented, not whether you rave about the brand — the less important those numbers, above,  become. Show us enthusiasm and you’ll get our attention.

What are the biggest mistakes bloggers make when dealing with brands?

I hate it — HATE it — when bloggers don’t do what they say they are going to do, whether that means post a review or show up at an event. Why? Because it makes both of us look bad. You  not only appear unprofessional, but just plain rude–someone is paying for the event meal you said you were planning to consume, or to ship that product sample that is now sitting ignored in your basement. (Then of course there’s all the time and effort involved.)  The agency or in-house PR rep or social media liaison appears foolish if she’s told a client or her vp that x# of moms said they were going to review/attend — and then you don’t.

Remember — as mom bloggers themselves have said so often — it’s all about the relationships. Behaving badly is NOT the best way to launch or maintain one….

Here at Child’s Play, we were delighted to recently announce the winners of the first Mega Bloks Moms contest, sponsored by our client MEGA Brands, a trusted family of leading global brands in construction toys, games and puzzles, arts & crafts and stationary. Together, we invited mom bloggers to tell why they would make the best choice to contribute to the Mega Bloks Family Club, a brand new MEGA Brands blog and online community.  We received hundreds of applications, from highly qualified bloggers around the country — and I’d like to thank them all here for their submissions.  There was room for only 5 winners, however,  and it was, indeed, a tough choice. After a careful review, the following moms were chosen:

Yakini Etheridge, Prissy Mommy

Candice Broom, Mom Most Traveled

Allison Butt,  Alli N Son

Linsey Knerl, Lille Punkin

Sheena Tatum, Sophistishe

The moms will be featured on the Family Club web site, for which they will write two-three posts per month. The site will also include a link to their indiviudal blogs as well as a their bios.

Can’t wait to see what they have to say!



Are you an “influential” social media mom? The term has been batted around so much lately that it makes my head spin.

Whether or not brands consider you to be influential boils down largely, but not entirely, to numbers.  How many people are reading your blog, friending you on Facebook or following your tweets?  That’s step 1.  Step 2: How many of those who are there, care? I.e., engagement – how many comments are you getting on your blog or Facebook page? How many replies or RTs on twitter?

So, you may ask, what IS the magic number? Unfortunately, there is no ”right answer” to any of the above: Every company seems to have its own minimum, every measurement service its own formula for defining influence.

Here at Child’s Play, we look at all those numbers, but also at other factors. We love moms who regularly attend blogger conferences and, especially, speak on panels. It means they have a) additional visibilty b) the respect of the blogger community that has invited them to speak and c) the chance to meet other bloggers in person, and personal connections go a long way in creating credibility and ongoing relationships.

And let’s not forget the moms whose social media role also lands them in traditional media, as spokespersons for a brand or on the subject of blogging itself.

That said, I’d love feedback from mom bloggers and brands alike: How do each of you define someone who is influential is social media?

Nothing like having technical issues with your  blog when you’re trying to post about…moms who blog. With that as my excuse, I’ll admit to probably being one of the last to comment on the fascinating piece in this past Sunday’s New York Times  about Dooce’s Heather Armstrong, the reigning “Queen of the Mommy Bloggers,” and several other highly successful women bloggers.

There are God-knows-how-many blogs out there now written by moms. Most of them have 1,000 or so unique monthly visitors, if they’re lucky. A few dozen or so have well over 10x that. Dooce, meanwhile, boasts more than 100,000 unique visitors per DAY. So what’s the secret to a successful blog? Based on the Times story and a look at some of the most popular mom blogs, it seems to be the following: 

1. First to market. Armstrong has been blogging since 2001. ‘Nuf said. Pioneering a unique approach is a lot more effective than playing “me too.”
2. A good story. It’s the drama of real life  –  depression, divorce,  death and sometimes,  just dirty diapers – that draws readers to a  story,  whether it’s in the form of a biography, a novel, a television show or a blog. As Lisa Belkin says in her Times article, successful blogs offer ”a daily reality show on a smaller screen.”
3. A distinctive tone of voice. Humor helps; sometimes, so do sarcasm and anger.
4. Strong opinions and no fear of expressing them, regardless of the potential backlash.
5. Importantly, the ability to write well, in an engaging and entertaining way.
6. Hard work.

 Readers, what is your take on what makes a successful blog? Which blogs do you prefer and what draws you to them?  And what do you do to make your own blogs more appealing to a greater number of readers?