Posts Tagged "Mom Research"

Moms love Pinterest.

The hottest new social media program around, Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard” that allows users to create online collections of things they love and share those graphics and accompanying content easily with others. Moms can create “boards” on the Pinterest site, then “pin” original graphics they have created or “repin” graphics found on others’ Pinterest boards or elsewhere online.  The program enables them to discover, group and share everything from crafts to home décor to favorite fashions.

TechCrunch recently crowned Pinterest 2011’s “Best New Start Up,” and in February alone, Pinterest saw 16.23 million unique users.  TechCrunch also reported that 80% of Pinterest’s user base is female.

With that as background, at Child’s Play, we decided to go a step further and see exactly how interest in Pinterest played out specifically among moms.  Feedback from 250 moms across the country not only showed that many moms were using the program, but how and why. Key findings:

• 96.7% of moms surveyed (all active bloggers) said they were using Pinterest.
• Top 5 reasons why:
  • It’s just fun (90.0%)
  • I like organizing my interests (67.8%)
  • I like looking at beautiful things (67.0%)
  • Makes my blog, Website, Facebook or Twitter stream more interesting (55.7%)
  • It helps me drive traffic to my blog or Web site (53.5%)
• About the same number (68.0% vs. 65.3%) said they used Pinterest on their blog and on Facebook, respectively.
• The number of Pinterest boards each mom had ran from a low of 1 to a high of 83, averaging out at 18.
• “Food/recipes” was by far (91.4%) the category/subject moms pinned the most. Others in the top 5 were “Crafts” (74.5%), “Home Décor” (55.5%) “How-To” (52.7%), and “Fashion” (39.5%).
• Fewer than half of moms (42.3%) used Pinterest to plan events, with 78.7% of that number planning a child’s birthday party.
• Interestingly, of the moms surveyed, only 4.1% just pinned original graphics, 5.5% only repinned others’ graphics, and the vast majority (94.5%) did a combination of both, with a quarter (25.1%) also creating original graphics specifically for pinning.
• About two-thirds of moms (66.5%) both pinned when they came across something of interest and pro-actively searched for items to pin.
• Moms’ top sources for repins:
  • Blogs of friends (65.5%)
  • Craft sites (49.0%)
  • Foodies (45.0%)
  • Their own blog (40%)

For marketers, Pinterest presents an opportunity to connect with moms by offering tantalizing visuals for them to pin and repin and creating Pinterest-based contests and other interactive activities to further engage this audience. This approach not only develops an additional social media connection but, because pins link back to their source, also drives incoming links to the brand’s online presence, impacting SEO.

Asked who was doing the best job among companies currently engaged on Pinterest, moms mentioned Land’s End, Kraft Foods, Real Simple, Totsy, Home Depot and Disney Family Fun, among others. Kudos were given to those who pinned a variety of topics both from their own sources and others, who offered helpful recipes and who added great photos.

As the mother of a boy-child now grown to a young man, I had to share an article that appeared in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal . It’s based on a new book by Kate Stone Lombardi titled “The Mama’s Boy Myth,” all about how it’s really OK for a mom and her son to be as close as a mom and her daughter. This is despite the fact that:

“For generations, mothers have gotten one message: that keeping their sons close is wrong, possibly even dangerous. A mother who fosters a deep emotional bond with her son, we’ve been told, is setting him up to be weak and effeminate — an archetypal mama’s boy. He’ll never be independent or able to form healthy adult relationships.”

Lombardi notes that while we have dramatically changed the way we’ve raised our daughters in recent generations, the old myths still apply when it comes to sons.  “Daddy’s girls” are good, “mama’s boys” are bad.

According to the book,  the idea of a close relationship doing damage to our sons is nonsense and there has never been scientific evidence to support the negatives.  In fact a study of more than 400 middle school boys showed that sons who were close to their mothers were less likely  to define masculinity as being physically tough,  stoic and self-reliant and “not only remained more emotionally open, forming stronger friendships, but they also were less depressed and anxious than their more macho classmates. And they were getting better grades.”

Moms, what about it? Is it OK to be as connected to your sons as to your daughters? Are you raising your boys and girls in the same way, or holding yourself back when it comes to your sons?

For the complete story, visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203960804577241610532233188.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5.

Now here’s a way to persuade your teen to talk to you.

When girls stressed by a test talked with their moms, stress hormones dropped and comfort hormones rose, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin. When they used IM, nothing happened.

This research follows an earlier study by the University showing that both phone conversations with mom and face-to-face talks triggered similar hormonal responses: A drop in cortisol, which is generally linked to stress, and a rise in oxytocin, which is linked to pleasure. For the latest study, published in the January issue of Evolution and Human Behavior, they wanted to identify the source of that comforting. Was it something mom said? Was it simply the sound of her voice? What would happen if the tone and verbal cues were deleted and all that was left was the content of the message? What made the difference?

The girls were asked to solve difficult math problems. After finishing, they were assigned to one of four groups. One didn’t talk at all to their mothers, another talked by phone, a third experienced a face-to-face conversation, and another communicated by instant message. The researchers then measured their cortisol and oxytocin levels, and compared them to pre-test measurements.

Girls who heard their mother’s voice, either in person or on the phone, were consoled. But among girls who used IM, hormone levels barely changed. Translated onto a screen, mom’s words seemingly lost their comforting power.

According to Seltzer, the results suggest that mom’s voice — its tones and intonations and rhythms, known formally as prosodics — trigger soothing effects, rather than what she specifically says.

However, it’s also possible that IM altered conversational dynamics. Maybe moms who heard their daughters’ voices were better able to detect stress and respond to it. On a screen, “I’m fine” is a fairly one-dimensional statement. Heard aloud, it can convey something very different.

Moms, how do you help your teens de-stress?

Twins are the new trend when it comes to U.S. births. As of 2009, the last figure available, 1 in every 30 babies born here was a twin, compared to 1 in 53 in 1980, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The twin birth rate rose by more than 2% a year, on average, from 1980 through 2004, leveling off briefly that year to less than 1% annually then rising nearly 2% again from 2008 to 2009.

In 2009, twin rates increased in all 50 states, with the most significant jumps in lower New England, New Jersey and Hawaii. In Connecticut, twins now account for nearly 5% of births.

Nationally, 3.3% of all births were twins in 2009, up from 2% in 1980.

The greatest increase in twin rates was for women 40 and older. They are more likely to use fertility treatments and to have two embryos implanted during in vitro fertilization, whereas younger women are more likely to get just one.

About 7% of all births for women 40 and older were twins, compared to 5% of women in their late 30s and 2% of women age 24 or younger.

Rates doubled for whites, rose by half for blacks and by about a third for Hispanics. Historically, black moms have twins most often, but white moms have almost caught up.

Are you a mom of twins? In what way has that influenced your purchasing decisions? Marketers, are any of you focusing on this growing market?

 Thirty-nine percent of women begin using technology more when they become moms, and women’s tech purchase criteria change when they have a child, according to a BabyCenter study.  Nearly half of women – 49% — said they were interested in technology that “empowered them to be a good mom.”

That said, earlier this month I attended the Consumer Electronics Show, an annual blow-out in Las Vegas that highlights technology innovations. I made my way through 15 miles of exhibit halls buzzing with celebrities, scantily clad women (seriously? companies still do that?) and a crowd of 150,000 plus, in search of how tech companies were adapting their products to market to moms. Happily, a number of exhibitors homed in on a mother’s need for convenience, value, and other benefits that helped them parent effectively. Some highlights:

• Moms hesitant to share their expensive iPad with their kids need no longer fear. A number of companies are launching or updating kid- friendly tablets designed to offer many of the iPad’s features for significantly lower prices. Rullingnet’s Vinci early learning systems for toddlers and preschoolers stood out.

• You gotta love Origami, the “world’s first power-folding stroller” from 4moms: The stroller folds flat and unfolds with the touch of a button. Any mom who has ever stood at a bus stop struggling to get her child out of, then close, a stroller before the bus pulls away (as I have, many times), will understand the appeal. And just to make it even more interesting, the built-in battery that makes the process work recharges while the stroller is in use.

• Net Nanny, known for its desktop parental control software for PC, now offers an app for both iOS and Android devices that allows parents to use their phone to control what sites and content a child has access to.

• For moms whose job it is to keep track of everything for their families (isn’t it always?), BiKN offers thumb-drive-like devices that attach to what moms want to locate (backpack, keys, pet, etc.).

• PowerBag is a line of backpacks, rolling luggage and messenger bags that charge gadgets as they are transported, via a built-in battery and pre-routed USB and Apple charging connectors. For a mom (or anyone) who travels on business, this is a great option..

• For the fashionable woman in every mom, there are iPad, computer, and phone covers in more styles than most of us could possibly imagine. I particularly liked the creativity and fun shown in the styles by Built.

Clearly, smart companies are finally recognizing moms’ role in tech purchases and launching products that enable them to be the best moms that they can be.