So whether you’re a toy manufacturer looking for more awareness among moms or a mom blogger interested in reviewing toys, we hope to meet you at Toy Fair! Connect with us at childsplay@childsplaypr.com.

See you there!

Tell us a little bit about your blog and how you got started.

Mom in the City is what I call my “hodgepodge” blog.  It asks questions and shares information regarding products and information of interest to urban moms of young kids (6 and under).  It started out as a website for my offline NYC Mom in the City mom group almost 5 years ago.  

What criteria do you use for deciding what to write about?

I ask myself is it relevant to my life (as a mom living in the city with young kids).  Also, is it unique/what stands out about it?

What advice would you offer marketers who would like to promote their products to moms through social media?

Have a quality product that you are enthusiastic about.  Enthusiasm is contagious. That, and listen to what moms are saying (about your product, about competitor products, about what they like/don’t like from marketers, etc.),

What do you see as the future of the momosphere? Where is it going? What will change? 

I think that many moms (who have been doing reviews & giveaways) will be looking for more meaningful long-term marketing relationships.  I think that the focus will be more on relationships, not one-shot interactions.

Do you have any advice for bloggers on how to be successful?

My favorite quote (that I try to blog and live by) is William Shakespeare’s “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”  Your blog is an extension of you, so don’t feel like you have to fit any pre-conceived notion of what a blog/review blog should look like/be.  We moms were not created to be put in boxes!

Marketers, here’s what mom bloggers want you to know:

• To marketers numbers are important, but to bloggers it’s all about influence.  If you are trying to find mom bloggers to work with, just remember that lists are subjective. Know the blog’s audience – it’s about the quality of people reading the blog, not always the quantity.
• Listen before you speak. Begin by searching Twitter and setting up Google Alerts to find out who is already talking about your brand.  Engage with the moms on Twitter and read their blogs to find out what they are writing about.
• Be authentic. Have a dedicated person handling your Facebook and Twitter accounts because that offers more of a personal connection to the brand.
• Remember that everything isn’t for everybody. You don’t want to send a plastic toy to a “green” mom blogger.
• There are no guarantees that you’ll get a good review – it actually is better to get an honest review rather than a post that just cuts and pastes a press release.
• Be honest when approaching bloggers. Be clear about what you are offering and make sure it’s mutually beneficial.
• Don’t expect bloggers to write about your product without seeing it. Bloggers want to know what the product is and why it’s relevant to their audience.
• Bloggers also want their readers to be able to purchase the product, so make sure it’s available for parents to buy.

Marketers, do you have any questions or comments? Mom bloggers, is there anything you would like to add to the list?

Speakers included Barb Rentschler (Chief Marketing Office, K’NEX) and Dell Monson (Senior Director of Marketing, Hidden City Games), both of whom have reached out to mom bloggers through Child’s Play Communications’ award-winning Team Mom  review network;  Kimberly Coleman (Blogger, Mom in the City) and Melissa Chapman (Blogger, Real Moms Guide, Kids in the City, WCBS-TV).

Thank you to our panelists and to all who attended – it quickly became standing room only! What really made this presentation so appealing and successful, I think,  was that it offered perspectives from marketers on the one hand and bloggers on the other. I’d like to share key highlights here, starting with the marketers’ point of view:

•  Marketers recognize that moms are extremely influential in terms of making purchasing decisions. Since a large majority of moms are online, it makes sense for brands to have an active  presence there to show that they are listening to moms and to answer any questions moms might have.
• It’s important to connect all the components of social media outreach — whether Facebook, Twitter or mom blog review networks – into an overall online media strategy that makes sense. Companies can also leverage advertising campaigns around it for a more integrated program.
• Right now, the focus is on spending marketing dollars in the social media space rather than traditional media. Certainly for marketing departments with small budgets, social media is the way to go: It’s better to spend money where you are reaching your target audience effectively, especially when you don’t have millions of dollars for TV advertising.
• Marketers can use today’s technology to find the true impact of a social media campaign. For example, a blogger might not necessarily have large numbers, but the secondary readers might drive more traffic to your site.
• When reaching out to mom bloggers, realize that not everyone is going to like your product. Take the good posts with the bad. If there is negative feedback, understand why they didn’t like the product; it could be a bigger issue down the road.

A second post will follow in a day or two, featuring the perspective of the mom blogger panelists. Stay tuned! And in the meantime, please share your thoughts on the marketer comments above.