by MarketingCharts staff
BabyCenter-Social-Media-Purchase-Influence-Among-Mothers-Apr2013Mothers are 20% more likely than the general population to use social media, according to [pdf] a report from BabyCenter and comScore. Beyond major sites such as Facebook and YouTube, young mothers (18-34) have higher reach than the general online population on other platforms such as Instagram (27% vs. 15%) and Pinterest (24% vs. 15%). An accompanying survey of expectant women and mother with kids up to 8 years old finds that 59% report having bought something because a brand posted a coupon or other offer on a social network.
44% have made a purchase due to a friend liking or posting about the brand on a social network, 32% because they saw a picture on Pinterest, and almost 1 in 4 on account of seeing a sponsored ad on a social network.
Mothers who are very active on social networks (defined as the top 20% of social networking mothers aged 18-49) are indeed active online purchasers. Compared to the general online adult population, they’re 96% more likely to have made an online food and beverage purchase, 73% more likely to have spent on movies and videos, 61% more likely to have bought apparel, and 82% more likely to have made an online purchase in the toys and games category.
Marketers looking to reach mothers on social media will likely find coupons or discounts to be a good way to attract them. Expectant women and mothers with kids aged up to 8 are 42% more likely than the general online population to say they like or follow brands on social media due to coupons and discounts (78% vs. 55%). They’re also 43% more likely to follow brands because they have bought or used the brand (40% vs. 28%), and 26% more likely to do so because they want to find out about new products early on (43% vs. 34%).
Other Findings:
- Expectant women and mothers of young children are 49% more likely than the general online population sample to own a smartphone (81% vs. 54%), 30% more likely to own a tablet (52% vs. 40%), and 65% more likely to have a streaming TV subscription (49% vs. 30%).
- 73% use parenting social media for brand and product recommendations.
- 45% are communicating more through social media and emailing less frequently.
- These women are more likely to check Facebook and text messages first thing in the morning, and less likely to check their email.
- 36% of these respondents say they have more than 250 Facebook friends, compared to 23% of the general population sample.
“The findings in BabyCenter’s 2013 Social Mom Report are the result of qualitative research including social media diaries, in-depth survey research among over 1,480 moms and other online adults, and a behavioral and secondary analysis with comScore covering e-commerce habits and social analytics. Fourteen new and expectant moms were recruited from across the United States via Facebook, Twitter, and BabyCenter and asked to keep social media diaries documenting their daily online activities and how much time was spent. BabyCenter also held in-home friendship groups in Chicago and San Francisco. Additionally, BabyCenter partnered with Socratic Forum to field an in-depth survey of more than 1,480 individuals including 928 expectant women or moms with kids up to 8 years old as well as 552 other online adults (referred to as general population) using Socratic’s online panel. Finally, comScore analyzed online behaviors of moms 18 to 34 and the top 20% of social moms age 18 to 49 compared to internet users 18+ (general population) in terms of e-commerce online spending by category, as well as social analytics including social brand exposure and referrals.”
