The Attack of the M’s. Marketing Madness: More and More Mom’s Of Millennials Migrating to Media.

Moms are taking over Facebook. Have you realized this yet?  Everyone I tell that to is stunned.  Heck, I even think it’s weird that my mom is on Facebook.  Fact of the matter is, they are the largest growing population on the platform.  Look at a quick stat here from a 2009 study done at iStrategyLabs.  ”Facebook’s 35-54 year old demographic segment not only continued to grow the fastest, but it accelerated to a 276.4% growth rate over the past 6 months. That demo is DOUBLING roughly every two months.”  Scary huh?

To top this off, I just recently came across a Whitepaper put together by Mr. Youth and Repnation, two leading market research companies out of New York.  The title of the piece read “Why Millennial Moms Are the Most Connected & Technology Dependent Population.”  It briefly explains some of the psychological reasons behind why this segment of middle-aged females is growing so rapidly.

The four main reasons they came up with for Millennial Mom’s to be on Social Networks are as follows:

1.  They’re multi-tech, multi-taskers: Allows them to streamline busy lives and enables them to do more in less time.

2.  They build communities to ease tension: Online communities provide support and information through different life stages.

3.  They crowdsource decisions: Peers are sought out to for advice over experts and celebrity endorsements.

4.  They’re masters of the overshare: Curtains are peeled back and information is made more public.

In the study, it was found that 65% percent of moms utilize four or more technologies per day including blogs, videos, and cellphones and the same percent use online photo albums over traditional ones.  They are quickly realizing that in order to stay connected, one must move past traditional means of mail and telephone and embrace emerging media platforms.  They also, unlike their male counterparts, want to stay connected all the time, especially with family members and friends of the family.

Moms often live in what technologists refer to as a virtual village.They don’t want to read books, they want to refer to friends and family.  I notice this with my own mom as well.  The study found that 49% of women read blogs and participate in social network discussions about parenting.  More and more blogs and sites relating to this are popping up because of the increase in interest.  I even follow a blog called “Two Mims” profiling different “Mom’s In Marketing” and how they manage their personal and corporate lives.

It more or less comes down to the fact that moms realize they have access to millions of other moms and they are just a click away.  They trust and respect the opinions of other moms over that of a marketer, a man, or a college student.  Advice from a friend, a coworker, or another mother tend to be “highly influential” in the decision-making process and this advice is often found throughout blogs and social networks.

Lastly, moms love to talk. They are “the masters of overshare.” They no longer have bumper stickers that say “my son is an honor student,” they have Facebook status’s and tweets proclaiming it.  They share photos, keep journals, and fill everyone in on the lives of their children and grandchildren because that’s what they care about.  They don’t live much for themselves, rather the happiness they get out of the lives of friends and family.

What does this mean for marketers?  Well it means a few things need to change:

Platforms need to be built that allow moms to interact and engage with one another.

Conversations need to be started with this demographic, not campaigns directed at them.

Provide honesty and action over entertainment.

This is the future of social media as we know it.  College kids and millennial moms.  Two different target markets, same media platform.

Are we ready for the madness?