Inside the Mommy Blogger Business

Once again, mommybloggers are misunderstood. Did you really put teddy bears and bottles in the background for this video teaser?! Talk about pigeon-holing an entire cross-section of the blogosphere.

Well, the program was aimed at providing insights into the BUSINESS of mommy bloggers. After all, the process of using blogs to generate revenue for both the blogger and her corporate sponsors is heavily anchored in the promotion and sale of billions of dollars worth of products. And so, it seemed quite appropriate to include a background -- teddy bears and all -- that reflected the consumer goods market -- the childrens' rooms -- that everyone involved is so eager to get a piece of.

Mommy Blogger -- another empty buzzword designed to separate panicky clients from their money.

Mom bloggers are an important and powerful part of social media. Thanks for covering this, Hoag. And yeah, mom-twitterers too. :-)

It's just a shame, is all, H, because the other 9:21 of the video was pretty spot on. But teddy bears + bottles (have you not heard breast is best? You just alienated a big percentage of moms right there, and added fuel to the mommy wars) don't reflect the rooms that the mommy bloggers painstakingly research, design, and create for their kids - they're largely a group (as reflected in the video) of savvy, pretty fashionable women who wouldn't be caught dead hanging cutesy wallpaper.

It's like...it's almost like inviting a bunch of moms to a market research "retreat" and then being confused when they think they can bring their nurslings, or are upset that they can't make it because of issues with childcare!

Mommy bloggers are real. My wife is glued to a mommy blog every evening. And talk about granular target- it's for Korean moms living in the US (my wife is Korean). Blogging is a great resource for specific audiences.topics.

Daniel Green
Group Director East, Advertiser Solutions
Unicast
205 West 39th Street 16th Floor
New York, NY 10018

I am also a Mommy blogger and have been developing mine since 2007. As a stay at home Mom before this new age many considered our expertise to be only in diapers and soap operas not taking into account the stay at home Mom was not only a teacher with continual education from helping kids and their homework from pre-school up to highschool but also the marketer and advertiser of those products and services we use everyday in our lives, from A-Z. Since blogging really took off in the media in 2008 and with the decline in our economy businesses are now looking for who those target markets really are and have taken a hard look that the Mommy blogger is the biggest critic and biggest supporter of everything out there for sale.

Great article, the 21st century has reinerated the importance Mom's really are and not just experts in diaper changing and gossip columns.

Isn't the word "Mommy" incredibly condescending? Most mothers today work, many have great careers and are a myriad of things as well as mothers. I am a mother and an advertising professional and I read the so-called Mommy blogs but they aren't just about dismissible "mommy" subjects,like how to get your toddler to eat more than peanut butter. I enjoy them because they are about many issues that we face as parents and adults. When will Madison Avenue stop treating women like children? It just proves that most advertisers are still deeply out of touch.

I think that if we quarrel over the name of this phenomenon - Mommy" Bloggers - we're letting the trees get in the way of the forest. The fact is that we're looking at a major audience and consumer who controls household spending. The bonds created by blogs are much stronger than those created by conventional advertising because they're personal. If my favorite Mommy Blogger recommends a new fruit popsicle that her kids love, I'll try it for mine. If she finds a new store that provides something of huge value, I'll go. To question the name that Moms have given themselves is a waste of time. What's important (from a brand point of view) is to embrace this new powerhouse and endear and/or influence her. How do we do that while maintaining Best Practice standards?

H,

Please don't misunderstand my comment. This piece did a great job of recognizing the savvy mom (parent) bloggers and influener programs out there.

My frustration is with the continued perception that all parents are only parenting babies. Many of us left diapers behind years ago and write about a variety of other parenting topics on our blogs (and about some issues only tangentially related to parenting).

My point is that it is a mistake for PR/Ad professionals to assume they "know" mom bloggers and what we like--as if we are a homogeneous group. We are out there and involved in all levels of social media. A successful strategy includes listening to what we are saying and to developing relationships with us. That is what a few great firms like Edelman and Brand About Town are doing. As for the scads of other horrible pitches I receive daily? They just get deleted.

It is wonderful to see this topic covered in Ad Age. Thank you for bringing it up and starting this discussion.

Amie Adams/MammaLoves

I think you need to distinguish---in these conversations---whether you are considering women who are mothers as "passionate consumers" or powerful marketers. I keep hearing that mixed up.

Also, the BlogHer survey DOES include information about bloggers who are mothers. For my article, I went to the effort to contact Elisa Camahort Page who kindly provided data about the respondents who self-identified as mothers, as mothers who blog about parenting issues, and whether they worked in the home, out of the home, or in the home for employers. These are crucial distinctions, as is whether the blogger is a mom (mom blogger) who writes about many issues or a blogger who is a mom and primarily writes abotu parenting issues. Another crucial distinction.

I still don't hear a grasp or comprehension of this in general.

I also don't hear a comprehension within marketing about how and when to employ the different social media (from blogging to Facebook to twitter to FriendFeed to flickr and so on).

FWIW, I prefer "beat blogger" to "mommy blogger" or if we must include mothering status, "mother" or "mom" beat blogger. I sometimes blog about parenting, but often it is incidental, and not SOP "mom blogging." I more often blog about social and cultural issues, most often political.

I appreciate this video report and hope it continues the evolving conversation about women who are mothers and who blog. Thanks!

brownink makes a great point (as does Amie). Women who are mothers and blog are not homogeneous and bring a range of experience and expertise to the table beyond mom and blogger.

I don't think a single marketer I work with knows what I bring to the table other than "mother" and "blogger."

It might be really useful to know that. I carry nearly 20 years of professional experience. Beyond that, as a personal channel expert, sometimes I know which method will work best within my channel, and that might not always be a blog post.

Again, thanks AdAge, for a great conversation launch and for this sentence, "Despite their lightweight moniker, mommy bloggers have become marketing business heavyweights."

I totally agree with mammaloves--not all moms have babies!! Not all moms dream of free trips to Disney or a free dishwasher in exchange for blogging--we go to movies, buy things other than diapers, use technology--e.g. anything and everything under the sun could be a great fit for some mom blogger out there.

I digress...

One thing I worry about with regard to mommy bloggers is exploitation. Women are famous for undervaluing themselves, and I think it's fair to assume that the vast majority of mommy bloggers are getting the short end of the deal when it comes to blogging for money. To me the whole thing has "exploitation" written all over it--and I hope that the collective mommy bloggers are mindful of this moving forward.

I'm a Mom, I have a Mom site and I've been an ad writer for about 15 years. So I find it interesting as the worlds collide. I agree that the traditional media should adjust to the trend. Moms opinions are valid, they're real and they're the message without the starburst and extra big logo. Maybe just telling it like it is, is concept enough if the item or service is quality and genuine. As for selling out and cashing in, my take and two cents: http://peaceloveandmomminess.com/video_village_fullstory/ad_age_and_mommy_bloggers/

Well done video in general, although I agree with the comments that there were a few generalizations - especially continuing the idea that mommybloggers all have babies, AND all talk about their kids ALL the time. [Sigh.]

I recently spoke at Ignite Boulder on this exact topic. Below is the post and video from that night... (bewarned, it is peppered with a little bit of colorful language. Just to show all sides of mommybloggers, right?)

http://www.greeblemonkey.com/2009/04/why-mommybloggers-suck.html

I agree with the ending statement in the video that there is MUCH MUCH more the delve into with this topic.

Aimee Giese
aka Greeblemonkey - yes, a mommyblogger.

As a mommy blogger, I find blog, twitter and other social media tools to express myself and connect with the community. In many ways these tools are making the Internet a more democratized platform where even the little guys have voice. Overall, I am excited that women, as a group, are leading the social media space and influencing the way we have run businesses for a long time. Hopefully this means more power for women and other little folks.

Mommy Niri
http://www.mommyniri.com

This video, along with the comments, have provided me with some new things to muse over. It is an amazing era that we live in, because the democratization of media, and the whole web 2.0 social media emergence, has allowed for Mommy Bloggers to become a formidable force in the area of marketing. I believe it is wise for advertising & PR groups to establish relationships with these women, because they offer companies & consumers a wide range of experience and expertise about various subject matters. They are passionate about what they talk about and this is the reason behind the devoted following and huge audiences. However, I believe their influence can only go so far. Although social media & social networking are powerful tools for communication, it will never replace traditional, old-guard advertising.

Thanks for creating this video report!

Frank
http://www.absrocketpro.com

If you just go to Google and simply type in "Blogs for Moms", or "Blogs for Mothers", you'll receive over 15,000,000 and 29,000,000 search results respectively. That alone proves that "Mommy Power" is in full swing!

Enough Said,

Gaston
http://www.Ultimate-Resell-Rights.com