Twitter Moms: How to Relate without Looking Like an Imbecile

This was one of my most highly shared articles published first at AgoraPulse, experts in social media management tools.

Moms are key decision makers when it comes to sales and in fact make 85% of the purchasing decisions within a household. Whether you’re promoting baby products, books, food products electronics, makeup or clothes you need to be able to relate to the Mom market. So here’s the problem… if you’re not a Mom how can you tap into this captive market on Twitter Moms without looking like an imbecile?

In this article I’m going to tell you how you can connect with and market to Moms (and other awesome parents) on Twitter in five easy steps.

Follow The Right Twitter Accounts

If you aim to attract Twitter Moms then you need to start by following the right Twitter accounts. This is partly to start listening to conversations and understand what’s trending but also so you can retweet and engage in conversation with Mom influencers.

Here are 3 great Mom accounts to follow on Twitter for starters:

1. @UrbanMommies

Jill shares money saving tips whilst also bringing awareness to important issues such as women’s rights. With 16k+ followers Jill is also a smart marketer herself so you can pick up some tips by watching her style.

2. @FunnyIsFamily

Voted one of Mashable’s “Funniest Moms on Twitter,” every tweet will have you howling with laughter. Amy serves as a reminder that most Moms love to see the funny side of life and her popular tweets are definitely worth sharing.

3. @ResourcefulMom

Amy Bair gives great tips to fellow Moms from saving for college to saving for a weekend away. She also holds Twitter parties where Moms can chat about parenting topics. It’s important to note that none of Amy’s tips are “preachy” or “strict” but instead helpful and informative… her 144k followers certainly think so!

TIP- Retweeting influencers is a great first step for anyone new to Mom marketing as 81% of Moms would trust a blogger over an advert. Check out my article on Influencer Marketing to find out why it is so important.

Know Your Hashtags

Every industry has its specific hashtags which are used to gain attention and generate a buzz around your tweet. As a girl more accustomed to social media marketing hashtags I can tell you that it’s important to research Mom hashtags if you want to market in this field. Here are some of the top Mom hashtags on Twitter:

It’s important not to be sexist in your marketing — note the Dad hashtags above. Being a parent is a tough job and there are men and women rocking it equally well.

TIP- Use the Agorapulse monitoring tool to keep an eye on keywords and parent hashtags on Twitter – remember that by using hashtags you can double your engagement on Twitter.

Watch What Works

Paying attention to marketing techniques that do and don’t work is crucial if you want to hone your marketing strategy. Just like any sector, Moms don’t want to be patronized, stereotyped or overtly sold to so bear in mind brands which have successfully managed this.

One example is Google Chrome’s Dear Sophie video. Get the tissues ready! With nearly 11 million YouTube views this one captured the hearts of parents everywhere. Similarly ads like #TextsFromMom by Samsung hit all the right humor notes for Moms and their families.

On the other hand, get it wrong and you could have a massive backlash on your hands like BIC in 2015 who tweeted the following:

“Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss #HappyWomensDay,” … really BIC? By patronizing and stereotyping their target audience BIC showed just how wrong you can get it. After a massive backlash on social media, Bic quickly removed the ad and apologized, claiming the message was “inspired by a post on a blog about women in business.”

TIP- Soccer Moms, Stay At Home Moms, Gen Y moms. These are some of the terms marketers use to define their target market. But would a mom ever describe herself as any of these? Don’t pigeonhole or stereotype.

Use Images

I’m not talking about cringeworthy images of smiling mothers and perfect babies but real, sharable images. If you have a product you think Moms will love then tweet photos of it being used, if you have a great recipe then tweet a photo and if you find a funny Mom meme then tweet that too. Moms are busy and an image is eye catching and easy to retweet. Combine it with the right hashtags and a short, snappy tweet and you will gain Twitter traction.

image source

TIP- Brightly colored images are more than 40X more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content.

Have Conversations

Twitter marketing isn’t all about Klout scores and analytics, it’s about human interaction too. Moms talk so why not talk with them right? Not everything is an opportunity to market your product and if you try this approach you will probably alienate yourself from everyone on Twitter- remember nobody likes to be sold to! If you find a funny Mom tweet then reply to it and start a conversation.

As a general rule of thumb I stick to the 80/20 rule whereby I only promote for 20% of the time and sometimes even less. Learn to enjoy conversations, meet people and listen to their stories and you will become a much more effective marketer.

TIP- Use your Agorapulse monitoring panel to keep track of your conversations and easily reply to users. Remember that 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their Tweet has been replied to.

So there you have it… plenty of marketers are rocking this world on Twitter and whether you’re a Mom or not, you can too.

For information on content writing and digital marketing services please contact Charli Here