Moms are having their day in the social media spotlight, and rightfully so. The number of moms using social media has increased from 11 percent in 2006 to 63 percent in June of 2010. Forty-four percent of moms use social media for recommendations on brands and products, and 73 percent trust online communities focused on their specific interests (such as parenting) to find information about products and services.

Of course, the word "mom" doesn’t describe just one consumer. Moms cross all demographic boxes, and can’t easily be generalized.

Babycenter.com, an online parenting community, recently released a study that broke social media moms into two categories, and five segments within those categories:

Influencers

Field Expert:  This is a mom who’s in the trenches, and loves to share what she’s learned in online parenting communities. She’s a stay-at-home mom with a topical focus on parenting. She’s young, but experienced, and she uses social media to share parenting advice, usually focused on a specific topic, with a large network of moms who look to her for her hard-earned recommendations. She’s most active in parenting-focused social media environments, where she shares in-depth advice and support.   Field experts make up eight percent of social moms and have a 33 percent share of influence overall. They are most influential in online parenting communities where they have a 44 percent share of influence.

Lifecaster:  She’s got a bottle in one hand and a smart phone in the other. Lifecasters are millennial moms who live their lives in the public. She is a mom of young children who feels a strong need to always be connected.  She loves being the center of attention, and participates and thrives on being recognized as the go-to person on many topics, not just parenting. She is very active in social media, with a large number of friends who look to her as an invaluable source of new ideas and recommendations.         She is most active on Facebook where she posts frequently to her huge network of readers and "likes" her favorite brands. She's also active on Twitter and blogs where she shares everything from everyday occurrences and stories about her children to product recommendations, deals and coupons. Although Lifecasters produce a high amount of seemingly lighter content, they are depended on by a large audience for relevant advice and product recommendations. Lifecasters make up eight percent of social moms and 34 percent of the influence overall. They are most influential on Facebook where they command 47 percent of the influence.

Pro: Here’s where we see the “mommy-bloggers.” Pros have turned their passion for social media into a profession. A Pro is a self-employed Gen X mom with young children who loves giving well-thought-out advice and values recognition. She consistently pushes out entertaining and informational content to her enormous networks on Twitter and her blog, posting opinions and advice on a wide variety of topics including parenting tips and product reviews and giveaways. She does extensive research before making recommendations on a broad range of topics.  In many cases, she has been compensated in some way for writing about brands on her blog. (Tread carefully here, marketers – work with someone familiar with the latest FCC rules before engaging in any paid endorsement).
Pros represent two percent of moms in social media and have an 11 percent share of influence overall.  While           they are incredibly influential individually, they account for a lower proportion of the influence overall due to their           small size. Pros are most influential on blogs where they have an 89 percent share of influence and on Twitter           with 68 percent.

The Influenced

Butterfly: She’s a mom who puts the “social” in social media. She is a mom-to-be expecting her first child who is self-confident and loves social gatherings. Although she has a lot of friends online and in real life, her schedule is so tight that she tends to only post on important updates using social media. She primarily uses social media platforms like Facebook to keep up with her many friends and be entertained. 
She seeks advice about her pregnancy on parenting-focused social media networks. She shares her real life on           Twitter and on blogs when she has a spare moment but generally tends to be more on the receiving end of               advice and recommendations.
Although Butterflies represent 16 percent of moms in social media they only wield seven percent of the                       influence overall because of their low level of activity.

The Audience: The Audience is the largest group of social media moms. The Audience listens and takes it all in. This very large group represents the mom market, including a mix of moms at different stages, from expectant moms to moms of older children. These women have fewer online friends and comment less frequently in social media, but are still present and highly influenced by the other segments. Moms in this group use parenting-focused social media environments to find useful information, ask questions, get product recommendations or receive support. They use mainstream social sites to keep in touch with friends and for consuming entertainment. They observe and obtain information, and do not comment.
The Audience represents 66 percent of moms who use social, the largest group, but wields little influence                   relative to their size at 15 percent overall.

Stay tuned for a follow-post with more statistics on how moms are using social media channels.

What segment does your target audience fall into? What questions do you have about how to reach your target audience using social media?

Source: Babycenter.com 2010 Mom Social Influencer Study, June 2010