• by Maryanne Conlin , July 18, 2012

Once seemingly a monolith of homogeneous online influencers, the increasing sophistication of Digital Moms  has opened up opportunities for brands that are better served by tighter targeting -- which more or less means most of the brands out there. Despite the hype and digital space given to marketing by big brands, most aren’t. 

And these brands -- big businesses, just not enormous -- focus on reaching that female consumer who is quite often a mom, but, just as importantly, a thought leader for a specific consumer group. This turns the conventional thinking for digital outreach on its head. 

While many brands shy away from using Mommy bloggers or targeting digital moms because “they aren’t our target,” what I have found is that entrepreneurial mom bloggers have developed services that segment the mom market to a surprising degree. For a recent effort with a gourmet food product, we found reaching out to both top Foodies, as thought-leaders for gourmet cooking, and to “Mom Foodies” -- the ones who would really end up buying the bulk of the product, was effective in not only drawing press (Foodies) but also Facebook Likes, Twitter Fans and all those great Pinners (moms).

On the other end of the spectrum is the gathering of like-minded moms … who aren’t. Having worked with Latina bloggers for the past few years, I’ve had the honor of watching these great ladies bind together as Mami bloggers, fashion bloggers and everything in between.  Because of the great interconnections in the Latina digital community and the cultural focus on family, I have found that outreach to online Latinas, moms or not, influences family purchase patterns. Plus, they are a really fun group with whom to work!

The more I work with different brands, the more I find thriving niche communities of “Mom Latte Lovers” and “Green Mainstream Moms” and “Moms who love shoes.” The growing sophistication and natural online friendships that grow between digital leaders have made it easy to follow a trail of interconnected communities to find just the right fit for every brand.