How To Use Social Media To Market to Women - Part 2

  

One of the most powerful lessons I learned at the Mom 2.0 Summit (other than I need to learn to drink caffeine again to keep up with those crazy ass moms) is how to blend brands and social media so everybody wins.

So here's an important strategy tip for using social media to market to women - Instead of a brand creating an event that she attends, brands can sponsor events/activities she is already doing.  

Instead of asking her to come to you - go to her.

Women lead incredibly full, busy, interesting lives.   They may not have time to go to your event, discussion forum, etc.    Find out what women are already doing and find a way to tie in your product to improve that experience.

Example:

Here's a real life example to demonstrate this strategy. It involves a woman named "Bossy", a cross country blog road trip, and Saturn.

Popular blogger Bossy (real name Georgia Getz) of Iambossy.com decided to go on a road trip to visit her blog readers all across the country. 

Isabel Kallman at AlphaMoms.com reached out to the folks at Saturn, and Saturn sponsored Bossy's excellent road trip, giving her a variety of Saturn cars to drive on her adventure.

Talk about exposure and word-of-mouth.  This highly influential and beloved blogger now has a better experience (Bossy's excellent road trip) thanks to Saturn. 

When you combine the reach of Bossy's audience, with her personal experience, you end up with that magic holy grail of marketing - engagement with the brand.

Here are just a few of the comments from Bossy's readers:

"This road trip is making me want a Saturn."

"I went to the Saturn dealer in Totowa, NJ  today and looked at the (Saturn) Sky."

"I saw a Saturn Aura parked outside my Starbucks today and thought, "Bossy?"  The only reason I noticed was because of Bossy.  Geat product placement."

 "Alright.  I'm buying a Saturn."

Brand managers - how'd you like to hear comments like that about your products??

And the beauty of social media like blogs and Twitter is - you can measure how many times your product is being mentioned/talked about. (As opposed to off-line conversations which are harder to track.)

So remember, when you're using social media to market to women, find out what women are already doing and find a way to tie in your product to improve that experience.

Then let her do the rest - blogging, tweeting and sharing that improved experience with her vast network using social media.   Powerful stuff.

Comments

[Jean Johnson]

I LOVE this!

[Hypnotic Dreams]

I tried connecting to women on myspace. But I found that the majority of profiles claiming to be women where actually phishing scams. That really turned me off marketing on social networking sites.

I later tried participating in a women's sexual health discussion forum. But they had a "no links" policy (to prevent spam). So I still don't see how I can use social media to reach women.

[Joe Radman]

Fantastic article. Thanks so much for your insight and example.

[Penny Stocks]

Great post! The ideas and insights are very worth reading. You really gave valuable information.

[Best SEO Company]

Fun stuff. Hadn't thought much before about the difference in marketing to women/men, but this really opened my mind. Thanks for posting this!