After spending time googling, I now realize how valuable we moms are. Not in terms of raising stellar kids and having healthy families that will influence the planet for generations to come, but our worth to advertisers.
According to one source, SAHMs, WAHMs, and working mothers spend 2.1 trillion now, with the number reaching 3 trillion by 2012. And now that moms are turning in droves to social networking and online mom groups, advertisers want to know how to reach us through ad placements on blogs or by using Facebook or Twitter campaigns to draw us in.
Facebook says it is now up to 200 million users. MySpace reached that number in 2006. LinkIn has 15 million users. If Facebook and MySpace were countries, they each would rank right behind Japan and Brazil in terms of population. Many articles have been written studying the online habits of WAHMs, SAHMs, and working mothers. But the info that experts are studying about us, from how many hours we spend online to how much time we spend blogging or reading blogs, to the ways we share info about a product we like, could also be beneficial to moms marketing to other moms.
If “they” are working so hard to market to us, study our online usage habits, and formulate products we simply must have, then we can use the same information too. To launch our own websites or online businesses. Wouldn’t it be great if a mom launches the next Facebook, or designs a new car wash that cleans both the outside and the inside of a car at the same time? Or sells affordable green products to other moms? Or comes up with a new hair dye that really does cover stubborn gray strands for longer than three weeks?
Next time a marketer wants info about how much time you blog or spend online, charge ‘em. It’s a trillion-dollar business and more of it should go in our pockets. Go, moms, go!
photo credit: danielbroche
