What Women Want in Social Media
Marketing to women via social media — it's an ever-evolving art, as complicated as women themselves. But don't worry. We're on it. And twice a month, we share what women want with you.
Moms work it.
The community
Maybrooks
What it is
A resource for working mothers seeking (or offering) flexible job opportunities.
What it says
"We really believe it takes a village to bring more flexibility to the work environment, and that with the help of our growing network of women, we can promote companies that already practice and support this concept (with existing flex policies and women's initiatives) and shine a light on smaller companies that by nature seek big brains on a short-term or project-style basis."
Why it's brilliant
We love that Maybrooks founders Stacey Delo and Debi Ryan met (or rather, barely met) during the hectic drop-offs and pick-ups with their shared nanny. If anything illustrates the need for balance in a working mother's life, it's that frenzied childcare dance. The sanity-saving solutions for many moms are freelance work, part-time jobs, or full-time jobs with flex time. If these sound as fantastical to you as unicorns and lottery jackpots, get thee to Maybrooks. The site will take you to just a few, sleekly-designed pages (because we all know working moms don't have time to waste surfing). There's a job board that you can narrow down by industry, expertise, or location, a place to post jobs, and a "Connect" page for "staying in the mix." It's here that you can read blogs about women who've mastered that mysterious work/life balance thing and want to show you how. Readers have a lot to gain from the job postings and tip-filled blog. But we love the fact that Maybrooks' true success hinges on user participation. When a community member hears of a flex job that isn't up her alley, she's expected to post it so another mom might have a crack at it. Delo and Ryan point out in this article, that employers benefit from this system, too: "If you already employ a working mother, then you know they are organized and efficient. There's zero time for lollygagging in the hallways — because they have a second or third shift to do at home."
It's a fact
Cause sponsorship is predicted to reach $1.78 billion in 2013, a projected increase of 4.8% over 2012.
—IEG Sponsorship Report
Make a wish.
The cause
One hundred children with life-threatening illnesses, who will be granted wishes by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The crusader
Blue Bunny Ice Cream.
The impact
It would have been easy for Wells, the maker of Blue Bunny ice cream, to celebrate its hundredth anniversary by giving away heaps of inexpensive and brand-feeding frozen treats. Instead, the company is giving out wishes, like this four-year-old's wintry weekend in a Wisconsin cabin or this tween boy's superstar shopping spree. The number of people who've signed the site's virtual wish card shows how meaningful this kind of cause marketing is (and how many people are likely to pick up Blue Bunny products during their next grocery run). In other words, Blue Bunny has created cause marketing that truly makes an impact in more ways than one.
A picture worth 4,000 words.
The app
Pixplit
The price
Free
The gist
This app "splits" photos so multiple friends can contribute to one image.
What's to love
We love the creativity and sociability of apps like Instagram. But let's call Instagram what it is, once you get past that retro Polaroid shape and Toaster filter: a cool new version of the classic slide show or photo album. Pixplit is something truly new—a way for multiple people to collaborate on photo collages. Here's how it works. At the app, choose a jigsaw-puzzle-like grid. Position a photo into one of the puzzle pieces or "splits." Name your image, apply a filter, and then share with friends via social media. When one or more of them fills in the other collage pieces with their own images, "a new story is created" as a video about the app puts it. The images can range from ingenious to Picasso-esque to sweetly pretty. On the surface, this app seems to be yet another techno-lark; something cute and clever. But it might go deeper than that. If Pixplit catches on, it has the potential to be a major step in social media's evolution. Like another recent sensation, Vine, Pixplit is not mere documentation, it's creation. It's more than a photo album, it's art. We think it may change the meaning of photo-sharing and we'll be watching with interest to see how far it goes.
It's a fact
Instagram users post 8,500 likes per second and 1,000 comments per second.
—Digital Marketing Ramblings
Work out with Sworkit.
The app
Sworkit
The gist
This app provides customized, randomized circuit training workouts. It's basically a teeny-tiny personal trainer who lives in your phone.
The price
Free for the basic version; $.99 for the Pro version
What's to love
We'd love a personal trainer who would come to our home at 5:30 in the morning (or at 9 p.m. for that matter). We'd ask him to talk us through an equipment-free workout that targets the areas of our choice, for as long or as little as we like. Oh, and that workout better be different every time or we'll get bored. Alas, we don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on such a luxe service. A pretty great second-best? Sworkit. Tell the app what you want to do. A twenty-minute blast of lower body strength training? A yoga sun salutation? Sixty minutes of cardio? It's all in there. Then just hit start and the app provides a nice assortment of exercises in an order that's different every time, just like a boredom-busting real trainer would (and exercise DVDs won't). If you need a demo of, say, a Mason Twist or a Frog Jump, there are videos of every move. Beginners can customize the rest time between exercises or skip exercises with a fingerswipe. When you're through with your sworkout, you can tabulate your calorie burn and view other stats about your exercise history. Once you've got all the exercises down, you'll want to spring for the Pro version (for all of 99 cents). It has audio guidance so you don't have to peer at your phone through a veil of sweat. The only thing Sworkit doesn't do is yell at you, Jillian Michaels-style. But plenty of people will see this as a plus. Not having to pay Jillian Michaels-sized trainer fees? That's pretty fabulous, too.
It's a fact
More than one million websites have integrated with Facebook.
—Uberly
SoLoMo.
The sound bite
Walmart has been fighting off eTailers with a "social, local, mobile (SoLoMo)" approach. This uses smart phone-based interaction and perks to keep shoppers in stores. The chain will soon up the ante with a program called "Print Plus."
Our take
Walmart has taken an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach to luring shoppers away from their computers and into stores. Chris Horton calls it "clicks and mortar." A shopper goes into a store and switches her smartphone's Walmart app from online mode to store mode. The app can then access an interactive in-store circular to find bargains. It can also scan prices or find out-of-stock items online. With "Print Plus," shoppers will get more customized interaction like multicultural marketing, as well as entertaining, up-to-the-minute content like videos. To keep production speedy and costs down, Walmart will mine product suppliers for content. (Picture scanning a jar of spaghetti sauce and getting a video plus a bunch of recipes.) We think such a reach-out is essential for giving in-store customers the kind of targeted, individualized shopping experience they get online. Die-hard couponers and tech enthusiasts will also love the treasure hunt nature of such enhanced shopping. Those who loathe time-consuming bells and whistles may steer clear of Print Plus. Then again, they probably never left the brick-and-mortar fold to begin with. For them, aisles free of cyberstuff are still an option. In other words, everybody wins.
Duck and cover.
What's for sale
Aflac supplemental health insurance.
Where to click
https://www.facebook.com/aflacduck/app_103502203153346 and http://ducktherapy.com/
Like or Unlike
This cute campaign opens with a news flash—the Aflac duck has suffered a lacerated wing and a fractured beak. (There's no word on the origin of Ducky's injuries but we suspect he got throttled after quacking Aflaaaaaac! one too many times.) Then the fouled-up fowl makes his way through a rigorous physical therapy regimen (and Aflac pays his expenses while he's out of work). Viewers can cheer him on by making him a get-well card, posting clever photo captions to become the duck's workout buddy, or answering weekly riddles to get access to Ducky's medical files or inspiring photos and videos. Breezy and often tongue-in-cheek (tongue-in-beak?), this promotion charmingly utilizes all the latest trends in social media advertising—an interactive narrative and a multi-pronged approach that transports users from one site to another. It also works. After we giggled our way through the Aflac duck's gym workout, we found that the essential but unsexy topic of supplemental health insurance was a littler harder to shrug off.
It's a fact
86% of companies measure the success of a social media campaign by the number of followers or "likes." 31 percent judge it on sales.
—Ragan/NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions
Good sports.
What's for sale
Adidas gear for women.
Where to click
http://mygirls.adidas.com/com/
Like or Unlike
Hashtag campaigns that gun for maximum brand hits are nothing new to Twitter and Instagram. But there are plenty of happy surprises in Adidas' #mygirls promotion, which offers rewards to followers who post girl power photos like this one with the hashtags #mygirls and #[your passion]. The best part of the promotion is the dazzling look of the #mygirls site. It brims with youthful energy, style and gifs galore. It's also stocked with unexpected sports stories. There's not a pixie gymnast (or an American) to be found in this line-up. Instead, the site profiles Jordanian boxers, Nigerian soccer players, UK cyclists, and Brazilian divers—all women warriors. The community feels like Tumblr's punk little sister—eons away from old-school linear chat rooms. In short, #mygirls actually has cred as a haven for sporty young women. It's a place where they can truly connect and let their free-weight flags fly. All of this sends a message: One girl working out is a powerful thing. A bunch of girls exercising or doing sports together? That's a force of nature that could possibly change the world. And that's a message we love.
It's a fact
26% of African-Americans use Twitter, as opposed to 14% of whites.
—Pew Internet Project
An app that's a keeper.
The app
Google Keep
The price
Free
The gist
This hold-your-every-thought app is beautifully designed—and it's for Androids only.
What's to love
There are so many ways to categorize people. You're a dog person or a cat person; a hawk or a dove; chocolate or peanut butter. We can also file people by the way they, well, file. Evernote, with its layered databases that can be opened and closed like treasure boxes, is made for those who like file drawers. But for those of us who think of drawers as black holes and need our stuff in plain view, there's the new Google Keep. Keep could be compared with a tabletop covered with tiles—what you see is what you get. The tiles can be prettily color-coded, shuffled around, upgraded and downgraded, or turned into checklists. If you find Evernote daunting, you're likely to find Keep delightful. But we think even those who are Switzerland when it comes to the drawer vs. the desktop will agree that Keep is more charming and more user-friendly than the elephantine Evernote. Score one for Android in the app wars.
Follow this.
The sound bite
Facebook has added a feature that allows users to reply to individual comments, creating conversation threads. It will also move the most active chatters to the top of the comment queue.
Our take
This seemingly minor tweak will make Facebook comments much more like chat rooms, with threads that are easier for users to navigate and easier for administrators to manage. What's more, moving the most vocal commenters to the head of the line will give them extra incentive to keep up the comments. All of this might be nice for individual users, but it's gold for brand pages. Facebook knows this. Currently, the new reply feature will only be applied to profiles with more than 10,000 followers or to brand pages that opt in. While personal use of Facebook is faltering among some populations, the social network seems to be getting more powerful as a marketing tool. Changes like this one will only add fuel to that fire and we expect to see more marketing-friendly tweaks in Facebook's future.
It's a fact
77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook.
—Business2Community
Picture perfect pregnancies.
The app
https://www.marchofdimes.com/cinemama/
The price
Free
The gist
This March of Dimes app helps you film your belly as it grows from flat to forty weeks.
What's to love
If you've ever had a baby (or been along for the ride) you've probably watched one of these fabulous little time-lapse pregnancy films and wished you could make one of your own. Cinemama makes the belly flick doable, adorably so. The app reminds the hormone-addled to take their daily pics, then uses a "belly grid" and photo editor to help moms position themselves in the frame. Cinemama also features a diary where one can record other notable pregnancy events. You can share all these goodies with friends and family at the website. Once they're at the site, visitors may also be moved to donate to the app's creator, The March of Dimes, which is dedicated to preventing birth defects and premature births. In other words, Cinemama isn't just a clever way to record pregnancy memories, it's a clever fundraising tool—and it's a winner.
It's a fact
73% of women say they carefully read food labels to avoid additives like high fructose corn syrup.
—iVillage/Penton
Pinning our way to health.
The sound bite
A host of media companies and Pinterest are teaming up with Partnership for a Healthier America to give consumers easy access to healthy recipes.
Our take
We've all heard about the Partnership for a Healthier America (Michelle Obama is its honorary chair), the USDA's MyPlate eating guidelines, and Mrs. Obama's Let's Move exercise campaign. These programs are well-meaning and chock-full of great ideas, but Americans are still facing an obesity epidemic. They need help. So media companies that include Epicurious, Food Network, Hearst Magazines, Meredith, and Time, Inc. will produce 250 MyPlate-inspired recipes each month for the next two years. Consumers can find recipes at a host of websites, from Everyday with Rachael Ray to Recipe.com to Parents. But all 3,000 recipes will make it to the program's Pinterest page, where they'll be organized by any category you could wish for, from "In Season," to "Prep Now, Eat Later," from "Beans & Legumes" to "Beef." We love that so many players are cooperating to help Americans get healthier. But we think the success of this endeavor will lie in the social media that consolidates all those efforts into one easily-digestible click. For so long, Pinterest was simply a warehouse of cute. It's now organizing itself into a more powerful social network, circulating high-impact tools that we can (and should) really use. That's the other piece of good news in this story.
Circle of life.
The cause
The one in six Americans facing food insecurity.
The crusader
Panera Bread
The impact
In a Facebook app, Panera puts a simple, but chilling, statistic front and center: "1 in 6 people in America doesn't know where their next meal is coming from." Then a catchy video/infographic tells us we can help by simply inviting four Facebook friends to join a circle. Once those friends accept and invite more people to join in, you've set off a "food chain reaction," represented by an even niftier graphic. For every circle completed by April 1st, Panera will donate a bowl of soup to Feeding America. In a recent Brogan blog post, we noted that while Panera has an excellent record of community service, the social media touting that mission has been scanty. Clearly, that's a thing of the past. This app brilliantly uses Facebook to both spread the word about the Panera brand and drum up donations for people in need. The app is simple—you can invite a bevy of people to do good with a quick click through your address book. It's entertaining—just watch those circles materialize on your screen filled with tiny thumbnails of your pals. Most importantly, it's effective—Panera will donate up to 500,000 bowls of soup through this promotion. The app should also generate additional donations to Feeding America, as well as some well-deserved brand loyalty.
It's a fact
Cause sponsorship is predicted to reach $1.78 billion in 2013, a projected increase of 4.8% over 2012.
—IEG Sponsorship Report
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