Gone are the days of handwritten grocery lists and family calendars hanging on the fridge. Moms today have gone high-tech.

From cell phones to blogs, more and more mothers are using technology to organize their busy lives. According to Maria T. Bailey, author of Mom 3.0: Marketing with Today’s Mothers by Leveraging New Media & Technology and CEO of BSM Media, in 2009, moms will continue to leverage growing technologies and combine multiple high-tech devices to simplify their daily schedules.

BSM Media, Bailey’s mom-centric marketing firm, surveyed 3,000 mothers and found that 65% of them use five or more forms of technology everyday. As Bailey explains, “Moms today actually act in a 3.0 fashion using Web 2.0 technology.” From using cell phones to stay in contact with their families to using blogs to converse and connect with other mothers, moms are finding new ways to leverage existing technology to make their hectic lives easier. “Moms are driven by certain key emotional motivators,” says Bailey, “They want to feel connected to family, feel validated, and have a sense of accomplishment. Moms have discovered technology can help satisfy these emotional triggers.”

According to Bailey, cell phones are the most popular technology with these women. Her research found that most commonly, mothers use them to stay connected with their families through texting and to stay in touch with childcare providers. The next most popular technology moms use is social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. “Moms like using those sites because they can stay connected with family and friends, and 37% are using it to reconnect with old friends,” says Bailey. Research also showed that working moms are more likely to text using a cell phone than in-home moms, while in-home moms are more likely to use blogs and social networking sites. “The similarity between traditional working mothers and in-home mothers is that the majority are using some form of technology to gain specific purchasing information on products,” says Bailey.

 

 

for the rest of the article please visit  http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/News/News-Feature/Mom-3.0-Marketing-to-High-Tech-Moms-52710.htm
By Eileen Mullan – March 2009 Issue, Posted Feb 27, 2009
http://www.econtentmag.com/?ArticleID=52710
All Content Copyright © 1998-2009 EContentmag.com – All Rights Reserved

 A university is to offer a master’s degree teaching students about social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo.

The £4,400 MA in Social Media will also explain how to set up blogs and publish podcasts.

The one-year course at Birmingham City University will consider social networking sites as communications and marketing tools.

The course, which will start next year, was advertised through a makeshift video on the university’s website.

Jon Hickman, the course convener, said he had received a good response from potential students and described what the course would entail.

He said: “It’s not for freaks or IT geeks, the tools learnt on this course will be accessible to many people.

“During the course we will consider what people can do on Facebook and Twitter, and how they can be used for communication and marketing purposes.

“There has been significant interest in the course already, and it will definitely appeal to students looking to go into professions including journalism and PR.”

 

for the full article please visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/5073683/University-offers-social-media-degree-about-Facebook-Twitter-and-Bebo.html

Let’s talk about budgets.

It took a while.

Even though tens of millions of users were flocking to social media sites every day, most marketers stayed away. They either didn’t understand how to join the conversations—without sounding like shills—or they were frightened away by the prospect of associating their brands with questionable content.

But things are changing.

Companies are learning how to leverage social media and tap into the rising tide of consumers participating in social network sites, blogs, wikis and Twitter.

According to the “The ROI on Social Media Marketing” report from the Aberdeen Group, sponsored by Visible Technologies, marketers have developed the tools and methodologies to drive marketing ROI by listening to and learning from customers and prospects.

 

Originally posted on emarketer for the rest of the article go to http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006989

I saw a Facebook status update the other day from a busy working Mom. “waiting for Grace to finish practice so I have time to check in with Facebook”. How often do Moms……and Dads find themselves with a little a downtime and reach for their smart phone, ready to check in with their favorite, or multiple social networking site? Very often and growing is the answer. The recent “Power Moms” Study by Nielsen reports some findings that validate what we are seeing and hearing:

“Women ages 25 to 54 with at least one child are nearly twice as likely as the average American Internet user to provide frequent online advice about parenting and family issues (88% more likely), non-food household products (84% more likely), and beauty/cosmetics (82% more likely).

These “power moms” are also 51% more likely than average Web users to provide frequent online advice on clothes and fashion, food and beverage products (39% more likely than average), home decorating (36% more likely than average), and health, dieting and exercise (27% more likely than average).
“We’re seeing women using online avenues like email, online forums, and social networking websites to extend a role they’ve long held as information seekers and relationship builders,” Chuck Schilling, research director, agency and media analytics, Nielsen Online, noted. “Moms, in particular, look to the Web to connect with other parents for tips and support, and they aren’t afraid of new technologies – this group is nearly 25% more likely than average to author a blog.”

 

By perianne for the rest of the post click  perianne.wordpress.com

Package-Goods Brand Earns $1.28 Million in Sales From $1 Million Social-Media Campaign

Package-goods brands are still cautious about social media, figuring that the return on investment can’t be accurately measured. After all, marketing on Facebook or MySpace might generate a conversation but not necessarily a sale. Now, however, a method is emerging to relate one to the other, potentially eliminating a major impediment.

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We need your HELP! $250US in it for you!

We have a business that users RFID technology that connects users to Social Media platforms on behalf of clients. We are already working on some exciting projects but things are moving so fast we haven’t had time to think of a Cool name we like!

Can you help us…We need something that is funky/fresh and just plain cool.

Just to clarify RFID means:

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.

Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, and other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal.

There are generally two types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and thus can transmit its signal autonomously, and passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require an external source to initiate signal transmission.

-Wikipedia

Lets remind you what the reward is. We are offering $250US (paid into a paypal account),

Enter/Terms:
1. THIS IS GENUINE
2. You need to follow SocialMediaMum on twitter and reply to us with your Name suggestion (and no, we dont just want followers)
For Example: @SocialMediaMum This is my ENTRY (dont forget to be a follower first)
3. Can enter as many names as you like
4. Need to have a Paypal account
5. Entries close: Fri 04/17/09, midnight AEST
6. if its down right stupid, it will not count as an entry
7. Obvious spam entries will result in immediate disqualification and the user will be blocked!

We need a minimum number of entries (approx 200, so there is a selection to choose from), so send it onto a friend and Retweet it!

Top ideas will be retweeted by us each day to #RFIDComp and of course to follow the status of the Competition

HAPPY NAMING!!!

CINCINNATI (Reuters) – Maternity leave. Affordable child-care. Flexible work arrangements. When first lady Michelle Obama said she wanted to help working women balance career and family, American moms applauded — and immediately came up with a wish-list of policy changes.

“I’m so psyched she is bringing this issue to the forefront,” said Geniene Pernotto, 43, a marketing director and single mother of one in Youngstown, Ohio.

Pernotto quit her demanding corporate job in New York City in exchange for a pay cut and shorter hours at a nonprofit in northeastern Ohio. But she laments that she had to choose.
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The British are looking very hard in the mirror these days. Perhaps it is related to the belief that the country is running out of money.

In any case, who would have thought that they would choose to give up mandatory education about the Second World War and begin teaching their children about Twitter and Wikipedia?
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Truth be told, it’s kids, even twenty-somethings

MySpace became one of the country’s most-visited sites thanks to users under 30 who joined it to reconnect with long-lost friends. Facebook rose to prominence with a cadre of high school and college devotees who messaged about school, social outings and sports practice.

The fastest-growing social networking destination on the web these days is being driven by a very different demographic: older adults. They make up nearly double the visitors to Twitter.com as those under 30, according to new data from Nielsen Online.
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In the new marketing and media ecosystem, some will fail, some will thrive, and all will have to evolve.

In 2007, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) sponsored an online contest to design the skin of HP’s new special-edition entertainment laptop. The company promoted the contest selectively in 13 countries via the television, Web, and mobile channels of its media partner, MTV Networks. But word spread virally, and more than 8,500 entries poured in from 112 countries in just over a month. The contest site got more than 5 million hits, prompting HP to re-forecast sales to five times its original estimate. And it was “all because we opened the doors and allowed our customers to design our products,” says Mike Mendenhall, HP’s chief marketing officer.
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