Mom-it-Forward

After my last post on Moms and Media, a co-worker, "Kay" told me about her journey as a "mommy blogger", now getting close to 1,100 followers on her own blog. She was bubbling with excitement over MomItForward.com, a mom resource site. What's unique about it is their #GNO or Girls Night Out Twitter parties, hosted for 2 hours on a weekly basis on a variety of topics, both educational and also sponsored, reaching a wide audience of engaged mom bloggers. According to the BlogHer blogging network, 23 million women engage weekly in blogging activity.

Kay told me all about a Seventh Generation GNO she participated in where a series of audience market research/ attitudinal questions were asked followed by a education component on their green and non-toxic products. For Kay, this was illuminating for her in that her child has skin sensitivities, and so she is going to try their laundry products based off of this, and then blog about her results and opinion (and hopefully recommendation).

For consumer products, the fit is obvious - brands are able to engage customers in their brand story and the value or relevancy the brand may bring moms, and hope they then spread the word. The upcoming GNO sponsored by Snapfish provides tips for making holiday cards with family photographs. For health and wellness, MomItForward may offer a unique story telling forum through their GNOs, such as the ability to tell the factual case for preventable disease vaccinations and debunking the myths - arming moms with the facts to have more informed discussions with their pediatric and family doctors and make decisions they feel more confident in....and hopefully, spread the facts through word of mouth. What's different is that MomItForward allows brands to invite their audience into the conversation and not just market to them!