Why Word of Mouth Marketing Matters for Moms

WALMART/SAMSCLUB

Even as moms increasingly rely on social media recommendations when buying for themselves and their families, word-of-mouth from friends and family still has the most influence on their purchasing decisions, a new study shows. And brand websites still edge out brands' Facebook pages and Twitter streams as mom-trusted resources.

Even as moms increasingly rely on social media recommendations when buying for themselves and their families, word-of-mouth from friends and family still has the most influence on their purchasing decisions, a new study shows. And brand websites still edge out brands' Facebook pages and Twitter streams as mom-trusted resources.

More than three-quarters (77 percent) of moms surveyed cited recommendations from their own circle of friends as their most trusted source on brands, followed by blogs and third-party websites (54 percent) and their social media circles (44 percent). The survey, released by 360PR MomSquad, a public relations information service, polled 962 moms living in the U.S.

Moms are also becoming savvier about differentiating between what they read on websites and social networks, the study found, with more moms ranking a brand's website as more of a trusted resource (32 percent) than a brand's Facebook page (10 percent) or Twitter stream (4.4 percent).

"Brands need to be more focused than ever on what fuels word-of-mouth and how they can be part of moms' conversation," said Laura Tomasetti, who leads The 360PR MomSquad.  "That starts with her interaction with other moms online and off and the media she uses, particularly online.  There are ample opportunities for brands to be trusted resources and communicate with moms along the pathway to purchase."

When getting ready to make a purchase, moms ranked value at the top, saying it was "very important" or "important." This was true whether they were shopping for their families or themselves.  Deal sites and blogs were big winners with moms, the survey found. Three-quarters said they increased their usage of deal sites in the past year. Quick Response (QR) codes, the 2D bar codes that can be scanned by a smartphone with a code-reading application, have been slower to catch on with moms but are beginning to gain traction, with 16 percent of moms saying they had increased their use of QR codes in the past year.

Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.

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