Web Business Woman

Catharine P. Taylor wrote a good article at Social Media Insider, on Wednesday of this week, discussing the power of the Mommy bloggers. Specifically, she was referring to the gathering of Blogher women in Chicago. Quoting from “packaged-goods reporter, Jack Neff” of Advertising Age, Taylor shared this, “Blogher helps solve the mystery of how marketers will manage to spend money on social media despite showing relatively little interest in ads on Facebook or MySpace and the numerous free opportunities everywhere.”

Taylor goes on to note the many major brand sponsors at Blogher, and she further quotes numbers (aren’t we all tired of numbers? don’t we all know that numbers can be manipulated? my previous accountant used to say he saved his clients money doing “creative accounting”…hmmmm), and she mentions Blog with Integrity – which I hope you have all checked out by now.

As someone who attended the Blogher [Mommy blogger] conference, and experienced it in my own unique way, I know Catharine’s article speaks truth, and I agree with her that, “If you believe that word-of-mouth, and the word-of-mouth created by mommy bloggers, is more powerful than banner ads, not to mention TV commercials, you can envision the ramparts of traditional marketing breaking down.”

Here’s an interesting thought – traditional marketing has been broken for a very long time, and the advent of social media is bringing in fresh, new, creative ideas that women like. Social media tools, including but not limited to Mommy bloggers, offer brands innovation that will knock them off their chairs, if they dare participate. Thinking positive is just the beginning. Trust me.

Women, of course, are leading the charge. The world is totally in love with Mommy bloggers, at the moment, but as the year goes on, and as we head down the road of 2010, I predict we will see brands beginning to understand that niche blog communities have power, and voice, and will work with them to craft the right message, in the right way – to reach the right market. Whether they’re pet bloggers, business bloggers, garden bloggers, craft bloggers, travel bloggers, home decorating bloggers, health bloggers, whatever.

Niche blog communities, smaller and more focused, can be the answer to throwing out last centuries’ ideas, and bringing this centuries’ conversations, into the mix. Twitter parties, blog tours (for authors and product releases), conversations started to help brands understand who their buyers are and even going as far as allowing the bloggers to suggest design! - these will be – no, these ARE, the marketing of today and tomorrow.

The key is to get on board today. To sit down with your marketing team and find the influencers who can bring those niche bloggers to you. Because, with each niche blog community, comes another group of women ready to talk you up. Catharine mentions ROI in her article – but she does not realize that the ROI of the 21st century is NOT in numbers and speculation. The ROI in today’s interactive marketing world is in the hands of women bloggers – who don’t count their friends by number, they count them by relationship.

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