Generation Mum: targeting mums online
Young mothers are becoming increasingly connected, says Kantar Media’s Anna Gunn. So what are they engaging with and how should marketers be targeting them?
Young mothers are amongst the most active users of social media sites in Europe, reflecting the rise of parenting websites, such as Netmums and Mumsnet, which allow marketers to directly reach and engage tech-savvy mothers online.
Kantar Media’s TGI Clickstream survey reveals some key insights into this valuable group of mothers of young children and their online habits.
82% of mothers of young children (aged five and under) access the internet more than once a day. Young mums in Britain are particularly keen to stay connected via social media, with TGI Clickstream data showing that they are more than 60% more likely than the average internet user to ‘feel the need to check social networking sites every day’.
Discussion forums are key parts of parenting websites and give marketers the opportunity to directly engage with their target audience. This is especially fruitful in Spain where 23% of mums with children under five years old agree that they tend to be influenced by comments and reviews posted by other internet users.
In Britain, the figure is even higher at 27%, where these young mums are 29% more likely than the average internet user to agree. In addition to parenting websites, the traditional social media giants dominate their online browsing.
For many of these time-poor young mums, online shopping is a key part of the daily life. In Germany, just over half of mums with children aged five and under agree that shopping online makes their lives easier, rising to 58% among British young mums. What’s more, they are more than twice as likely as the average adult to select an online delivery service as the most important consideration when choosing where to shop.
The research also highlights the differences between young mums across the globe. In South Africa, 35% of young mothers agree that they can save money when they shop online, while in Britain, the figure increases to 58%.
For young mums across the globe, keeping connected while on the move is essential. In China, mothers of young children are 31% more likely than the population in general to have accessed the internet via a mobile device in the last week. In Britain, they are 30% more likely than the population in general to access the internet on their mobile phones more than once a day.
The internet has become an invaluable resource for these time-poor, on-the-go mums of young children. TGI reveals that in Germany, more than three-quarter of mothers of young children have purchased children’s toys or clothing online in the last year. They were also more likely than average to make other online purchases, including groceries, cosmetics, electrical goods and holidays.
Similarly in Britain, mums with young kids are more than twice as likely than the average internet user to buy toys and games (36%) and 68% more likely to buy cosmetics online with 16% of them doing so.
The fact that this group of digitally savvy mums are very active on the internet is music to the marketer’s ears as it produces a lot of opportunities by which they can target this group more efficiently.
Evidently, there is a large amount of synergy with this new generation of online mothers of young children under five years old, from their social media habits, online purchasing behaviour, their desire to stay connected on the move as well as what they are buying online.
Understanding these behaviours is all the more important when planning the role of online and mobile in the overall media mix.