4 Ways to Develop Meaningful Relationships with Mommy Influencers

Mommy influencers are nothing new, and some say they helped launch the influencer marketing landscape we’re all familiar with today using mommy blogs. We define influencers as anyone with a pervasive message reaching a group of people with similar interests. Many of these early influencers were mommy bloggers years ago but are now on more social media platforms and have become authors, motivational speakers, and more. For example, mommy influencer Jessica Shyba started her blog Momma’s Gone City in 2009 as a way to keep long-distance relationships with her friends. Now she has multiple sponsorships with brands like Gymboree and has sold books featuring pictures of her son Theo and dog Beau. Being an influencer is now her full-time job. Inspirational stories like hers and the lucrative industry trend make it no surprise that it seems like everyone knows someone who’s trying to become an influencer. The influencer marketing industry has blossomed from women trying to share their struggles to a projected “$10 billion industry by 2020” (Mediakix). Marketers are taking notice of the mom market. Here are a few reasons why:

• Moms are the gatekeepers, decision makers, and purchasers in U.S. households, with moms making 85% of purchases. In the U.S. mothers currently “have a… spending power of 2.4 trillion dollars” (Carter).

• Edison and eMarketer break down U.S. moms’ social media usage in 2017:

• Facebook – 84%

• Pinterest – 47%

• Instagram – 37%

• Snapchat – 29%

• Twitter – 21%

• 1 in 5 moms are influencers (Silk).

Need we say more? Influencer marketing is obviously a prevalent method of reaching parents, especially when it comes to the changing dynamic of U.S household income, parenting, and resources for parents. According to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, 49% of women surveyed made the most money in their household and out of that group, 42% were moms. Women receiving the status of “primary breadwinner” is up 37% since 2000. In terms of parenting styles, millennials know there is no one way to parent and are taking a more democratic approach to parenting in comparison to Gen X. More millennials have non-traditional family structures, desire to take a non-gender binary approach to parenting, and promote individuality with their children (Ball). Crowdtap found that 97% of millennial parents surveyed used social media as a source of parenting support or deemed it to be helpful. Seeing these stats, it may be a surprise that 22% of marketers are just starting influencer marketing in 2018 (Harvey). For those brands that are beginning to reach out to mommy influencers, it can be hard to understand how to develop long-lasting relationships with influencers.

A great digital agency can help your brand connect with the right mom influencers, but if you’re doing it on your own, do you know where to start?

1. Finding Your Perfect Match

If your brand is looking to partner with influencers, looking at top influencers and picking one to work with isn’t enough. Choose influencers who would use and genuinely enjoy your brand’s products in real life. Millennials know how to spot a fake and will quickly tune out influencers who they feel have sold out for money or fame in lieu of honesty and transparency. There are several avenues to finding influencers, but here are three ways to start:

• Current, Loyal Influencers – Using hashtags, store location(s) (if applicable), individuals checking in (when brands are hosting events), reviews, and tagging can help your brand find influencers who already use and love your products. What a concept?! These influencers are already paying to use your products, so why not leverage that to foster a viable relationship with them? However, a word of warning, don’t immediately reach out asking for them to review, sponsor, or advertise your product (more on that in tip #2).

• You Have to Work – When we say you need to work, we really mean network. For brand marketers, utilizing your network may reveal hidden treasures. Those in your network, particularly in the CPG space, may be the key to finding the right influencers. Not sure how to start? Asking for recommendations, advice, or an introduction to certain influencers can be a start. Look to see what professionals in your network who are already in influencer marketing are doing and their current brand partnerships. Using your network to identify influencers can help your brand build credibility within the influencer community and start relationships with viable influencers.

• Customers Are an Asset – In a similar fashion to connecting with current, loyal influencers, your customer base can be a hint to the influencers you’re seeking. Surveys and sign-ups asking more specific questions synonymous to “how’d you hear about us” can help. For example, if customers check “social media” on a survey, there could be an additional question asking them which social media account was responsible. Additionally, through behavioral analysis of your target market, including social media usage and ideology, you can get a better understanding of which influencers your market enjoys.

2. Identify Your Interest Early (and Do Your Research)

Once your brand identifies which influencers they’d like to work with, the next step is to show interest in these influencers prior to asking them to partner with your brand. How? Liking, commenting, and sending positive DMs to influencers can be a start. Depending on your brand’s social media strategy and brand guidelines, you could show a deeper interest by reposting influencer content on your brand’s social media platforms. Pay attention to certain influencers, and your brand will be bound to uncover others. By doing your research, your brand can better understand how different influencers could fit into the brand’s overall marketing strategy so you’ll be more equipped for the “big ask.” Identifying or being able to point out the previous work of influencers that makes them a good fit for your brand will help your brand personalize outreach with influencers.

3. Personalize Your Outreach

Once you’re in the process of corresponding with influencers, the first thing you’re going to do is send a quick message asking them to get coffee with you or if they have five minutes to talk, right? Wrong. While it’s okay to politely ask them if they have time to talk or would like to meet later, this should not be your introductory message. Talking about the influencers’ work your brand enjoys, content, and other areas of interest to the influencers can be a good start. Definite no-no’s when messaging influencers include using language or messaging that makes it sound like your brand is trying to get influencers to do free work, saying that the award for working with your brand is getting “more exposure,” or saying that it would be a great “favor” if the influencer works with your brand. Good influencers spend a considerable amount of time working on their own brand and content. Brands should acknowledge that in their influencer outreach efforts.

There are many reasons why influencers don’t respond; however, personalization can increase the likelihood of response rates. Some macro influencers receive hundreds of DMs and emails a day, so your brand needs to stand out for them to even consider you. Other influencers could have enlisted the help of a community manager or social media agency. In this case, going through the process of reaching out and partnering with them could take longer as compared to a micro influencer.

4. Value Their Values

Hopefully, after long-standing correspondence with several influencers, your brand has found influencers who are ready to start a partnership. Great! Now, you have to show them that your values align in order to build a strong foundation for a sustainable influencer-brand relationship. Why are values important? Almost half of millennial moms desire a connection between their values and the brands they use (Silk). Also, it shows the influencers that your brand cares about their opinions and perspective while staying true to your mission and vision. When done correctly, influencer marketing can yield high returns and can have up to 16 times more engagement compared to paid or owned media (SocialChorus). But, just because your brand has a vision and plan doesn’t mean it’s right for a particular influencer’s market. Influencers know their audience. Point blank. This means your brand should let them create the content their audience has grown to love. It will help not only build your audience and sales but also foster a long-term relationship with the influencers.

The Bottom Line

Being thorough in your influencer strategy, beginning with identifying which influencers look like promising matches for your brand, will start your brand down the path to success. Demonstrating interest through communications, from sending DMs to liking influencer posts, will show that your brand is interested in their content before you start more direct forms of communication. Once you’ve initially corresponded with influencers, make sure you take a one-to-one approach instead of using generic messaging they’ve seen before. When you start your influencer partnership, show the influencer your brand aligns with their values by truly considering their ideas and opinions. These steps sound pretty simple, right? Unfortunately, because the process can be long, this may not be the exact order of the process your brand experiences and many brands have to start back at identifying influencers when others do not pan out. Establishing influencer partnerships can be strenuous, but it is worthwhile to pick an influencer who resonates with your market.