Social media influencers use their personal brand to sell products through their social media following. And there’s no exception for moms. Mommy blogging has grown tremendously popular over the last few years. Sharing their experiences and motherly tips has landed many of them financial support through sponsorships or paid content. This form of social media marketing is extremely successful as followers trust their favorite bloggers opinions. These mommy bloggers (or mombloggers) are seen as influencers in their own community and rewarded with high dollar sponsorships. “We Connect With People Through Stories” examines the frequency of commercial content and personal branding tactics used by mombloggers.
The Method
The research was conducted in Malaysia and focused on mother bloggers. They used BlogAdNet, which is Malaysia and Singapore’s largest blog advertising network to discover the top mommy bloggers at that time. The standards of sample were based on if the blogger wrote in English, made money from social media, used social media frequently, and posted about their children. After discovering the most popular mommy bloggers, they reached out for interviews followed by conducting content analysis from their social media. They investigated four women, Magdalene, Amanda, Yvonne, and Wendy. Magdalene and Amanda were more popular than Yvonne and Wendy. All participants were middle class with further education and supported by their husbands who worked full time. The content analysis determined different categories to separate posts into. These categories were: commercial (ads, paid links, business), family related, personal, children, parenting, outfit of the day, consumer, and miscellaneous. They later narrowed these categories in to four main, broad categories: commercial, family, personal, and other.
The Results
They discovered that commercial content was the second highest form of content posted on the mommy bloggers’ social media. Magdalene and Amanda utilized Instagram and Facebook to successfully create a monetizable audience. Yvonne and Wendy only used Facebook and their blogs to feature sponsored content. The article also exemplified how the mommy bloggers cultivated and relied on their personal brand. Amanda describes how she used her online boutique to market herself as an entrepreneur. Likewise, she is in a dual income relationship as many of her followers are in as well, so she targets women who have “spending power” and prioritizes the quality of her child’s products. She also encourages consistency in posts to create an aesthetic experience for users. Magdalene discussed how she uses fashion and authenticity to highlight her brand. Their bands are threatened when it comes to featuring sponsored content as they must balance personal and commercial content appropriately. Mombloggers must remain authentic when accepting brand deals to avoid losing followers.
Mommy’s Money
Mommy bloggers are strategically marketing their personalities to gain supporters. They share their stories about being a mother to connect with their followers. By doing so, they can quit their 9-5 job, spend more time with their children, and make substantial income. Magdalene and Amanda were both making income that equates to a full-time job. However, being a full-time blogger didn’t happen overnight. To grow a social media career, one must be privileged enough to dedicate a mass of their time to boosting their online presence. All the mommy bloggers discussed in the article relied on their husband’s income to jumpstart their blogging career. Once their career starts earning money, they’re set as long as they continue posting about their life.
Personal Branding
The rise of social media marketing has allowed mothers to express themselves creatively through the monetization of personalized content. They spend time creating their personal brand, which they can later sell in return for sponsored content. If they can maintain their brand image, social media influencers will remain successful in selling products to their supporters.
The Future of IMC
Anyone can make money online nowadays. Social media influencers are one of the newest job fields and are quickly rising due to its impressive paycheck and remote work. Mommy blogging is just one example of social media niches. Beauty gurus, gamers, and finance specialists are among the social media influencers on the rise. As proven in this article, these influencers are constantly thinking of their brand. Consumers trust influencers will provide honest reviews of products and endorse high-quality items. Employing a social media influencer establishes the trust between producer and consumer many companies desire. Integrating social media influencers into marketing campaigns will increase brand awareness and positively impact purchasing behaviors. Ensuring your product aligns with the social media influencer’s niche is essential. While followers trust their favorite influencer, the product must appeal to the influencer’s audience.
Written By: Allison Phillips
References:
Hopkins, J. (2019). “We Connect With People Through Stories”: Gender and Affective Labor in Momblogging. International journal of communication [Online], 4702+. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.liblink.uncw.edu/apps/doc/A610367781/PPCM?u=wilm99594&sid=PPCM&xid=9aaf4a7b
IMC Hawks Blog 
It was mentioned that many of these “mommy bloggers” had to rely on their husband’s incomes in order to be able to take enough time to start the blog and gain enough popularity to make income. I am curious about how this plays out with single mothers. Are there instances of single moms being able to start their own blogs and gain enough of a following to live off of their income? This would be an interesting thing to look into. Since moms like reading what other moms have to say, I’m certain that single moms would enjoy being able to relate to other single moms.