This Research was presented and released at Social Media Club Auckland (at Telecom NZ, 10 May 2011 > http://on.fb.me/jFpMRj. The study shows how Mums in NZ are embracing technology and social networking as part of their everyday busy lives. The insights are especially powerful since Mums control the lion's share of household spending. The SMCakl evening featured a robust panel discussion exploring Questions like: Where do Mums spend their time online? What do they buy? How do they manage their time? What platforms and activities do they engage with online... ?

1. How to reach mums
through technolgy?
Dispelling the myths perpetuated about mums and technology
Research from Sept 2010 - Oct 2010
Presentation to
Social Media Club Auckland
New Zealand
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

2. Why Mums are really important
to retail brands
Women control over 85% of purchasing decisions in households. Mothers are an
important subset of this group.
First time mothers have turned to social media for support, advice and fame.
This study focussed specifically on women with children, as better understanding
of their online behaviour enables brands to create more effective online
communication solutions to this particular audience.
Brands that effectively connect and engage this audience will gain significant
benefits from the advocacy of this influential audience.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

3. Methodology
Desk
Research
Survey to
Social Media Hypothesis
Observations Xploring 1000
Monitoring
NZ mums
In-depth
interviews
Refine
This was a very in-depth process, which took over two months to complete.
The final survey ran online for two weeks, allowing enough time to spread
naturally through the social web.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

4. Two types of mums identified
From initial interviews to plot each mothers communication needs and behaviour
by their life stage, it became clear that we could group mums into two basic groups.
“Stay at “Working”
home”* Mums
Mums (paid)
*As interviewees described themselves
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

5. 7 key observations
1. Pregnant woman and new mothers increase their usage and alter the way they
engage in social media and technology.
2. New mothers want to feel connected and express themselves.
3. New mothers want a trusting relationship with a variety of interest groups and
like minded online friends.
4. Women want to interact with other mothers and get advice they can trust.
5. There are ‘superstar’ and celebrity Mummy bloggers in NZ.
6. Some mums really value the anonymity social networking affords them.
7. Woman of all ages are quick to embrace and adopt digital experience.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

6. Hypotheses to test
1. Technology is a natural part of life.
2. Mums’ snack information.
3. Mums’ shop online, and share the real story
4. Kiwi mums’ are socially creative.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

7. Social Media:
Looking at the results
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

8. Conversations about feeling
hectic dominate
Mums are hectic and so are pro’s at snatching moments of time and engaging in
activity on the go - they are adept at “snacking” information. We identified a
trend of being more ready to use mobile internet.
Feelings things are hectic Benefits of mobile internet
Key Words: Just did AND family, Phew AND Kids, Quickly AND Kids, Key Words: I want AND Android, Mummy AND iPhone, Phone AND
Quick AND Easy changed my life, Love AND iPhone
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

9. Social media monitoring conclusion
Send email News
online
Professional
While they are Mums all
the time, they multi-task
Woman
Techy incredibly.
Text a relative FB Update In most cases, these women
dedicate set times to
different tasks.
Wife/Partner MUM Medic
Youtube Online gaming
entertainment
Nutritionist Example of Sanity/
Artsy
Snacking time
Educator
Example of Task time
Check
Cup of tea
forum
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

10. The Survey
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

11. Who took part?
The online survey reached approximately 1000 Mums through popular Mums forum
- Mums on Top. We ensured woman from all age groups were included, although the
majority of woman reached are 25 to 40 yr olds.
The reach through our survey
3000+ Mums
Mums on Top
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

12. Survey results
Do you own a phone that can browse the internet? Yes - 71.9%
How much “me time” do you think you have? Majority: 30 mins - 3 hrs p/wk
Other than calls, txts and photos, activities that Mums All the time Never
use their phone for:
Browsing the internet 33.6% 43.3%
Sending/receiving emails 30.8% 56.9%
Checking the news 23.5% 57.2%
Connect with friends/family via facebook/twitter or 37.4% 45.5%
other SM
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

13. Why you like to shop online?
Not surprisingly, almost all mums
said they love to shop online
because it is convenient.
Approximately half of all mums
said they also shop online
because of these key drivers;
1. “It saves me precious time”
2. “Its cheaper”
3. “I like the feeling of
packages arriving at my
house”
4. “I can research my
purchase better.”
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

14. Online reviews and research
How important are online reviews, When you find products online,
when shopping for products? do you research them further?
Essential
Yes always
Very important
Mostly
Important
Sometimes but
not always
Important, but only
for certain things
Rarely
Good to check, but
not a deal breaker
I don’t look Never
at reviews
When making an online purchase, Research and Reviews are very important to mums.
Only 2% of all mothers surveyed don’t look at reviews at all, and only a tiny 1% don’t
research a desired product online.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

15. Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Groceries
Books
Clothes
Baby Products
Travel (incl.
accomodation)
Maintenance Services
Wine
Technology/
Electronics
Toys/Video games
Health & Beauty
products
What products do you buy online?

16. What do you engage with online?
A whopping 70.4% of all mothers watch Youtube videos. Interestingly, this was
especially true of older mums.
Reading blogs came second with 61.2% of all Mums claiming to do this. Third equal
was participating in or reading online chat rooms and playing Facebook games.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

17. Confirmed hypotheses
Mums are adept at using the internet, and contrary to some myths, are
incredibly heavy users of digital and social media.
They use it to be productive, creative and to entertain themselves.
Communicating to NZ mums online, in the specific ways that suit them
best, is a huge opportunity for NZ brands
Wednesday, 11 May 2011

18. Thank you
• For more information about this research
please contact
@peeyooshchandra
Wednesday, 11 May 2011