How to Use Social Media Strategy to Reach Mommy Blogs

This is a guest post by Vanessa Van Petten.

If you have a brand or product for parents, targeting and partnering with mommy bloggers is a great way to get exposure. I run a website for parents written by kids called RadicalParenting.com, and when we first started, we had 2 unique visitors: me and my mom. Since I had no marketing budget, I decided to spend all of my efforts partnering with other mom blogs and asking them to post about us. This increased our traffic to over 200,000 uniques per month and exposure through guest posts got us on a number of media outlets like CNN, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal — no PR person involved.

Here is how you can reach out to Mom Blogs:

Make a Target List

You want to start with a list of mom blogs that you like — ones that jive with your brand, are in your target demo, and look like they get medium to high traffic. For example, if you have a product for teenagers you would not want to pick a pregnancy blogger. Here is the list I use. You are welcome to start with this list.

Offer Something Good

Mommy bloggers do not love broad press releases. They also do not like being pitched without being offered anything. If you have a free product, gift card, or ebook, send one o them! This is a great way to tell them you appreciate any post or review. You can also offer to link to them as a favorite resource!

Have a Specific Ask

Since we are a quasi-mom blog (a blog for moms written by kids), we get a lot of pitches as well. Sometimes the pitches are so broad, I do not know what they want from us. Ask for something specific. Do you want them to post your link? Review your product? Come to your mom blogger event? Make your request as specific as possible.

Connect with Them Where They Are

In addition to sending them an email, friend them on Facebook, become a fan of their page, and follow them on Twitter. You want to meet them where they hang out. Supporting their social network feeds shows them that you are also in support of all of their efforts to get more traffic and followers. I also highly recommend commenting on some of their articles and sharing some of their posts on social networks.

There are a few different vehicles for social media strategy. Here are some popular social networks and websites where you can connect with mommy bloggers. If you become familiar with these websites, you will not only get to know your target market better, but you can also post comments, blogs, and updates on areas where moms already are.

Where Can You Find Mommy Bloggers?

Here are the social networks where mommy bloggers hang out.

• Facebook: Moms do love Facebook and following some of the ‘Mommy Mavens’ moms who post a lot and have a lot of followers and likes can clue you into trends and some of the popular mom blogs of the moment.
• CafeMom: CafeMom is one of the fastest growing social networks out there and a lot of mommy bloggers actually get their start here! Follow some of the most active users and contact them while (or before) they are growing their following.
• Twitter: I have a list on Twitter called “Top Parent Twitterers” where I am constantly adding some of the most active and popular parent bloggers. Follow the list and reach out to some of the Twitterers on there by retweeting them, following them, and maybe even direct messaging them.
• StumbleUpon: A lot of mom bloggers use StumbleUpon to cruise the web, find other mommy websites, and meet related Stumblers. I highly recommend going on and liking the list of mom blogs on your target list. That way, when you begin to stumble, you will get related websites and more ideas for websites to reach out to. Mom bloggers also love when you send them website suggestions through StumbleUpon or write a great review for their website.

Websites Mom Bloggers Read, Comment on and Write For

• MomLogic: MomLogic features mommy trends and news. A lot of bloggers read this website. You can leverage the popularity of MomLogic by keeping up on trends and participating in the comments of posts. I often make connections to other mom bloggers in the comments of articles.
• HuffPost Parents: Huffington Post’s parenting section has some very active mommy users. Many of the writers on Huffington Post (including yours truly) also have their own parenting blogs. Commenting, connecting with other readers and writers. and reading about mom trends is a great way to connect with mom blogs.
• Parent Hacks: Parent Hacks is a website that specializes in parenting tips and advice. They have a very active Twitter feed, Facebook page, and comments section. Get connected with some of the parent hacks writers and then reach out and see if they have their own parenting website. Many of the commenters on Parent Hacks also have links posted back to their own websites.

Mom bloggers can be different than your average bloggers because they are more concerned about their personal brand and can be more choosy about what they decide to post. If you reach out to them because you genuinely enjoy their site and help promote it, they will be much more likely to enjoy your brand in return. As the above tips show, the more you can connect with them in a variety of ways, the more you will stand out to them and the more they will want to partner with you.

Vanessa Van Petten is the creator of RadicalParenting.com, a parenting website written from the teen perspective to help parents understand them. She is also the author of the parenting book, Do I Get My Allowance Before or After I’m Grounded?