With Mother’s Day fast approaching, we decided to take a look at the growing practice by consumer brands and their agencies to include mom bloggers as a part of the PR and marketing mix.
The trend of mother’s publishing content about their lives while weaving in their experiences with products and services is big business.
BlogHer, known for its namesake conference since 2005, says it has paid $25 million to 5,000 bloggers and social media influencers over the past five years.
More than a dozen similar paid blogger networks compete in the space, and highly targeted multicultural variations now include Muslim, Latina and African American women, among others.
The Federal Trade Commission has taken notice, including rules in its March 2013 publication of “.com Disclosures.” It’s a must-read for any organization contemplating hiring mom bloggers as part of the PR or marketing efforts, and for content creators who don’t want to find themselves testifying at a Senate subcommittee hearing about payola in the form of juice boxes or diapers.
Critical Mention interviewed Cristy Clavijo-Kish, a veteran Miami PR pro who worked at Porter Novelli before co-founding Hispanic PR Wire, which was acquired by PR Newswire in 2008. In recent years, as co-CEO of Latina Mom Bloggers, Clavijo-Kish has built a business that pays content creators for posts that meet both brand and regulatory requirements.
“It has become a profession,” said Clavijo-Kish. “A lot of stay at home moms have an opportunity, but also professionals – former media people, marketing people who really know what they are doing in terms of content delivery and making a personal connection.”
The logo wall of fame on the Latina Mom Bloggers page touts work with retailers like JCPenney, Dollar General, The Home Depot, Walmart, Target and Best Buy; consumer products companies like Clorox, Unilever, S.C. Johnson and P&G; entertainment giants like Disney and Universal; and even the automakers Ford and Nissan.
A common thread in the content published about these brands and their products is how they relate to individual bloggers and their families, said Clavijo-Kish.
“They need to definitely make it about themselves. It’s not just about the brand. It’s about how they feel about that brand.”
