Picking Up Chicks: How Brands Relate to Women in Social Media

If women are a core target audience for your brand, chances are good you're already connecting to them via social media. Well, that is, good if you want to stay in business.

Women are prolific users of blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other networks, both professionally and personally. So who's doing a good job of talking to them in the social space? Those who in general get their marketing communications right and engage their customers in honest and authentic ways, no matter who they're speaking to, says consultant Susan Getgood, who was recently named vice president of sales and marketing for BlogHer Inc.

“It's about company culture and how you use the tools and view the customer,” she explains, noting that brands need to effectively break out women as different segments and avoid dumb mistakes — like sending baby formula offers to a woman who is childless, perhaps not by choice.

Know Your Audience

“The most common mistake is one that marketers have made since the dawn of time — undervaluing the intelligence of women,” says Getgood. “Think back to the commercials in the '50s and '60s with mom being so surprised that the soap worked. You need to talk to women as intelligent human beings who also happen to be worried about cleaning the clothes, in addition to paying the bills and doing their jobs.”

Events like the BlogHer conference in New York this summer are one way brands are trying to identify who they need to reach in the social space. Hallmark, for example, threw an early Christmas-themed party during the show at an off-site penthouse that was invitation only. For the greeting card and gift retailer, says Deidre Mize, national campaign manager, it was a chance to engage with bloggers and get to know them personally.

“We put out a call on Twitter,” she notes. “Some of the bloggers we had worked with before, while others were identified by looking at not just their traffic levels, but their content and tone. While snarky is fun, it might not work with Hallmark's brand.”

Merry Socializing

On a very warm August evening, Hallmark invited about 115 BlogHer attendees to decorate Christmas cookies, have their photos taken with a “sexy” Santa by the tree, and take a peek at the company's latest holiday offerings — like children's storybooks in which gift givers can record their voices, and new ornaments featuring characters like Animal from “The Muppet Show” and the company's own Hoops & Yoyo.

Moms are the number-one priority when it comes to whom Hallmark wants to reach in social media. The company has presences on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, and regularly monitors the blogosphere to connect with writers who might be interested in sharing product news with their readers.

PepsiCo also had a strong presence at BlogHer, both to connect with women and film content for a new blog and online video channel it calls “Women, the 5G Network” (http://5gnetwork.pepsicoblogs.com/). Over 30 video interviews were conducted with “high influence” women bloggers in the PepsiCo studio on the exhibit hall floor, where participants could also try new products, says Jamie Stein, director of communications for PepsiCo brand Tropicana, whose presence at the show included sponsoring a breakfast where Olympian Bruce Jenner poured juice for attendees.

“Eighty percent of all purchasing decisions in the household are made by women,” says Stein. “Our focus is on engaging women — including moms — not as the gatekeepers, but as people with multiple dimensions.”

Sara Lee's Hillshire Farm and Jimmy Dean brands shared the largest booth at BlogHer, putting on a number of product demos and attracting attention with celebrities like “Top Chef” host Padme Lakshmi and the Jimmy Dean Sun mascot, who posed for pictures throughout the show.

“We wanted to introduce ourselves to bloggers, because we hadn't really played in the space,” says Tim Smith, director of the Jimmy Dean brand. “It all starts with our consumer. There are many things she is passionate about, and being online is one of them.”

Mommy — And More

Moms are the sweet spot of Jimmy Dean's customer base, and the company is keenly aware that many moms read numerous “mommy blogs” and trust those women's viewpoints, says Smith. Like PepsiCo, the brands conducted interviews with bloggers at the event to gain intelligence about their customers.

Adult toy retailer EdenFantasys is connecting with moms as well as women of all shapes and sizes via social media, says Victoria Bowman Steinour, marketing director. The brand uses social media as a way to promote itself and help people open their minds about the company's product offerings. In social media, the company makes sure the content never borders on sleazy, making it more informational and fun.

“Purchasing from an adult retailer is typically thought of as a private activity, but the site encourages more couples to participate, and that helps to give us a more balanced demographic,” Bowman Steinour says.

Eden doesn't farm out any of its social media duties, and responds to all messages as quickly as possible. “We're not just setting up a list of scheduled tweets for the week,” says Bowman Steinour. “There's a real person behind there.”

As for how customers respond, women interact more quickly and candidly. Men will retweet and enter contests, but women are more likely to answer sociological questions, like whether or not chest hair is hot. “We try to keep it pretty relatable,” she says.

A full-time staffer is devoted to blogger relations, says Bowman Steinour, noting that Eden works with about 1,000 bloggers ranging from mommies to lifestyle and sex blogs, offering gift cards and products in exchange for testimonials. The company is considering creating a blog network of women, perhaps with geotargeted chapters, which could benefit not only Eden but the bloggers as well.

“Chances are we have better site traffic, so they could co-opt some of that traffic for cross promotion,” she says.