The Motherhood

Work-Life Balance for Moms: Elusive or Achievable?

February 29, 2016 by The Motherhood

Work-life balance for moms: the debate on if and how this exists is one that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Women in the workforce – those who work from their home and out of the home – often face challenges in devoting adequate time to both their careers and their families, not to mention their outside interests. As entrepreneur and mother Randi Zuckerberg stated: work, sleep, family, fitness or friends – pick any three.

A global survey from EY reported that one-third of full-time employees say achieving work-life balance has become more difficult in the past several years. Not surprisingly, parents and millennials are among the groups who face the most pressure in this area.

Flexibility is Key for Moms

Working parents say that flexibility is of critical importance to their satisfaction and success in finding this delicate balance. The survey revealed that that having a boss and colleagues who support their flexible work arrangements is one of the top factors working parents seek in a job – and millennial parents are the most likely group to take a pay cut to have more flexibility.

For companies looking to protect profitability and morale by retaining valuable employees and reducing turnover, a policy of flexibility shouldn’t come with strings attached. The survey reported that the “flexibility stigma” and lack of telecommuting options are two of the top reasons employees quit a job.

Facing the “Flexibility Stigma”

The struggle to achieve work-life balance is multi-faceted: flexibility should not just be a policy on paper; it should also be ingrained in the culture and fabric of the organization so employees feel empowered to use that benefit. In many workplaces, there can often be an unspoken rule that even though the policy exists, employees may be perceived unfavorably for using it.

Consider the situation of a working mother whose daughter has a school play in the middle of the day: if she chooses to attend, there can be a feeling of guilt stemming from the judgment from her colleagues; if she prioritizes work, she’ll feel guilty for letting her child down. It can feel like a lose/lose situation.

Finding a Career with Work-Life Balance for Moms

As part of our partnership with Northwood Realty Services, The Motherhood had the chance to learn how real estate is a career that provides some much-needed work-life balance for moms. As one of the primary benefits of this career, real estate agents manage their own schedule and can work around their family’s needs. If you have to stay home with a sick child or want to chaperone a field trip – Northwood Realty Services empowers moms to make it happen.

Northwood Realty Services values the unique skills that working mothers bring to both their families and their careers. The company is always looking for a few good moms, and here are some reasons why:

Multi-Tasking: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” As many moms know, there is only one of you, so you have to figure out a way to get everything done. With real estate, agents have to juggle many balls at the same time – an open house and a closing on the same day, for example. Moms have a ton on their plate, and they’re some of the best time managers and multi-taskers out there.
Empathy and Understanding: Buying and selling a home is a huge decision that greatly impacts a person’s life and finances. Clients appreciate when someone is able to listen to their concerns, understand their needs and keep them calm throughout the home-buying process. Who better to practice patience and grace under pressure than moms?
Connectedness: Besides family and friends from before they had kids, many moms participate in playgroups, “mommy and me” classes, go to playdates, etc. This is a great way to get connected to new friends and build or expand a network of potential clients.
Passionate: Mothers are passionate for what they care about and will fight for things that matter. Northwood Realty Services seeks out people who advocate for their clients and who are passionate about what they are doing and helping people.

Visit NorthwoodForMoms.com to learn more about real estate as a family-friendly, flexible career choice that welcomes moms.

This post on work-life balance for moms was created in partnership with Northwood Realty Services. All opinions are our own.

Featured image courtesy of GotCredit.

Facebook Reactions for Brands: “Love” and “Wow”

February 26, 2016 by The Motherhood

The long-awaited Facebook Reactions launched this week, allowing users to go beyond “liking” a post. Reactions now include options for “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad” or “angry.” At this initial stage, users seem to enjoy the Reactions, but how will brands be affected by this update?

According to Wired, “Advertisers don’t like Facebook’s Reactions. They love them.” Seeing more specifically how users respond to ads and content can give marketers greater insight into what their consumers are looking for, which can be useful in creating future campaigns, new products and more social posts, in general.

Advertisers will now have exciting opportunities to analyze campaigns with the added insights of the emotions they evoke. Brands can experiment by posting a call to action for their followers to give feedback on different posts. We do want to mention, however, that advertisers should be aware of the context in which Reactions are used. For example, a user might select the “sad” Reaction to a brand post about a new product, only because they love the brand and wish the product were available in their area.

For now, all Reactions will be treated the same as a “like” in the algorithm. Facebook has noted that they will use the new emojis to learn more about what users like and their emotions, but it is unclear how exactly this will alter measurement and the newsfeed algorithm in the future.

Facebook is constantly trying to improve users’ timelines, and using emotions will give them a huge benefit in sharing relevant information over other social media platforms. Although all Reactions are treated equal, businesses can see the breakdown of Reactions to all of their posts on Facebook’s Page Insights. Currently, the Facebook API does not allow data gathering on Reactions, but a new GraphAPI (2.6) is expected in March or April, and we may see this additional functionality then.

If you do not already have Reactions in your Facebook feed, here is how to get them.

How do you plan to use Facebook Reactions?

Featured image from Mashable.

Case Study: Brain Chase Introduces Summer “Adventure Learning”

February 23, 2016 by The Motherhood

In early 2015, to help raise awareness and encourage sign-ups for a new “summer learning challenge” called Brain Chase – an online adventure designed to keep kids at the top of their academic game over the summer and avoid learning loss – The Motherhood engaged 50 bloggers with kids in the program’s target age range, including former educators, moms who homeschool and moms who have kids with learning disabilities.

Because Brain Chase was a brand-new service, The Motherhood first worked with the blogger team to distribute a consumer survey, gathering feedback that could help the company plan its marketing efforts. Using survey data from nearly 400 respondents, The Motherhood and Brain Chase worked together to create a strategic three-part activation for the team of 50 bloggers:

The campaign began with a live virtual briefing session to connect the bloggers directly with the Brain Chase creators and give them detailed insights into the summer learning challenge. The virtual briefing allowed the bloggers to ask questions and see exactly how the adventure learning would unfold for kids during the summer program – a crucial piece of the campaign for the bloggers, so they could adequately describe Brain Chase to their readers.

Using that background and key messaging, along with fresh topics and prompts for each blog post, the team participated in a series of blog tours. They each published one blog post each month for three months to maintain a steady drumbeat of news, raise awareness about summer learning loss, and position Brain Chase as a fun and educational solution leading up to the kickoff of the service in June 2015.

Campaign bloggers and their communities also participated in two strategically timed Twitter parties to spotlight the service on social media and highlight particular moments in time, such as the end of the early bird pricing period.

Blog posts demonstrated the bloggers’ and their kids’ authentic and lasting excitement about Brain Chase:

“In addition to just the pure coolness factor of the whole thing, I LOVE that this program not only fosters a love of learning and travel, but it really promotes family collaboration!” (Sara, Mom Endeavors)

“The typical summer learning I’ve witnessed as an educator and parent has involved a list of websites for math and a good old reading log. Am I the only one who finds this type of summer work a major battle? True story – it’s always a major battle in our house. Aidan can’t stop talking about Brain Chase, however. ‘When can we start again? Who won last year? Is it okay if we do more than 20 minutes of work per day?’ Seriously? Whose kid is he? Brain Chase could be the answer.” (Annie, Stowed Stuff)

The coverage drove approximately one-third of total sign-ups for the summer 2015 service and resulted in 172 blog posts, more than 10,000 social media posts (including tweets) and nearly 108 million impressions over four months. Several of the Brain Chase campaign bloggers still hold spots on the first page of organic search for “Brain Chase,” just behind the official Brain Chase site and a New York Times article on the program.

Image credit: All images provided and approved for use by Brain Chase.

Snapchat for Brands: Worth the Investment?

February 16, 2016 by The Motherhood

Marketers looking to use Snapchat for brands, take note: 2016 is shaping up to be a banner year. This relative newcomer to the social media space is reported to have as many as 200 million users who send a staggering 700 million photos per day. And potentially following in the footsteps of social media giants Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat is a platform that many analysts predict will go public in 2016.

Given Snapchat’s swift growth, many marketers are eager to explore potential ways to tap its millions of active mobile users for brand awareness and engagement. Particularly for those wishing to reach moms, the question remains: is using Snapchat for brands worth the time, money and creative energy required to stand out on a platform in which content has a limited lifespan among users who are primarily 25 years of age and younger?

Our answer in 2015 was “generally, no.” However, in our continual evaluation of the social media space, our 2016 standpoint is evolving to “not quite yet, but it’s coming.”

Snapchat Adoption Among Moms

With engagement and responsiveness being two of the top qualities that lead to reader trust, bloggers with multiple social media platforms are focusing most of their energy where their audiences are most active. So far, Snapchat hasn’t made the cut.

In The Motherhood’s recent survey of more than 600 bloggers, Snapchat ranked the lowest in terms of platforms that brands request bloggers use and platforms that bloggers recommend brands use. Many influential social media moms reported having Snapchat on their mobile devices, but they use it very casually and aren’t convinced of its usefulness in connecting with the communities they’ve worked so hard to build. Less than two percent of bloggers surveyed have used Snapchat for influencer campaigns, but nearly half think there is a future in collaborating with brands via this platform.

While The Motherhood’s research revealed that 80 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase a brand they saw on social media, it appears the same isn’t holding true for Snapchat. A survey from Column Five and News Cred reports that branded promotional content isn’t making an impact on their purchasing decisions: a mere two percent reported that they “sometimes” buy something they saw on Snapchat, while a staggering 98 percent answered “rarely or never.”

Snapchat for brands — Image courtesy of AdWeek.

Via Wired, ComScore shared that while Snapchat has grown 59 percent in the last year to 40.3 million U.S. adult users, it has grown 69 percent among people age 25 to 34, which many think is approaching the tipping point for a social media platform to move from niche to mainstream.

If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It

With adoption among the adult demographic expected to increase, and with bloggers optimistic that the platform will pick up steam, what’s next in terms of Snapchat for brands?

Just as bloggers try to strike a balance between nurturing the platforms where they find the most value and building a following on new social channels, brands are also weighing their options. Should they focus their marketing dollars on platforms on which they’ve achieved measurable, repeatable success, or test relatively unknown waters?

Currently, one of the most limiting aspects of Snapchat for brands is the lack of ability to measure and target. While other social media platforms deliver data that help marketers analyze and adjust content and delivery, it can be difficult to prove a platform’s value without being able to benchmark and track performance.

However, the rumored release of an API could change the game. Digiday summarizes some of the benefits of a Snapchat API:

“An API would help measure performance of content on Snapchat, get better insights into the type of people who are watching, where they’re located,” said Nick Cicero, CEO of Delmondo, an agency specializing in Snapchat analytics and influencers. “It would also enable brands to create more content with influencers.”

Delivering Messages That Matter

To The Motherhood, the heart of influencer marketing is looking at where a brand’s consumers engage online and how they naturally interact, and including a brand in that conversation in a relevant, authentic way. For centuries, moms have been sharing ideas and advice with their closest networks of friends in a deeply personal way, and in the modern digital age, The Motherhood helps brands be a part of those conversations online in a way that evokes trust, advocacy and action.

As The Motherhood’s social listening team continues to monitor and evaluate usage of Snapchat for brands, we’re also tapping our proprietary database to hear and apply what our nationwide network of moms is saying. The Motherhood’s campaign recommendations always reflect the platforms and message delivery we know will resonate among consumers.

If your brand would like to discuss ways to work together on an influencer marketing campaign based on our consumer insights and always-on social listening, email us at contact@themotherhood.com.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons user AdamPrzezdziek.

Super Bowl Brand Showdown: Which $1 Million Branded Emoji Won the Day on Twitter?

February 8, 2016 by The Motherhood

If you tune into the Super Bowl mostly for the commercials, you are not alone! In a recent study, nearly 1 in 4 viewers admitted to watching the game specifically for the commercials. At The Motherhood, we are fascinated by the new commercial trends and brand strategies around the event that we see crop up every year. For Super Bowl 50, we were especially interested in Twitter’s new advertising option for brands: a $1 million branded emoji.

Twitter started offering branded emojis back in Fall 2015, so it’s no surprise that the company is continuing this option for some of its highest paying advertisers — especially right in time for the #SB50 social chatter!

The way it works is simple: when users type a certain hashtag into Twitter, it will trigger a custom-made emoji. For example, type #SB50 into a tweet and you’ll see a football emoji appear. In fact, Twitter released several new emojis just in time for Super Bowl tweeting:

Brands partnered with Twitter to release their social emojis prior to the big game in hopes that when their commercial aired live, their hashtag – accompanied by a custom emoji – would stand out in the conversation online. The branded emojis come with a hefty price tag, but with 73 percent of Super Bowl viewers using a second screen to check social channels, the investment may have been well worth it. Here are the four brands that paid big bucks for a new kind of Super Bowl advertising — and the results, according to The Motherhood’s social listening team:

Pepsi, the official sponsor of the Halftime Show, also owned a Promoted Moment during the game’s break. The hashtag that triggered the musical notes and Pepsi can emoji was tweeted more than 431,000 times (including retweets) by more than 235,000 people yesterday. It was a clear winner among the branded emoji hashtags, generating more than 1.2 billion impressions.

Budweiser’s #GiveADamn came in as the second-most-mentioned branded emoji hashtag on Twitter, with 29,000 tweets (including retweets), 25,000 contributors and 85.8 million impressions. The #GiveADamn campaign has a strong anti-drinking and driving message, hence the new emoji with a beer bottle and car keys being dropped. For every tweet with the hashtag, Budweiser is donating $1 toward Safe Ride programs.

Bud Light’s commercial with Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen was a parody of the presidential campaign, encouraging people to support the #BudLightParty. We also noticed Bud Light received several celebrity endorsements on Twitter during the game. The campaign hashtag with the bottle cap emoji (resembling a political badge) was tweeted more than 11,600 times (including retweets) by 9,600 Twitter users, generating 62.3 million impressions.

Coming in with the fewest number of branded-emoji tweets was Verizon’s #Minute50 hashtag. This hashtag triggers a clock emoji with 50 minutes on the clock, symbolic because the company has been giving away prizes (everything from free data to Super Bowl tickets) to Verizon customers every hour on the 50 minute mark since January 24. #Minute50 received fewer than 500 tweets (including retweets) yesterday from 440 Twitter users, resulting in 4.2 million impressions. However, we want to note that because this campaign has been running for two weeks, yesterday’s tweets likely don’t accurately represent the overall reach and effectiveness of this campaign.

What’s next for branded emojis?

We look forward to seeing the other emojis, branded or not, that Twitter will reveal in the future! We’re anticipating many more to come for future events (think summer Olympic Games, the presidential campaign, etc.).

A note on Facebook: Although the Twitter branded emojis (naturally) do not appear on Facebook, use of the above hashtags on that platform was high. Again, #PepsiHalftime was by far the most used of the four. However, we found that the most shared link was to Budweiser’s #GiveADamn ad and also had the highest percentage of female users.

Did you tweet with any of Twitter’s branded emojis during the Super Bowl?

Football Game Day Recipes with Naturally Fresh®!

February 3, 2016 by The Motherhood

This Sunday marks the biggest football game of the year, and it’s also the second-biggest food consumption day of the year, second only to Thanksgiving! That means it’s time to start thinking about the perfect Game Day recipes and overall menu.

We’ve been working with a group of 36 amazing bloggers who have crafted delicious Game Day recipes using Naturally Fresh® – a line of home-style salad dressings that are free of artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. From appetizers to entrées, these bloggers incorporated Game Day staples like buffalo chicken, nachos, bacon and even veggies to create dishes that are sure to please any palate.

Take a look at some of their recipes below, and visit our Pinterest board for even more delicious inspiration!

Bacon Ranch Pimento Cheese. Game Day recipe and photo by Julie, Mommie Cooks

Garlic Ranch Mac and Cheese Cups. Game Day recipe and video by Arlene, Flour on My Face

Buffalo Chicken Flaky Cups. Game Day recipe and photo by Michele, Sunshine and Flip Flops

Spinach Bacon Ranch Pizza. Game Day recipe and photo by Ida, Second Chances Girl

Game Day Buffalo Chicken Dip. Game Day recipe and photo by Jennifer, Double Duty Mommy

Light Spinach & Artichoke Dip. Game Day recipe and video by Christie, Raising Whasians

Loaded Ranch French Fry Bake. Game Day recipe and photo by Erin, A Parenting Production

Chicken Bacon Flatbread. Game Day recipe and photo by Tracie, From Tracie

3-Ingredient Buffalo Chicken Empanadas. Game Day recipe and photo by Shelly, Mom Files

Game Day Spicy Ranch Meatballs. Game Day recipe and photo by Jennifer, The Rebel Chick

Loaded Mashed Potato Bites. Game Day recipe and photo by Tracy, Nest Full of New

Ranch Chicken Sliders. Game Day recipe and video by Caroline, Smarty Pants Mama

Big Game Avocado Ranch Dip. Game Day recipe by Lisa, Life with Lisa

You can find Naturally Fresh® in the refrigerated section of your local Kroger, Publix, Ingles and Harris Teeter stores. Which of these Game Day recipes will you be whipping up this weekend?

Featured image source: Life with Lisa