Case Study: How J&J Reaches Moms Through Online Communities

We recently spoke with Tina Sharkey, the Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter, a Johnson & Johnson company and online community reaching millions of expectant and new moms. She spoke about how motherhood changes a woman’s shopping habits and purchase criteria, and how women use mom-centric online communities to get personalized advice on baby products and brands. Here’s a clip from the full interview:

Ms. Sharkey: When [a woman] becomes a mom, all her media usage goes down except for the Internet. Her engagement in the Internet actually goes up, and her reason for using the Web changes. Now, she’s focused on information gathering because she is in a new role and has to figure many things out. So she’s typing search strings into Google such as “104 fever midnight.”

She also uses the Internet for support and guidance, for a second opinion and for training. She’s multitasking and doesn’t have a lot of time because there’s just so much more on her plate.

eMarketer: Do moms use social networks more than women who aren’t moms?

Ms. Sharkey: It’s not that they’re using them more or less, it’s that the types of networks and the way they’re using them are very different.

When she becomes a mom, she makes new “mommy” friends because her next-door neighbor, her sister, her mother and her coworker aren’t necessarily pregnant with a three-year-old in the house. But in a mom social network like BabyCenter or others, she can get some really good advice and practical tips from people who understand and have empathy for her. Some 71% of BabyCenter moms say there’s info they would put on BabyCenter that they would never share on Facebook.

eMarketer: Does it makes sense for a retailer to establish a relationship with some of the many small online communities, such as a group of moms with special-needs children?

Ms. Sharkey: Marketers have an opportunity to create a dialogue with small groups where they can build authentic relationships. They have a terrific opportunity to do it with special-needs groups because it’s an intimate setting and gives moms an opportunity to have a whisper with a marketer.

Some 78% of BabyCenter moms have said that they are willing to listen to marketers who join the conversation in a respectful way, whether it’s giving moms additional support or giving them coupons. Advice is not the only thing that gets shared in social networks. One of the big things that moms share with each other is coupons and deals. Marketers have an opportunity to create these sort of viral moments with these small and focused groups that will then be passed on and have a multiplier effect.

eMarketer: What retailer site features or services are most appreciated by moms?

Ms. Sharkey: When something is sold out, I like to get an email like, “Click here to let me know when the product is back in stock.”

Another example: I used to shop at a store called freshdirect.com. Week after week, I would start my experience with my shopping cart from the last time, and the truth is that 80% of what I was buying every week was the same. I was only changing 20%. I loved that. FreshDirect also acknowledged that I used to shop in a supermarket. When I would buy cold cuts, one of the dropdown menus asked me whether I wanted them thin-sliced, thick-sliced or average-sliced. They tried to replicate the grocery store experience by putting that into the interface.

Diapers.com does a great job. If they know how old your kid is, they know that your diaper sizes are going to change. They remind you and make recommendations. They don’t tell you to buy newborn diapers a year after you bought them—they tell you to buy diapers for the average size of a one-year-old.

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