For those of you who missed the expert social media panel on marketing to women on Tuesday, I have updated yesterdays post with a link to the recording.
Also today wanted to share a link to some gender specific factoids/statistics from one of Anderson Analytics recent social media studies as well as the 10 tips below which came out of the group discussion with myself and,
• Toby Bloomberg, Founder, Bloomberg Marketing, a strategic marketing and blogging consultancy and Forbes’ Top 20 Women Bloggers
• Kelley Connors, President of Real Women on Health!, a multi-channel community with a radio show, top-rated women’s health web site and significant affiliate partnerships
• Rob Petersen, President of BarnRaisers, an online marketing solutions company using social media and proven relationship marketing principles
• Cassie Holm, National Strategic Alliance Director of Real Women on Health!, was the moderator
Here are 10 tips :
1. Invite in: Women are 3X less likely to care about the size of their network than men. Size may not matter but being shown personal attention does.
2. Understand who you’re talking to: 74% post pictures of family/friends and 71% talk about what they’re doing now as opposed to 60% and 58% for men. Take advantage of the opportunity and get to know them.
3. Listen and respond: Listening is a fundamental skill but, equally important, is proof you did.
4. Set guidelines and expectations: You can’t read body language on a social network. Security and privacy are big issues. Create a comfortable environment.
5. Be transparent: If you’re not part of the group and “trolling” for business purposes, you are very, very likely to be found out so be open about who you are.
6. Talk rather than target: When women are online, 50% are connecting with family and friends, reading someone else’s blog or posting a comment. They’re socializing so shouldn’t you?
7. Respect values: Dove ran a campaign on Facebook, “12 going on 20.” It asked young teens to describe what mattered when they were 5, 10 and 15 and how it influenced them today. It’s a great example of how social marketing showed respect for values.
8. Engage rather than sell: 60% or more are uploading picture or watching videos when online. Work as a co-creator, not a marketer.
9. Social media = social networking + social issues: Is called “social” for some key reasons. Make the most of both of them. Your audience will appreciate you did.
10. Give back - it’s part of the culture: You get back more when you give. That’s what we’re trying to do.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.tomhcanderson.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-big1.png){kind=icon}
13 responses so far ↓
1 Jennifer Jarratt // Mar 12, 2010 at 3:01 pm
I read this blog w/interest. Didn’t hear the discussion. However the webpage on which this piece on reaching women appears is an odd contrast to the message. On either side there are large pix of men, some attractive, some definitely not! There’s one woman. All are identified as gurus. And I note that there were 3 men and one woman listed for the panel.
I think we know where we are. You know the old song, “See what the guys in the back room will have, etc.”
2 uberVU - social comments // Mar 12, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by AffiliateNews4u: Shhhhh! 10 Social Media Secrets for Marketing to Women http://bit.ly/c7eWMs...
3 bob brister // Mar 12, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Wow..sorry, but this isn’t cutting edge news…anyone in the social media space could of written those findings on a half cup of coffee..what’s interesting are trends, ways new media can better engage the consumer, how can you effectively engage to better support your marketing efforts and increase ROI..where are those insights and what new platforms will we be delivering those on in the next few years..
4 Tom H C Anderson // Mar 12, 2010 at 6:44 pm
@Jen confused, are you a regular reader of this blog? It is for market researchers. I was one of the participants in the recent panel on marketing to women using social media bringing MR perspective. See link to some of the findings my firm has on this demo.
RE the best selling business authors to the right they are all top marketing thought leaders. True most are male, not sure why.
@Bob, read back a few entries. Some trends I believe are coming is somewhat of a decline in Twitter, Increase in video etc.
5 socialsea // Mar 13, 2010 at 11:33 am
This a topic that Tom Peter’s spoke about in the late 90’s. How women communicate in face to face conversation isn’t much difference in how the conversation plays out via the web. Women are better at getting know people, what they are about, what’s going on, with who, when, where, etc. This data makes sense. Send a married couple to dinner with friends and the wife will walk away with more information than the husband 99% of the time.
6 Tom H C Anderson // Mar 14, 2010 at 2:00 pm
@John, if you click the large inmage with the headphones in yesterdays post it should being you to a page on women on health with the recording
7 Tiia Jones // Mar 15, 2010 at 11:43 am
Very interesting stuff. I think it’s probably something most women know intuitively, but it’s important to remind even us about it. I have found that quite a few women are using social media as thinly veiled attempts to sell me something. It comes off as tacky when I’m trying to connect with friends or, as you say, upload pictures. I am not a regular reader of the blog, so I was wondering what you meant by “respect for values?” Could you clarify?
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9 becky // Mar 21, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Interesting discussion–I listened–and it helped me understand some my own use of social media and some of my hesitations around it.
Here are some thoughts about “what women want.” My first realization was this: Male oriented SMed is what I would call “ego based”, as in “this is me, here I am, let’s connect and do business.” Which is why I’ve never liked “Linked in”–not only do I not find it user-friendly, it’s all about selling, yourself or your product. As a woman it strikes me as an “ego thing.” Don’t want to go there, thanks.
On the other hand I’ve found myself naturally using Facebook (despite some of its drawbacks) to build a community around my topic (rather than trying to sell myself).
Facebook’s BIG mistake is to call people on a professional page “Fans” (Aargh, so ego based) instead of something like “members”. As a non-fiction author I’m not interested in connecting with a fan base, but I have been delighted that Fb makes it so easy to share news, create conversations, answer questions and create photo albums to share with readers–and have them share their own photos, questions and ideas back.
Another distinction that I’d make is that men will focus on selling something and might “build community” on the side if they have to in order to sell (like these “personal notes” everyone is adding to their emails now about their golf games, vacations or kids–gag me, it just feels false & pretentious).
Women on the other hand will focus first on building community and offering something of value, and then will turn around and tell you what you can buy that they or their friends have produced that you might find helpful. Big difference, but I really don’t think most marketers ‘get it’.
Twitter, despite its popularity, seems shallow to me and like so much clutter. Guess I want conversations with more depth.
So for now I’m sticking with website, blog and facebook –thanks for helping me understand my “whys”.
becky kemery
Author of “YURTS: Living in the Round”
http://www.yurtinfo.org
http://www.livingintheround.org
Yurtlady on Facebook
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