The Online Woman Buyer
I am your typical ‘Mom,' forever behind by two hours and desperately trying to keep everything together. Life is busy with three active school kids, a house and a yard, two dogs, not to mention a husband(!), and a 40 hour work week. How do I keep up? Social Media is my saving grace!
My youngest recently turned 9. It was a much anticipated day with many weeks of him planning, and constantly changing his mind and coming up with new ideas. We finally settled on a party with his classmates that was to be followed with an ‘after party’ with a select few at the house that included a sleepover.
What is a mom to do with no time on her hands, and a birthday boy with enormous expectations? I used my go-to social media platforms for inspiration: Pinterest and Instagram.
I search Instagram hashtags for ideas. It’s a super fast way to find what you are looking for and it gives you instant results.
For my son’s birthday party, I did a #birthdaypartygames search and was instantly rewarded with a variety of fun games. My son and his little friends especially loved the doughnut game!
I found great ideas on Pinterest for fun backyard camping. That was my son’s wish for his overnight guests. Some of the pins even informed me of where I could purchase my supplies!
While I use Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration, my go-to for communication is Facebook. I keep up with what’s new, hip, cool and happening in the world through Facebook. I get much of my world news through a variety of pre-selected media outlets that stream on my timeline. Target and other favorite stores entice me as I look through my feed, and most of my son’s birthday presents and party supplies were bought online and shipped, for free, to my house.
Here are some interesting stats from Asking Smarter Questions concerning the collective power of ‘The Woman Buyer’:
Women on the Web
1. As early as 2000, women were found to have surpassed men in Internet usage
2. Seventy-eight percent of women in the U.S. use the Internet for product information before making a purchase
3. Thirty-three percent of women research products and services online before buying offline
4. Women account for 58% of all total online spending
5. Twenty-two percent of women shop online at least once a day
6. Ninety-two percent of women pass along information about deals or finds to others
7. The average number of contacts in their e-mail or mobile lists is 171
8. Seventy-six percent of women want to be part of a special or select consumer panel
9. Fifty-eight percent would toss a TV if they had to get rid of one digital device (only 11% would ditch their laptops)
I am not unlike many other women, who browse the net for ideas and purchase online. In fact, I fit into the above stats perfectly. When it comes to advertising to women, it is interesting that many marketers have misconceptions about who their audience really is, what our interests are and how much influence we have over purchasing decisions. In fact, according to She-conomy, 91% of women in one survey said that advertisers don’t understand them.
Today it’s clear that women make up the majority of both home and business purchases. According to She-conomy women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care. It cannot be stressed enough that understanding your target audience and grabbing our attention is what will make your business successful!
As a social media professional, who also happens to be a female consumer, it is apparent to me which companies target their social efforts towards women, and yes, they are much more likely to get my attention.