Leveraging a Community of Moms

Carley Roney, Editor in Chief of The Bump, knows a thing or two about building a brand. After all, she “gave birth” to the #1 multi-platform wedding brand, The Knot, and is now applying that model to The Bump, the newest addition to the Knot, Inc. family of lifestage brands—and it’s working.

As Roney prepares for her upcoming M2Moms® presentation titled “How To Build Your Brand Using Community Buzz and Social Media Tools,” we asked her to give us some insight into today’s new moms and how leveraging an online community can be a brand’s key to marketing to mom success.

Q: Tell us a little about The Bump community and its relationship to The Knot.
 
Carley Roney: We have a very passionate community at The Knot Inc. While engaged, 8 out of 10 brides join TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com. After the wedding, they become members of TheNest.com and TheBump.com.
 
TheBump.com is the only multiplatform brand focused on first-time moms. Harnessing the power of social networking, TheBump.com connects parents to peers and personalized advice using an unparalleled combination of user-generated content and up-to-date community features, including baby blogs, local reviews, lists, profiles, photo galleries and topic-based message boards. Combined, The Bump Baby Network reaches 2.8 million moms online through TheBump.com, Lilaguide.com, Babynames.com and Breastfeeding.com. The Bump local print guides are currently distributed to OB-GYN offices in 18 cities, all with localized content.
 
The moms on our vibrant online community are obsessed with knowing about everything baby, and have a definitive time frame in which to learn and do it all!
 
We are very excited to be announcing our first book, The Baby Bump: 100s of Secrets to Surviving Those 9 Long Months, due out October 1.
 
 

Q: A new book--how exciting! This is the 6th year for M2Moms® and during that time, we have noted several changes in how moms connect and make purchasing decisions. Yet, some things never change. Does that same philosophy hold true for your online community as well?
 
CR: New and expectant moms will always want the best for their children so they are constantly looking for quality products that are super-stylish and extra-safe. According to TheBump.com 2nd Annual Pregnancy Baby Study 2009, 80% of moms during their pregnancy spend a considerable amount of time researching baby-specific products and services. The biggest change we have been seeing at TheBump.com has been how moms are looking for baby products and resources; since 2006, there has been an increase in moms using online shopping sites and social media tools.
 
Q: Just taking a look at this year’s M2Moms® schedule, brands will start seeing some of the top marketing to mom trends: mobile marketing, social networking, global marketing, healthy families, etc. In your opinion, what are some of the biggest trends you currently see with today’s moms?
 
CR: Today’s moms continue to look to online websites, such as TheBump.com, for pregnancy and parenting advice and recommendations. In fact, according to TheBump.com 2nd Annual Pregnancy & Baby Study in 2009,  97% of moms use pregnancy/parenting websites for information regarding motherhood, and 75% of moms find baby/parenting online forums/message boards very valuable when it comes to motherhood. As a new mom, there are thousands of questions running through your mind at all times so it’s important to develop a loyal, engaged community for these moms to interact with 24/7. We recently launched two new iPhone applications – Pregnancy 411 by TheBump.com and Baby 411 by TheBump.com because we understand that moms want answers to their questions at the snap of a finger. With these two applications, expectant and new moms can get answers from experts and other moms on TheBump.com immediately.

Q: Needless to say, we are all excited to hear your M2Moms® presentation in which you will talk about how a brand’s online community can lead the direction of brand development.  Can you site some examples of how this has happened for The Bump brand?
 
CR: One of the keys to our success has been that we have a laser focus on our members. We are always looking to our members to find out what they need and want, and we are consistently doing research and collecting data to help us figure out how we can serve them better.
 
A few product innovations over the past three years have been:
 
iPhone Applications:
Pregnancy 411 by The Bump – The on-the-go source for expert prenatal prep and real mom advice – from what’s safe to what’s normal, to everything in between. With the iPhone app from TheBump.com, you can post pregnancy questions and get answers instantly from other mamas-to-be, search questions from real mamas by topics (including Is it Safe?, Baby Names and more), and browse through more than 150 top pregnancy Q&As and get answers from experienced prenatal experts — without having to wait.

Baby 411 by The Bump – Now that the baby is here, as always, TheBump.com is here to help! This iPhone application allows new moms to get answers to all their need-to-know now baby questions, no matter where they are. With this application, moms can browse through tons of parenting Q&As and get expert parenting prep and real mom advice.
 
Facebook Application:
Mommyhood – with this application moms can create their own Mommyhood made up of your favorite mom friends, send mom friends fun gifts of encouragement, show off their kids and countdown to their due date or their kids' birthdays, and more.  To date, there are 75,439 active users of this Facebook application
 
TheBump.com Baby Registry Tool:
For new parents, registering for super-stylish and extra-safe baby products is just as exciting as choosing their baby’s name. In response to the nation’s baby boom and increasing use of online shopping sites, The Bump Baby Registry Service ( HYPERLINK "http://www.thebump.com/registry" www.thebump.com/registry), the world’s largest baby registry search tool, enables future parents to create and monitor their baby registry from the hottest baby retailers at once. Through this patented multi-registry search system, gift-givers can easily locate and purchase a baby gift off a registry from a variety of retailers, including Pottery Barn Kids, Right Start, Land of Nod, giggle, and BabyUniverse.com, all on TheBump.com.
 
TheBump.com Baby Websites:
A no-cost destination for expecting parents to share real-time updates about their newest addition. From multiple photo and video uploading to a one stop registry location, the free baby websites offered by TheBump.com are an innovative way for the largest network of moms and dads-to-be to easily spread the news about their bundle of joy and share their baby’s experience with family and friends.  TheBump.com baby websites provide an informative, interactive and entertaining destination that will enhance communication and information sharing amongst family and friends no matter how far apart they physically live.  They are another element in the growing trend of parents using technology and social media to keep family and friends up-to-date on the progress of their pregnancy and the milestones in their new baby’s life.

REGISTER NOW for M2Moms® to hear more from The Bump’s Carley Roney as she takes us through case studies from The Bump community and shows us what is and isn’t working when trying to connect with today’s moms.