Interesting Reading; Women and Social Media…
May 26th, 2009
I found an interesting article in my inbox this morning. Jason Lee Miller discussing what women want. Finding out what women want, at least as far as marketing goes, is always a good idea.
What Mr. Miller points out, that many of us tend to forget, (hopefully none of my clients!) is that women make 80% of the day to day purchasing decisions in the U.S. This is a significant thing to keep in mind when designing an e-commerce site, doing SEO, or any type of marketing. Women, I think we can all agree, are the main spenders of the money. They need to be a target audience for a good chunk of your marketing budget if you are the owner of consumer oriented e-commerce site, especially one that sells any kind of household, apparel, family type items. Guys just don’t do a whole lot of that stuff, and what we do, tends to be at a brick and mortar on the way home from work. Not to sound too 1950s, but that’s just the way it goes. Guys tend to spend more time looking for cars, car parts, sporting goods, or other targeted items online. If you need to grab a new pair of sneakers, how many guys do you know who will research and spend a day or two contemplating the best deal between a couple of different web sites before they buy? Most guys will just head to where ever they have purchased them before, and most likely, pick up a pair of the same thing they always buy.
Women, on the other hand, research. They want the best deal for the best shipping rate, while getting the best product. So where do they do this research? Turns out, a lot of it is by reading blogs, commenting on blogs, and other social media outlets. So your wife wants to buy a new vacuum, she’s probably gonna do a search two to find out who has been talking about what vacuum, where.
I’ve talked about the need to utilize social media before, but this article is really making a case for it’s use. Many people are becoming less interested in traditional media, preferring the web as a way to get news that is not quite so slanted, as well as finding venues for information that are more in their particular niche. There is a blog out there for everyone. You can find a news source that is more suited to your ideology, whether it be conservative or liberal, or even somewhere in between, and commenters will keep it somewhat more honest. If you post something that is absolute bunk, you will have someone call you on it. Even if you don’t reply or retract, they will get a discussion going, especially if it is a hot topic.
So where does that leave traditional media? Somewhat in the dust, I think, especially as women, the group with the greatest purchase power tend to prefer blogs and other social media to gather information. The Miller article also pointed out another interesting tidbit. Women appear to prefer blogs and a Facebook type of network to Twitter. Women are social, they just are. The interaction of blogs and Facebook, the ability to keep in touch is what appeals to them, he says. Well, that very well may be… I tend to think that perhaps 140 characters just isn’t enough room for females to say all they need to say…
