Brands have started shifting gears in terms of marketing to different target audiences.

Many of the brands targeting mums now resort to social media, to engage and influence their customers. Emotional marketing is key when it comes to mums, and brands work on creating engaging content which is helpful, informative and understands the mindset of their customers.

In the UAE, we have seen mums depend a lot on word of mouth, what their friends and family advice in terms of parenting. However, a lot of the millennial mums are relying on social media content to answer several questions about bringing up their children.

They are always curious to know more on what they can do better. Brands understand this, and target this market well on the digital ecosystem.

A study by Digidays says 92 per cent of mothers who use social media make purchase decisions based on what they see on it. Sixty per cent of these ladies log onto Facebook multiple times a day and interact with engaging content that is of relevance to them.

Facebook has made it even easier for brands to target mums with paid ads having specific criteria like Fit mums, Corporate Mums, Stay-at-home mums and more.

Fear, happiness, trust, safety, guilt, love, freedom, sadness and compassion — every day we feel several emotions which now brands are using as emotional marketing, within their campaigns.

This helps them resonate better with their target audience. It helps them create a memorable experience for their customers. A fantastic example of this being ‘The Proud Sponsor of Mums’ campaign by P & G.

Out of the 72.8 million Pinterest users, 85 per cent are women. 42 per cent of this being mums. Niche brands have been successful with targeting mums on Pinterest. Similarly, Instagram has worked very well in the UAE market, when engaging this target audience.

Mums’ little helpers come in the form of a social media feed. Parents prefer referring to social media, asking questions and engaging with their friends to find solutions on bringing up their children.

A study shows 79 per cent of mums find overall useful information in their social media feeds; 74 per cent mention they get support from their friends online; and 59 per cent responded saying that get useful information directly related to parenting issues on their social media feeds. And seventy-four per cent of parents first resort to Facebook, with 28 per cent doing so on Pinterest.

Dubai based mumzworld.com has done a fantastic job in targeting mums and making their lives easier to purchase products related to their children. Ikea has always understood mums, and targets it children’s range of furniture with Google Ads, SEO (search engine optimisation) and social media in the UAE.

Mums in the UAE are active in attending events, or attending workshops to gain more information. A lot of this information is then shared on their social media feeds, where their networks shares this information.

Brands now have a channel where they can ask questions, get feedback on what mums think about their products, and on the basis of this information, create something which would be of interest.

Another very interesting source of influence for mums is Mum Bloggers. This is specific to the UAE, a set of very active mum bloggers have taken the initiative of putting together information and creating meet ups. Brands work with many of these bloggers, to help them reach out to this community.

Mums now expect more from their smartphones than ever before — 20 per cent say they regularly make a purchase. Brands have to ensure they give them a seamless experience across platforms.

Of the 85 per cent of mums who own a smartphone, 43 per cent of them own a tablet as well. Mums love sharing their experiences, and the study shows 56 per cent are likely to do so.

Every social media channel targets a different set of mums ... brands need to understand what Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest are good at, while targeting this audience and create content accordingly.

In the UAE, we have people of so many nationalities and there are mums who come with different schools of thought. It’s crucial for brands to outline who they want to talk to, and what kind of content will work for them.

— The writer is Director of McCollins Media.