• by Maryanne Conlin , February 20, 2013

Content creation is the new buzzword for 2013. As more brands engage with people on a multitude of online and mobile platforms, like a hungry monster brands need content – photos, videos, the written word.  

But as top brands have started to learn, engaging with target consumers isn’t just about being there … though it’s certainly a place to start; it’s about having the conversations people want to have. Many a brand struggling to implement a social media program with an understaffed and inexperienced crew has learned the hard ways of the pitfalls of talking to people about what the brand wants to talk about, not what they do.

And moms are savvy consumers, bombarded with advertising, but handy with a search engine. Brands that don’t provide relevant content risk sending mom to other sources to answer her burning questions or provide usage ideas or, importantly, develop an emotional connection to the brand. 

Sadly, it is easy to mistake copy for compelling content. In the years I have worked with agencies and brands to create blog posts and videos, as well as content for social media sites, that is the hardest message to convey.  Moms look for the friendly neighbor over the virtual fence, not the sage on the stage for information on her favorite brands. 

Moms turn to bloggers and reviewers and fellow moms, and will turn to the properties of brands if the brand message is delivered in the appropriate way. Sometimes that is mom to mom as a fellow traveler, sometimes as a more experienced peer and sometimes as a girlfriend full of humor and fun. Creative content delivering the unexpected and promising something new is enticing and addicting, no matter the topic.

For brands, it’s much easier and cheaper to hit on that right conversation and the right message delivery through strategic testing, not trial and error to develop a basic content creation and curation program. Though the trial and error method seems to have been a popular choice until recently, brands tuned into mom know to capture her attention and loyalty by building a creative and enticing content creation strategically pays off in the long run.