MUM KNOWS BEST – PARENTING SITES RETAIN LOYALTY OF READERS

• Packed.House Launch 2^nd Research Report “Mum Knows Best”
• 5,000 Mums asked about the effectiveness of online advertising
• 78% follow parenting sites on social media
• 68% don’t follow bloggers or influencers
• 87% bought a product based on a recommendation from a friend

New research published today by Packed.House has found that 78% of mums follow parenting sites on social media but 68% do not follow bloggers or influencers. The survey looked at the views of 5,000 mums across four websites (Rollercoaster.ie, FamilyFriendlyHQ.ie, theMWord.ie and MyKidsTime.com) and how they consume content, discover brands and use social media.

An event delivering the insights of the survey took place yesterday morning with over 50 leading marketeers present. Michelle O’Keeffe from the Parenting Institute hosted an expert panel which included Cara Doyle, Head of Content Partnerships at Packed.House, Gillian Hennessy, Head of Marketing at Boots Ireland, Emer Lawn, Digital Director at Mediaworks and Jill Holtz, Co-Founder and Director at MyKidsTime.com.

Overall the survey revealed that mums prefer to consume expert advice on parenting sites or fun/entertaining content on social media. However, when broken into segments, pregnant and baby/toddler mums consume blogs/forums by mums as their most popular content to consume over the expert advice and fun content.

Facebook is champion of the social media platforms for mums, followed by Instagram and Pinterest and over half of respondents use social media to stay in touch with friends. Instagram has grown from the fourth most popular platform for mums to the number two most used platform.

Megan O Riordan, Chief Commercial Officer of Packed.House said, “We are delighted to be launching our ‘Mum Knows Best’ research report for the second year. We are constantly striving to understand our audiences better and provide them with content in formats that they prefer and will be of benefit to them. Through this research we can work better with brands to help them engage with this much desired audience.”

Key insights include:

• Experts also know best: Expert advice on parenting sites is the most popular parenting content consumed regularly by Mums.
• Text still Queen: Text articles are still the preferred method of content consumption by Mums with 41% saying they regularly consume text articles, followed by listicles at 16% and video, infographics and podcasts at 14%.
• Quality is King: Quality of content is very important for Mums with 69% saying that good quality and informative content improves their perception of the brand sponsor.
• Publishers on social works: 61% of Mums follow parenting sites on social media.
• Mums are most likely to engage with ads that include deals, sales or money saving offers, if the ad is relevant to their life stage or if the ad uses humour.
• Friends are in: Mums are more influenced by their peers with 81% of Mums saying they have discovered new products based on a recommendation from a friend. 87% of Mums say they have bought a product based on a recommendation from a friend.