Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

How Parents Can Use Their Social Media Influence

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mom on social mediaSocial media has permeated into every aspect of life.  Every night on the news, I guarantee you that there will be some story about social media, or that uses social media (a viral video, a tweet, a story from Facebook).  The bottom line is that everyone has become a reporter, and that is important for brands to take notice.

As parents, it is important to realize that we have a lot of influence when it comes to social media.  Entire networks of parent blogs have emerged and they carry a lot of influence.  It’s time for the internet marketing company to take note of the influence that parents have, especially on social media.

 

Using Social Media for Good

There are so many examples of how parents are using social media for good.  For example, I have a friend on Facebook who started a viral campaign to raise money for a child with disabilities.  The goal was to get him to get a special treatment that their family couldn’t afford.

Prior to social media, the only way these campaigns would have been successful is if the community got enough support that the local news station covered it.  Then, if you were really lucky, the national news would have picked up the story as well.

Today, you can have stories go viral on social media and instantly reach millions of people overnight.  In the case of the story above, the family was able to raise over $10,000 for their child to get the treatment they needed, all from anonymous donors all over the world.  Talk about the power of social media.

 

Using Social Media for Change

Parents also have a lot of clout when it comes to dealing with brands.  Parents literally have the power to change the fate of different companies – both positively and negatively.

In the past, brands would rely on advertising to get out the word on new products.  Now, brands will hire an SEO company to contract with bloggers to review their new products.  This is a big shift in the marketing world – instead of national advertising campaigns, advertising takes the form of recommendations from other parents that people trust.  This really shows the influence of parents online.

On the flip side, if parents are dissatisfied with a brand, or how they were treated, they have an instant outlet.  And the last thing that brands want is to be called out on social media by dissatisfied parents.  Because, once again, a poor experience can go viral and end up on the nightly news.  Entire websites, like the Consumerist, exist to showcase these stories.

How else can parents use their social media influence?

Being an Engaged Parent

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Engaged ParentBeing a mom is easily the hardest thing I have ever, and will ever, do in my life. Being responsible for someone else’s well-being is a stressful job. There is no job in the world that gives so much stress and so much reward at the same time. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Trying to be the best parent I can isn’t always easy. In today’s world of fancy technology and constantly being surrounded by something it’s easy to lose focus.

 

Lesson From The Dental Office

Today, it’s not uncommon to have both parents working full-time. This isn’t the world that our grandparents grew up in where it was more common to have mom at home tending to all of the family’s needs.

Last week at work I had a young mom bring her son in. As soon as the little boy was sitting in the dental chair, mom was in the corner sitting in a chair frantically typing away on her phone, totally disengaged from her son’s dental appointment. When it became clear to me, evident by the rampant decay in his mouth, that mom was not brushing his teeth as he needed, I alerted mom. I asked her how he was managing with tooth brushing and how often she was doing it for him given that he was only four. She told me, and I quote:

”As you can tell, I’m a very busy woman, I don’t have time to brush his teeth, he’s four, he can do it himself…his sister had soft teeth too, it’s not my fault they’re rotten”

Yup. This is what she actually said to me. This woman’s life is too busy to brush her four-year-old’s teeth. I was so mad at her I couldn’t help myself and I responded:

”If you don’t have time to do something simple like brush his teeth, what do you have time for in his life?”

She was so taken aback by me saying anything she just stared at me, saying nothing.

She put her phone in her purse came over to he son and asked me to show her how to properly brush his teeth. I was so happy she decided to become engaged in his appointment and learn from her mistake.

 

Engaged Parenting

I see this sort of thing every day. Parents seem to be so far removed from what’s going on in their children’s lives it scares me. As a parent we have a responsibility to be engaged in our child’s life.  This means paying attention to them when they need it, playing with them without our faces in our phones and putting effort into understanding what’s going on in their life, everything from Facebook accounts to general hobbies. Though I value a child’s privacy, we as parents should still have a good understanding of everything that’s going on in their lives, while still respecting privacy boundaries.

How do you balance engaged parenting while respecting boundaries?