Last Saturday, May 30th, I celebrated my son’s 1st birthday and my 1st anniversary of being a mom. Looking back on the year, I can’t believe how my life has changed and how much I didn’t know about being a mom before I became a mom.

So as a mom with a current focus on marketing to moms, I’m challenged with how social media fits into my client’s marketing-to-mom mix; when personally, I still haven’t identified how it actually fits into my own life. In Trone’s last survey about “moms and online behavior,” we identified that moms are 21% more likely than the rest of the adult population to be a member of an online social network. Moms, including myself, most frequently ”use online social networks to upload pictures and connect with friends.” I’m convinced that these networks have replaced photo programs such as Snapfish and Kodak Gallery. But are these online activities viewed as entertainment only? And if so, does mom want to be marketed to when she’s surfing through her precious photo memories?

If penetrating mom’s personal time online proves to be difficult, how should social media fit into the marketing mix? Even before social media became the buzzword in marketing, building brand advocates has always been an objective in marketing to moms. Why? Because moms love to talk. They love to talk to other moms about what products they love, what products they hate and the things they just couldn’t live without. There is great joy in knowing that your experience or opinion might have just given another mom a solution to a problem.

The challenge for marketers is identifying these mom advocates and this same challenge continues within the online social space. If you can find the right group, wouldn’t that be considered hitting the jackpot? These moms tell other moms online about a new product, but more importantly they will spread the word offline, thus driving purchase. The question, are the most successful brand strategies for social media driven by the marketer or driven by the mom? Is it the discovery of something great that builds a mom advocate or is it the strategically placed blog posting that draws mom’s attention?

I’d like to think it’s a combination of both. The discovery of something great is about the discovery, it’s not about who placed the information. Working with Trone’s Interactive Director and Blogging PR Specialist, I’m on the way to uncovering the perfect social media fit for my client’s marketing mix. I’m still not sure if that’ll solve how social media fits into my life I think I need a few more hours in my day to find the time to fit it in. In the meantime, I’ll get my advice from those moms who have found the time to uncover all this social networking has to offer.