‘Sharenting’ a boon for Marketeers?
UK research states that babies make their first appearance on-line within one hour of birth.Two thirds of parents post pictures on either Facebook, Instagram or Flickr and take an average of 57.9 minutes to do so.This need to share every aspect of your child’s life comes with its own ‘Americanism’, forever to be known as ‘Sharenting’
‘Sharents’ as they are known use every media and blog outlet available to capture every aspect of their child’s life,potty training,feeding,vomiting,first steps,interaction with the family pet etc. nothing is too trivial or banal to be recorded for posterity.
Why the need to share you may ask, well the UK based Hampshire Baby Magazine http://www.babylondon.co.uk/articles/parenting/item/1318-the-rise-of-sharenting states that a survey commissioned by Posterista http://www.posterista.co.uk/ have surveyed over 2,360 parents with children under five years of age. 64% of these parents claimed they updated these images more than three times per week,one in five upload images at least three times a month and only 6% said they never post images.The reasons those surveyed gave for posting these images are as follows.
• 56% do it to keep distant friends and families updated.
• 49% do it to express their love for their child.
• 34% believe it is the ideal way to store memories
• 22% admit it is a form of bragging.
What is the advantage of sharenting to the digital market? well the answer may be found in the eircom Household Sentiment Survey or (eHSS), http://pressroom.eircom.net/press_releases/article/Digital_commuting_and_Sharenting_How_we_live_now/ which examined the growth in the variety of devices that Irish households use to access the internet.The salient point that should be of interest to marketeers is “children as young as ten influence household purchases”. This is also known as ‘pester power’ ,the phrase has been in use since the 1980s and 1990s when it was a reviled marketing technique, where it was claimed children influence the purchase of everything from breakfast cereals,snacks,treats,cheese,yogurt,moving onto sport equipment and clothing.The link is clear,the average number of online devices in the home has increased from three in February 2013 to four in February 2014,with the younger generation (16-24) having access to a potential of six online devices.
The pressure doesn’t just start at 10yrs of age, one third of adults surveyed believes that the pressure starts between 0-9 yrs.Children between (5-17) are informing parents about a range of technology purchases.It seems an informed child influences 42% of parents as to what phones they should buy, 56% were influenced as to which TV provider should be considered and and 51% of parents were influenced as to what broadband platform should be in their home. The survey points to the fact that children are more receptive to new technologies and are far more informed as to what is in development. Only 83%of parents admitted that their children know more about technology than they do ,this figure rose to 92% amongst parents of children between (13-17).
So can sharenting be a gateway to pester power and ultimately the bigger prize of online conversions ? The answer is a cautious YES! with with caveats.Those companies who ‘push’ goods to parents through the ‘pull’ of pester power should be warned that there are negative associations connected with sharenting.Facebook is no longer cool, with usage amongst (16-24yr olds) down 55% to 89%. However amongst 35+ there is a rise of usage from 34% August 2013 to 40% February 2014.Only 5% of the population admit to over-sharing of family moments, where as 79% admit that there is too much sharenting taking place on Facebook and other platforms.In the UK negative or positive pester power is banned on television and on non-broadcasting advertising codes.Many observers see pester power in broader terms,viewing all marketing directly aimed at children as a form of the tactic.http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/positives-of-pester-power/2059328.article
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