They are just now getting set up again and giving away door prizes to get everyone sitting down. Im sitting in the middle of the floor in the front of the conference where I could find a power strip because my laptop died. Now I am front and center. Do yall expect anything less? Maria asked me why I was sitting on the floor. HAHA

They are talking about how BlogHer reaches out to 8 million women a month. Introducing Maria Bailey, who has basically done it all.

10:58  They are talking to Maria Bailey and asking her what is next on marketing to moms. She is saying that its a changing landscape and she is always looking at what is ‘next’. She says she has 5 core values: Family Enrichment, Saving time, Value and Safety of her children and believes there are motivators, sharing information, eco-systems and solutions, raising healthy and happy children and sense of accomplishment. When looking at what is next, look at what is next in the tools for moms to share and how we can create healthy and happy children. She believes video is next (hey, I am on the forefront!). Blogging is only one part of social media and only about 40% read blogs, but 90% watch videos. She also believes podcasts will come back.

11:02 Talking to Holly from SoccerMom. How does marketing work with moms now? She is sharing pictures of the brands that marketed last night during dinner. You need to have people/women with the voice and the power. Everyone is talking about social networking and how you can use it with marketing. Women are always looking for points of commonality i.e. lists on face book. How do you tie in a core of a brand with the person. Every good e-commerce site needs to have items  that help the brand and the blogger to focus on what is memorable about the product.

11:08 Lisa from BlogHer. She is saying that moms who blog should be Times Magazine person of the year. She said now they reach 14 million women a month from BlogHer and that media has vastly changed the past 10 years. Women control the spending and women are particularly valuable to Fortune 500, with that 83% of household spending. Women make up 53% of the Internet compilation. 21 million moms are publishing and 15 million are reading a month. What does this mean for women as marketers and bloggers? There is a credibility gap with the government, journalists, doctors, lawyers, but we trust each other. We are also interested in a diversity of subjects, we are not just ‘moms’. When BlogHer goes to marketers they say ‘dont tell them, ask them’. Spend time in social media and find out how you can start conversations that help us discover how the product can help us.

11:14 How can we professionalize blogging? You can do a lot to raise your profile with marketers so you are taken more seriously. She is saying that women dont want men to speak at BlogHer overall because of so few opportunities with women. (note: I like Guy, I think he should be able to speak.).

Maria believes HP “gets it”. My thoughts are they dont. I need to tell her about my conversation with HP a few weeks ago. Maybe she needs to call them for me. Maria believes we have come so far in 10 years and that she commends companies that are trying to work with social networking and they are doing a good job.

11:18 Holly believes that there are stereotypes in the community as ’soccermoms’, but that marketers are making assumptions about their customers that are wrong. Not all women think alike. Not all women make the same decisions or have the same values. She is on twitter to find out what matters to moms and find how they are different.

11:20 Lisa from BlogHer believes that every topic is available to a woman blogger. Her leading issue is the issue of frugal value. Women are talking about consumption and better living. Moderator is asking her advice for women starting a business from home. She says its an increasing value to be able to talk about women in a niche group. Marketers are looking for predictable behaviours and actual results. She recommends a conference called Women2.0 and Astia.

11:24 Pitfalls for moms who are in technology from Maria. She said a lot of talk about Mobile advertising. Her research shows that moms are keeping thier mobile device without advertisers and do not want advertising there. They keep them for family and friends and do not want it invaded.

Now they are doing audience questions.

Lisa is talking about how they started their own version of twitter called Chatter. Lisa and Maria are both talking about how video IS the next blogging and that ads on video are double the CPM that regular ads are.

11:37 They are talking about how moms get into reviews/giveaways. Dont be shy to go up to the sponsors, sign up for publishing networks. Be your own business woman and promote yourself. 64% of women buy products based on other bloggers opinions.