|
 Wright's enthusiasm for all things Disney eventually drew the
attention of the Walt Disney Co <DIS.N>, which invited her to join a
carefully vetted group of roughly 1,300 Disney Social Media Moms.
The group of mothers - and a few fathers - are part of a Disney
effort to incorporate the enthusiasm and influence of parents into
its marketing efforts.
Wright isn’t sure why she was picked, but guesses her online
postings about Disney helped. "There's been a lot on social media
about our trips to Disney," said Wright, who writes about
technology, entertainment and other subjects from her home in
Phoenix. "It's very obvious we are a Disney family."
Disney moms are not paid, but they receive perks from the company
for their efforts, including - for some - deeply discounted,
four-day family trips to Walt Disney World for the Disney Social
Media Moms Celebration, an event that is part vacation and part
educational conference.
Disney does not tell the mothers what to write or tweet about, and
it doesn't require them to post. Still, this year’s social media
moms event in May generated 28,500 tweets, 4,900 Instagram photos
and 88 blog posts full of ride reviews and videos of kids meeting
Disney characters. And the moms' postings are overwhelmingly
positive.
The theory is that mothers with a large online presence have the
ability to influence travel and entertainment planning of other
mothers. "For a big chunk of our guests, it's the moms who are
making [travel] decisions," said Tom Staggs, Disney's chief
operating officer.
The mothers say they like having a connection to Disney - as well as
the possibility of scoring a spot at the Social Media Moms
Celebration, which was first held in 2010. Each year, the company's
theme parks division e-mails invitations to 175 to 200 people.
This year, the moms made #DisneySMMC a trending Twitter topic on the
day the invitations went out. "A very magical invite with pixie dust
arrived!" Wright tweeted on March 21.
In the run-up to the celebration, the invitees posted on Pinterest
the "Frozen"-inspired outfits and Mickey Mouse-adorned handbags they
planned to bring to the Mother's Day weekend event.
Exactly how Disney chooses its social media moms is a mystery,
stoking online speculation about the secret formula. One blog post
that offered advice on how to get picked was shared 1,600 times.
Common tips include interacting with Disney's Twitter accounts and
expressing interest in attending one of the smaller social media
events Disney hosts in various cities.
Disney executives will only say they look for moms who fit its
family-friendly brand, use multiple social media platforms and are
active in their communities offline.
The moms include bloggers and book authors as well as radio, TV and
YouTube personalities. They tend to cover topics such as family
life, parenting, cooking, travel and crafting in addition to their
postings about Disney, and only a minority are superfans who write
primarily about the company’s products and theme parks, social media
moms said. This year's celebration attendees had a combined Twitter
following of 5 million people, or about 27,000 each on average.
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To get on Disney's radar, Rachel Pitzel, a mother of two who lives
in Playa Vista, California, filled out an online application for,
and was accepted to, a social media event the company held in
Scottsdale, Arizona last June.
This year, she was thrilled to receive an invitation to the
celebration in Orlando, Florida. "You feel like a kid again," said
Pitzel, CEO of Club MomMe, a social and educational group for
parents.
But the invitation doesn't come free. Attendees get deep discounts,
but they nevertheless pay for their packages, which include three
nights at Disney's Yacht Club Resort, theme park tickets, fast
passes to skip lines and a beach-themed party. Families also pay for
their own transportation.
At the day-long conference, the moms attend motivational sessions
and receive social media tips and Disney updates. This year, they
learned how to use Pinterest data, heard from 11-year-old lemonade
stand entrepreneur Vivienne Harr and listened to a Pixar producer
talk about the Disney-owned animation studio.
Disney reminds attendees of government requirements that they
disclose the benefits they received when writing about the event.
The company declined to disclose how much it spends on the program.
Disney was the first major company to tap the influence of moms
across a wide spectrum of social media, but the approach is now
being used to promote a range of products, including Hewlett-Packard
printers and Cottonelle toilet paper.
HP hired 14 mom bloggers to post print-at-home craft and project
ideas on a website called MyPrintly. Kimberly-Clark's Cottonelle
brand paid a group of mom influencers to serve as roving reporters
and share experiences at a New Kids on the Block concert it
sponsored.
Overall, moms spend $3.2 trillion annually in the U.S. economy, said
Maria Bailey, a consultant who advised Disney on its social media
effort and runs BSM Media, a marketing firm that connects brands
with moms.
"I have clients who call and say I want to do what Disney is doing,"
Bailey said. "Companies want to capture the mom market."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Dina Kyriakidou and Sue
Horton)
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