Mom 2.0

Mom’s are the most influential demographic there is online and I’m proud to be one!

Just over a week ago I attended the www.mom2summit.com in Houston, Texas. The summit was intended to foster conversation between bloggers and companies as well as provide learning for all attendees.

I found myself chatting with Laura Mayes, one of the co-founders of www.kirtsy.com and Mom 2.0. Laura, I was happy to hear, knew about BabyLegs and my story because of her writing for Cool Mom Picks. It really is such a small world. We chatted about the purpose she shared with me the delight in having so many high profile, influential women together in one place in person. With rooms full of proactive thought leaders anything is possible.

The keynotes generated quite a buzz on twitter, the chatter was non-stop throughout the conference. Some companies did mini-tweet ups to engage their fans right on location at the hotel. There were three paths of learning, Professional, Product, and Personal; where topics such from SEO to “is Bad the new Good”, were discussed.

The consistent discussion that I heard and participated in was that of “who is the right partner for me and how do I approach the relationship?” This applies to both bloggers and companies. Companies are looking for the bloggers with the voice that resonates with their brand, and they’ll pay for the exposure to their followers. Bloggers and tweeters are looking to get paid for all of the time and effort that they spend taking care of their followers. It’s also extremely important to have authentic relationships as the integrity of both parties is vulnerable in such a public platform.

So, how do you find the right partnership? That is a question that I’m working to answer every day as we develop www.BigRuby.net, an application that does just that. All the “socially active” individual has to do is enter the items that they post about most often and companies can come in and search for partners based on their interests. Everyday via email, Facebook, and twitter I’m introducing people to each other to potentially create a mutually beneficial relationship. You can sign up today to be one step closer to that perfect partner.

Every social network is valuable, in person and online. The leader of an online movement may be your neighbor or babysitter. You never know who’s posting what, when, and about whom. The transparency of the internet will lead to greater integrity as we can no longer hide behind an avatar for any extended amount of time. This in turn makes the authenticity of posts and partnerships increasingly vital as we come into an age of monitizing networks in a way that the world has never seen before.