Marketing to moms in Thailand. Why mom communities are a channel brands should not overlook

A mom community is a group where mothers ask each other, tell each other and recommend to each other what really works, from pregnancy to choosing a school. For brands it matters because in most households the mother chooses, or helps choose, what the whole family uses, and mothers trust a recommendation from another mother more than an ad.

Why moms ask each other before buying

Because a wrong decision about a child is expensive. Formula, supplements, products that touch a baby’s skin, schools and clinics are not things you buy wrong and throw away. Mothers want to hear from someone who has used the thing and gains nothing from recommending it. Advertising cannot answer that kind of question. A community can.

What moms decide

Children’s products are the obvious ones. Mothers also help choose the family’s food and nutrition, household goods, education, beauty and personal care, family insurance and finance, housing, the family car, hospitals and clinics, and holidays. Brands in every one of those categories have a reason to be in moms’ conversations.

What moms actually talk about

From the communities POP runs, the topics mothers return to again and again are

• the fears and unknowns of a first pregnancy, and the things nobody warns you about until you are pregnant
• child development, such as whether a baby can sleep on its stomach, what to do with a picky eater, and when to see a doctor
• the things moms and dads disagree on when raising a child
• choosing schools and activities, such as music lessons versus academics
• the mother’s own care, both her body after birth and the time she has left for herself
• the funny side of mom life that outsiders do not get and other moms laugh at instantly

Notice that none of these is about a product. Brands that understand this approach mom communities the right way.

How a brand should approach a mom community

1. Come in as a helper, not a seller. Answer the questions mothers are already asking, with information they can use, even when the answer does not end with your product.

2. Let real moms try it before anyone talks. Credible reviews in a mom community come from members who used the product, not from a script the brand wrote.

3. Say plainly when it is sponsored. Mothers notice fast when something is hidden, and trust lost in a mom group is hard to win back.

4. Do not overclaim. Especially about health and child development. A statement you cannot back up damages the brand and the community.

5. Stay longer than one campaign. Mothers remember which brands came and went, and which were still answering questions in the months with no promotion.

6. Be careful with children in content. Ask parents’ permission every time, and never use a child’s image in a way the parents would not be comfortable with.

Mom communities POP runs

POP’s own community

Pop Mom Community is POP’s own community of modern Thai moms who talk about everything from pregnancy and raising children to looking after themselves, with street interviews with moms in Siam, POV clips of mom life, and in-person meetups like “Yok Kai Term Jai”.

Client communities POP builds and runs

S-Mom Club is a client’s mom community focused on child development and health questions, answered in plain short video, mixed with lighter clips like Dads versus Moms.

Ce-Mom Club is a client’s community for parents of babies and toddlers that follows every first, from the first swim to the first day of school, and answers questions about feeding little ones.

If your brand wants to talk to moms

There are two ways to start. Reach the members of Pop Mom Community if your brand fits, or have us build and run a new community for your brand, as we do for the owners of S-Mom Club and Ce-Mom Club. How we work and what you get is on the Community Marketing service page. Call us. The first conversation is free.