This executive briefing on how organizations can best leverage the CafeMom.com social media platform was prepared by Lucas Stowe while an MBA student in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana.
Overview
CafeMom is a social media website dedicated to providing a network for mothers, and soon-to-be mothers, to communicate with one another about the trials and tribulations of parenting. This website provides a safe and anonymous way to express your concerns and problems without the fear of criticism, and also allows a successful way for you to offer advice to others. CafeMom is unique, because it is for women only, more specifically mothers and soon-to-be mothers, and has a “No Dad’s Around” policy. This social media website is not for dating, spamming, promoting, advertising, or spreading rumors. CafeMom is specifically designed for mothers to relate to one another and address issues such as home, pregnancy, babies, toddlers, school-age kids, teens, kids’ health, food, and working moms (CafeMom-Moms, n.d.).
The Platform in Brief
CafeMom is a Social Media Networking Site intended to bring expecting mothers and mothers together to discuss and offer advice regarding parenting and lifestyle choices. CafeMom was founded by Andrew Shue and Michael Sanchez in 2006. The Company is based in New York, New York and currently has 120 employees on their payroll. CMI Marketing Inc., established in 1999, first started a website entitled ClubMom. ClubMom eventually shut down in 2007, after the successful launch of its successor, CafeMom. CafeMom, not surprisingly, consists predominantly of women, with very few male users. If a male user is discovered on the site, then their account is immediately deleted. CafeMom has approximately 1,250,000 active members and receives an estimated 8,000,000 visitors per month. Although CafeMom is available worldwide, 74% of the active users on CafeMom reside in the United States of America (Competitive Intelligence, n.d.). CafeMom has several supporting websites to help further facilitate the experience of the website. These websites include The Stir, CafeMom Studios, MamasLatinas, and BabyNameWizard.
The Platform in Operation
CafeMom receives its funding from advertising and currently has over 90 clients, including Taboola, Adblade, Zergnet, and the toy manufacturing Fisher Price (Morrissey, 2013). Members of CafeMom, per request, are given free samples of products to try out, and in return are required to offer a review of the product that was sampled. This form of advertising allows the CafeMom website to run with minimal interruption from unwanted ads. The administrators of CafeMom do their best to only advertise quality products and due to this diligence, 90% of all reviews for the products being advertised are positive (CafeMom-Moms, n.d.). The two investors in CafeMom are Highland Capital Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. CafeMom reported that it became profitable in 2009 and sources indicate 25 to 30 million dollars a year in revenues (CafeMom, n.d.).
The Platform’s Pros and Cons
The positive benefits of CafeMom.com are that this website allows real moms to relate with one another about their experiences. Other social media websites offer similar features, but CafeMom deliberately keeps its target audience refined to mothers and mothers-to-be, so there will be a level of comfort not available on other social networking sites. With over 70,000 different groups and discussion boards, there is something for everyone. This makes advertising for businesses easier, due to the level of comfort most users of the website have. Overall, CafeMom creates a safe online community to interact with one another.
The drawback to the website, like all online social media websites, is that accounts can be faked. Therefore security is always a concern. Be careful of what pictures of your children you post to your profile and with whom you meet up with offline. Also, even though the website is administered quite well, due to some of the material covered in discussion, inappropriate feedback can still find its way onto the media (To the editors of CafeMom, The Stir, 2011). Lastly, from a business standpoint, due to the restriction of the target audience, the range of products a business can advertise and sale is less than other websites.
Analysis
CafeMom provides a way for mothers to interact and relate to one another without the negative influence associated with most other social media websites. The website’s form of advertising decreases the number of banner ads, while still remaining profitable. CafeMom is the #1 meeting place for moms on the web and its growth has already attracted the attention of companies like Yahoo, who reportedly made an offer of $100,000,000 for the purchase of the website (Exclusive, n.d.). Growth is strong, revenues are up, and the majority of users are satisfied with their experience on the website. All things considered, I would recommend the usage of CafeMom to any mother.
References
CafeMom is a social media website dedicated to providing a network for mothers, and soon-to-be mothers, to communicate with one another about the trials and tribulations of parenting. This website provides a safe and anonymous way to express your concerns and problems without the fear of criticism, and also allows a successful way for you to offer advice to others. CafeMom is unique, because it is for women only, more specifically mothers and soon-to-be mothers, and has a “No Dad’s Around” policy. This social media website is not for dating, spamming, promoting, advertising, or spreading rumors. CafeMom is specifically designed for mothers to relate to one another and address issues such as home, pregnancy, babies, toddlers, school-age kids, teens, kids’ health, food, and working moms (CafeMom-Moms, n.d.).
The Platform in Brief
CafeMom is a Social Media Networking Site intended to bring expecting mothers and mothers together to discuss and offer advice regarding parenting and lifestyle choices. CafeMom was founded by Andrew Shue and Michael Sanchez in 2006. The Company is based in New York, New York and currently has 120 employees on their payroll. CMI Marketing Inc., established in 1999, first started a website entitled ClubMom. ClubMom eventually shut down in 2007, after the successful launch of its successor, CafeMom. CafeMom, not surprisingly, consists predominantly of women, with very few male users. If a male user is discovered on the site, then their account is immediately deleted. CafeMom has approximately 1,250,000 active members and receives an estimated 8,000,000 visitors per month. Although CafeMom is available worldwide, 74% of the active users on CafeMom reside in the United States of America (Competitive Intelligence, n.d.). CafeMom has several supporting websites to help further facilitate the experience of the website. These websites include The Stir, CafeMom Studios, MamasLatinas, and BabyNameWizard.
The Platform in Operation
CafeMom receives its funding from advertising and currently has over 90 clients, including Taboola, Adblade, Zergnet, and the toy manufacturing Fisher Price (Morrissey, 2013). Members of CafeMom, per request, are given free samples of products to try out, and in return are required to offer a review of the product that was sampled. This form of advertising allows the CafeMom website to run with minimal interruption from unwanted ads. The administrators of CafeMom do their best to only advertise quality products and due to this diligence, 90% of all reviews for the products being advertised are positive (CafeMom-Moms, n.d.). The two investors in CafeMom are Highland Capital Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. CafeMom reported that it became profitable in 2009 and sources indicate 25 to 30 million dollars a year in revenues (CafeMom, n.d.).
The Platform’s Pros and Cons
The positive benefits of CafeMom.com are that this website allows real moms to relate with one another about their experiences. Other social media websites offer similar features, but CafeMom deliberately keeps its target audience refined to mothers and mothers-to-be, so there will be a level of comfort not available on other social networking sites. With over 70,000 different groups and discussion boards, there is something for everyone. This makes advertising for businesses easier, due to the level of comfort most users of the website have. Overall, CafeMom creates a safe online community to interact with one another.
The drawback to the website, like all online social media websites, is that accounts can be faked. Therefore security is always a concern. Be careful of what pictures of your children you post to your profile and with whom you meet up with offline. Also, even though the website is administered quite well, due to some of the material covered in discussion, inappropriate feedback can still find its way onto the media (To the editors of CafeMom, The Stir, 2011). Lastly, from a business standpoint, due to the restriction of the target audience, the range of products a business can advertise and sale is less than other websites.
Analysis
CafeMom provides a way for mothers to interact and relate to one another without the negative influence associated with most other social media websites. The website’s form of advertising decreases the number of banner ads, while still remaining profitable. CafeMom is the #1 meeting place for moms on the web and its growth has already attracted the attention of companies like Yahoo, who reportedly made an offer of $100,000,000 for the purchase of the website (Exclusive, n.d.). Growth is strong, revenues are up, and the majority of users are satisfied with their experience on the website. All things considered, I would recommend the usage of CafeMom to any mother.
References
- CafeMom - Moms Connecting About Pregnancy, Babies, Home, Health, and More. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.cafemom.com/
- Competitive Intelligence. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cafemom.com
- Morrissey, B. (2013, July 21). Is This the Worst Page on the Internet? - Digiday. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://digiday.com/publishers/is-this-the-worstp-age-on-the-internet?/
- CafeMom. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cafemom
- Exclusive: Yahoo Eyes CafeMom for $100 Million Acquisition. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://allthingsd.com/20100817/exclusive-yahoo-eyes-cafemom-for-100-million-acquisition
- To the editors of CafeMom, The Stir. (2011, October 27). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/activism/to-the-editors-of-cafemom-the-stir/
Contact Information
To contact the author of this article, “What You Need to Know About CafeMom.com: An Executive Roadmap for Social Media Success,” please email the author at [email protected].
The mission of the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University is to provide educational experiences for personal, professional and intellectual growth, enable the creation and sharing of knowledge to enhance learning and to advance the practice of business, and engage communities through service to positively impact their future. The Accounting and Business programs in the College of Business are accredited by the AACSB International.
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