Mothers and Mental Health – How Are Our Moms Doing?
May 9, 2023
Intellicast S6E13– Mental Health and Market Research with Lindsey Bartel of Brandtrust
May 12, 2023
Mother’s Day is May 14th! In this blog, we will be looking at moms’ usage of social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. We also dig a bit deeper into the data and give some breakdowns by marital status and age.
We are classifying moms in this blog as the average (although we know there’s nothing average about our moms!) When we compare the overall average, we are discussing all social media users, even those who are not moms. This is how we are defining single and married moms:
Overall, we found that moms are more likely to use Facebook and Pinterest than social media users without kids (7% and 12% more respectively.) Single moms are less likely than married moms to use the social media platforms listed, except for TikTok, which single moms are slightly more likely to use than married moms.
Social Media Usage by Age
When taking a closer look at moms’ usage of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube by age, we find that moms between the ages of 30 and 49 are the most likely to use Facebook. The older a mom is, the less likely they are to use Twitter and YouTube. Married moms over the age of 30 are more likely than single moms to use Twitter. The opposite is true for YouTube.
When looking at moms’ usage of TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram by age, we find that the older a mom is, the less likely they are to use these platforms. In general, we see that both married and single moms aged 18-29 are the most likely to use social media. Here, the largest difference we see is with Pinterest usage; among the 18-29 age group, married moms are 15% more likely to use Pinterest than single moms.
Let’s take a look at comparisons to the overall average of all social media users. All moms, both single and married, are more likely to use TikTok than the overall average. The same is true for Pinterest. Married moms of all ages are more likely to use Instagram than the overall average. However, LinkedIn usage among moms is low. In fact, the only group of moms with above average usage of LinkedIn is married moms aged 18-29.
Followers
Is your mom cooler than you? (Let’s be honest, moms are always cooler.) Compare your followers with the overall average followers of moms! Across the social media platforms listed, moms have the most followers on Facebook and the least followers on YouTube.
Panel
When looking at responses by panel, we see that Panel D consistently has the lowest percentages of moms who use social media. Panels A and B consistently have higher percentages of moms who use social media. Here, we see up to a 36-percentage-point difference between panels. This can be due to differences in panel makeup, management, and more. For instance, Panel A might have more moms aged 18-29, who we know are more likely to use social media.
As we see in this blog, consumer experiences vary greatly by both demographic and panel. This can have a significant impact on your data. For example, if someone had used only Panel B, they might think that more moms use social media than actually do. This is why strategic sample blending is the best practice to ensure any changes in your data are due to shifts in the market, not inconsistencies in your data. Happy Mother’s Day!
