Q&A With Debba Haupert of Girlfriendology

My friend Debba Haupert runs the website Girlfriendology  www.girlfriendology.com and she was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of her time to talk about her site, her marketing efforts, and her suggestions for building community and reaching women online.
 
The Czar: Debba, thanks for speaking with me.  Please tell my blog readers what Girlfiriendology is about.
DH:Girlfriendology is the online community for women based on inspiration, appreciation and celebration of female friendship. It is based on the biological need that females have for friendship and the benefits that girlfriends provide that make women healthier, happier, less stress, live longer and even feel more beautiful. So, female friendships are key to living a wonderful life. And, even bigger than that, when we have friendships, we’re more compassionate. So, if I have a girlfriend in another area of town or country, we care more about that community. Friendships make the world a better place.
 
The Czar: What are some of the more popular features on Girlfriendology?
DH:  Basically Girlfriendology is an inspiring site that promotes friendship among women through blogs, podcasts, videos, contests, shopping, reviews and more. Weekly podcasts and our new live BlogTalkRadio show feature interviews with amazing women who share great girlfriend advice on all kinds of topics. Our monthly contests gathers great girlfriend stories that we share in a podcast and our blogs feature lots of insights and ideas on friendship.
 
The Czar: Recently I saw you give a presentation on "Women and Social Media", how do women tend to use social media differently from men?
DH: Research confirms – women are more social. (We all know that!) Well, that carries over in our use of social media. Women have different online patterns like we love to read and write blogs, and we often make our purchase decisions on input from blogs and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Women are building friendships online and create viral campaigns by sharing content with all their online friends.
  
The Czar: What trends regarding marketing to women and social media do you feel people need to be aware of?
DH: Women make or influence over 80% of consumer purchase decisions. Women often are purchasing managers or in positions where they make purchasing decisions for companies. So, for both B2B and B2C, women are the prime consumer. So, companies need to appeal to women and the way to reach women is often through social media. For example, Facebook is 63% female and is growing by 250,000 people per day. Companies interested in appealing to a female consumer need to at least start exploring social media and get in there and ‘start a conversation.’  
 
The Czar: What has been the most satisfying aspect of running Girlfriendology?
DH: The most satisfying aspects of Girlfriendology have been (1) the amazing stories from women on their friendships. These women inspire me on a daily basis and I have the great job of passing that along to the women who visit Girlfriendology.com – it’s awesome! (2) Another great benefit of Girlfriendology is all I’ve learned in the past three years. I have been able to experiment with social media and apply it to Girlfriendology and other clients I work with. With social media moving as fast as it does, this has been a great opportunity to learn and grow this online community.
 
The Czar: Of all the promotional tactics you've employed to drive traffic to the site, which ones have worked the best?
DH: Hmmm, you’re asking for my secrets, eh?! (-; Well, just because I like you (!), a few things that have worked have been podcasts with women like best-selling authors (like Debbie Macomber, Kate Jacobs and Kris Radish) – so when women search for them, they also find Girlfriendology. The new BlogTalkRadio show has brought in some new Girlfriendology fans. Our weekly newsletter is a great way to build community and share updates which is a good reminder to come back to the site. Links from other sites, comments on blogs and lots of content also contribute to our growing traffic.
 
The Czar: What are the details on your new radio show at BlogTalkRadio?
DH: Thanks for asking! We just started this live BlogTalkRadio show last week and will do it every Friday at 2:00pm EST for a fun, friend-filled Friday – www.blogtalkradio.com/girlfriendology. It’s pretty cool! Women can listen in, call in, chat online or even talk through their computer so they can get in on the discussion. We have some great guests scheduled for the coming shows too – sharing ‘girlfriend advice’ on fitness, health, business, love and more!
 
The Czar: What suggestions do you have for folks out there looking to "build community" online?
DH: Get in the conversation! Start exploring social media by participating in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Follow, comment, give back to others, let your personality show and reach out to others. Find others with whom you have something in common and get to know them. Know what your goals are and then build social media programs that can help you reach them. And have fun doing it! (And please follow me on Twitter.com/Girlfriendology!)


Thanks Debba!