By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Last week I wrote about some new research on how moms are using their mobile devices for shopping. Here's some other new insights that find that moms are 20% more likely to use social media across all devices than the general population.

BabyCenter, with comScore, revealed this new data that states 91% of moms now use social media regularly, a 20% increase since 2010. And, 22% of moms say that if friends or family don’t participate in social media, they are not as much a part of their lives. Mike Fogarty at BabyCenter, says “... before mom clicks to buy, she’s posted, pinned, tweeted, and shared... so much a part of a her life... (she checks) social platforms... before first cup of coffee... now fundamental to... moms’... lives...”

Here's another new promotion that we're involved in that is targeted to these moms. The Huggies Little Hands, Big Plans Contest invites participants to write an essay about the big plans they have for their child. Two lucky winners a month for five months will each reach $5,000 to help them make their dream come true. This contest is sponsored by Huggies' parent company, Kimberly Clark, Corp., in conjunction with DollarGeneral.com.

We are again working with Triad Retail Media who specialize in creating and managing online media programs for major retail e-commerce websites such as Dollar General as well as Walmart, Sam's Club, CVS and Toys R Us. They create custom digital ad campaigns for a variety of national brands to help them reach their customers and engage with shoppers while they’re doing researching and making final purchasing decisions.

The entry form for this contest asks participants to provide their mobile phone number and then invites them to sign up for DG Mobile Text alerts to receive text messages about Dollar General's events and coupons. This is one initiative Dollar General is using to grow their mobile phone message list in order to reach these key customers. Last week's survey stated that SMS was the only category that a majority (52%) of moms said they used to incorporate mobile into their shopping experience.

A panel of judges will be reviewing all the contest submissions and twice a month pick the top two winners based on the following criteria: Creativity/Originality (25%); Quality of Submission (25%); and Fit to Contest Theme (50%). There are already 60 entries from the first week of the contest. It will be interesting to see the number of entries and how many new mobile text alert subscribers Dollar General gains. Contest ends September 30, 2013.

This appears to be the year that retail e-commerce marketers are definitely focused on mobile marketing, especially mobile marketing to women!