Alpha Women Buy, Gamma Women Share

a guest post by Michelle Madhok

(www.bizchicksrule.com) — We know about Alpha Women, the financially high-powered ladies who spend on status purchases like cars and clothes. But a new report from the Meredith Corporation points out that there are also 55 million Gamma women, the very social counterparts to all those Alphas.

According to the report, these women are creative, enjoy sharing their talents and information, and value relationships and collaboration. So while an Alpha might be more likely to buy the $600 leather jacket of the season, a Gamma will tell her friends that your site has the best tips for finding the right one for your shape.

These are the women we want engaging in our web 2.0 efforts.

Characteristics of the Gamma woman:

• Collaborative and inclusive
• Feels empowered by information
• Values relationships of all kinds
• Defines success for herself Individualistic and self-actualizing
• Believes work should fit personal and family needs; not the other way around
• Strives to be healthy and is comfortable in her own skin
• Enjoys creative pursuits and opportunities for self-expression
• Environmentally conscious Faith and spirituality are important
• Willing to share her time and talents

Both Alphas and Gammas are valuable to your online community, albeit for very different reasons. How can we speak to both simultaneously without alienating either?

On an editorial site like ours, it can be as simple as varying the editorial voice (slightly), allowing different content to speak to different women. Within our friendly-expert voice, there are high-end apparel recommendations and forums for readers to share their own tips.

To make your brand relatable and appealing, especially to family- and socially-oriented Gammas, it’s important to stay involved in the conversation. If Alphas are buying status-symbol goods (and kicking some affiliate commissions or more interested advertisers your way), Gammas are the users you’re talking to on the message boards. Become a part of the network they enjoy communicating with, and you’ll see some very valuable new brand advocates share their enthusiasm for your product.

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Online shopping expert, Michelle Madhok, is the CEO of White Cat Media, Inc., publisher of blogs SheFinds.com and MomFinds.com, sites that help busy women shop online.

Tags: womens business blog, biz chicks rule, kristen king, michelle madhok, alpha women, gamma women, collaboration, community building, shefinds.com, momfinds.com