About brands, soulmates and online trends

As the week picks up speed on this busy monday morning, I'm picking up on many interesting developments via my Google feed reader. Much is happening in the world-wide marketing (and marketing-to-women) realm that is worth sharing:

I know I keep blogging about social media, but that's because I cannot emphasise the importance of social media enough as part of smart marketing to women campaigns.
An interesting podcast I found on PodTech that details the impact of social media on corporate marketing and PR functions and the latest trends in social media strategy and implementation.

Dating through brands? Now here's a very interesting concept from a marketeers' point of view:
BRAND-MATES is a site where people select as many or as little of the brands that are near and dear to their heart and then they can have some fun searching and connecting to other "like-branded people" to date, find a soul-mate, or maybe just find a friend.
Imagine the data and insights one can collect with this site!

Here's a title that made me stop in my tracks this morning:
"By 2012 women will outnumber men online by more than 8 million!"
Again, these are US statistics, but I think it is safe to assume the same trend will make itself felt here in Europe over the coming years too. Interesting in the excerpt below is the fact that 'women's community' was the most visited and fastest growing internet category! Marketeers, take note!

Author Kaira Sturdivant Rouda on why women are taking over the internet, so to speak:
"The important thing to realize is that women are natural networkers. We’ve been the community builders in the real world since the beginning of time. Think of the most important charities in your community. Most likely they were created by, and continue to be championed by, women. Now, there’s the web. “Women’s community” was the most visited and fastest growing internet category according to ComScore Media Metrix. Women are building community online as never before. And, they are using it for business. Social networking makes business more personal and intuitive. The formally defined lines in society are falling away - and finally, work and family can become more blended."