Last year, magazine publisher Meredith Corp. produced a report that revealed the rise of what Meredith dubbed "Gamma Women" -- influential and well-connected women who share and exchange information.

After identifying Gammas and touting their importance, Meredith is looking for ways to use its network of high-powered female readers as a marketing tool. Meredith, which publishes women's magazines like More, Ladies Home Journal and Better Homes and Gardens, estimates that its Gamma audience is 55 million American women strong.

So now Meredith has partnered with women's marketing network SheSpeaks to launch a new product that will take advantage of its Gamma network, spread word about products through Meredith's magazines and promote products and brands through word of mouth. This new marketing approach can be tailored for each specific product or brand, Meredith said.

Meredith will also be able to place products within its social networking sites on its Women's Network, target Gamma women with product samples, focus on "Gamma bloggers" to ramp up the word of mouth marketing of products and help Gammas host parties centered around products through its partnership with House Party, a marketing company that helps consumers throw at-home parties.

"Since we released the Gamma report last year, we've received an overwhelming response from marketers and advertisers," said Nancy Weber Meredith's chief marketing officer in a release about the new marketing product. "The current economic environment has caused brands to reevaluate where they spend their marketing and advertising dollars and seek opportunities that reach highly engaged consumers at great scale."

Although it sounds sort of like a sorority, we have to admit we've met Gamma women -- those influential, well-connected ladies that are always clued in on the latest products and trends. It's not a bad idea to try to harness their power to promote products, but will they cooperate?

Meredith, which had four of the top five magazines showing ad growth in July, has been working on a number of new promotional initiatives recently. In May, the company announced a cross-promotional effort with women-centric television network WE tv. And just last week, the company revealed that it had redesigned More magazine's Web site, More.com, and made it part of the Real Girls Media Network, which is a group of social communities for women partly owned by Meredith. Starting in May, the redesigned site broke out nine different channels for women to explore, including standards like fashion, beauty and health and unique More channels like "reinvent yourself" and "passions."