Pepsi recently launched “We Inspire”, a social networking site geared towards African-American women. Edited by Nichelle Stephens, the site invites African-American women to share inspirational thoughts across six categories: beauty, laughter, joy, hope, wisdom, and love. African-American celebrities such as Queen Latifah, Taraji Henson, Keyshia Cole, and Raven Symone offer their inspirations along with the rest of the community. Users can log into the site using Facebook Connect and vote for their favorite stories, or share their own inspirational anecdotes.

PepsiWeInspire is part of one of Pepsi’s larger campaigns, according to Lauren Scott, senior manager of multicultural marketing:

Scott said the push is a natural offshoot of Pepsi’s overarching optimism message featured in its “Refresh Everything” push. “What we wanted to capture is the strength, joy and wisdom of the African-American market. Particularly in these tough times, this group can look around every day and find optimism,” she said.

via Pepsi Program Targets African-American Moms.

This new site, as well as others from American Airlines and the NBA, highlights a trend among companies to target multicultural segments using social media as part of larger marketing campaigns. This allows multicultural marketing to be operate across media platforms while also remaining adaptable to changes in the marketplace.