The emergence of social media is significantly changing the current media landscape. The days of newspapers, magazines and network news programs have given way to a new generation of information sharing on the Internet. Blogs, social networking sites such as Second Life and Facebook and video-sharing sites like YouTube have changed the way information is being accessed, shared and personally processed.You may be thinking that social media, often called Web 2.0, is the sole domain of today’s teenagers and tech-savvy professionals. Not true. With its far-reaching impact, social media can provide new opportunities for organizations to reach, engage and retain audiences in a transparent way through digital channels.

PR and marketing professionals, as well as forward-thinking organizations, are realizing that these new media tools have legitimate business applications and are integrating them into traditional PR campaigns. According to Technorati, of the 112.5 million blogs on the Web, 5,000 are corporations using social media elements such as blogs to reach their core audiences. And that number will continue to grow. Well-known names such as Coca Cola, Starbucks, Delta Airlines and Kodak have dabbled in social media, launching corporate blogs to drive online discussions and reach audiences where they’re at the most – online.

While social media presents new opportunities for companies to promote their products and services it also comes with challenges that need to be considered before implementing a campaign. There are books, conferences and companies dedicated to the education of the pros and cons of social media, but there’s only one cardinal rule – BE TRANSPARENT. Whether your CEO is writing his/her own blog, commenting on another or sharing information with a Facebook group, it’s imperative to remain open and transparent with your audience.

Below is a quick primer on social media elements to consider integrating into your overall communications strategy:

* Corporate Blogs

A corporate blog can serve as a platform to interact with journalists, consumers and other key audiences in an intimate manner. It also offers an opportunity to establish thought leadership and drive online discussions about relevant topics or trends the author/company are passionate about.

* Spokesbloggers

Spokesbloggers are employees who are already active in the blogosphere either through their own personal blogs or by commenting on other blogs/outlets. Spokesbloggers can be used as “champions” to insert the company, its products or services into the online dialogue in a non-marketing manner. They should be used to speak on behalf of the company as opposed to themselves.

* Social Community Campaigns

Companies can create viral buzz around a compelling piece, news or product by launching a social community through Facebook, Second Life or MySpace. These groups offer another platform for the company to share photos, videos, announcements and other relevant information to engage users online and drive word of mouth.

* Viral Video Campaigns

Like advertisements, creating videos and posting to video-sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo or Vidder is another way companies can raise visibility. The videos can be anything from a product demo, keynote presentation or fun creative videos targeted at consumers.

A great example of a successful viral video campaign was done last year by BigFix, a Bay Area enterprise software company. BigFix decided to implement a viral video campaign to establish itself as one of the few honest software companies in the market. The fictitious campaign was set in Washington, D.C., to investigate the heavy-handed billing practices (and over-promises) of big enterprise software companies. They launched a fake news site which featured a series of videos of an actor being grilled by a fictitious Software Truth Commission.

That initiative garnered 250,000 visits to the BigFix site, 370,000 page views and 1.2 million downloads, more traffic than from the company’s ads on Google. In addition, the campaign drove a significant amount of business leads to the company.

As PR professionals we’re always looking at how these mediums can help amplify clients’ message to journalists and consumers and create evangelists for the brand. As the social media landscape evolves integrating social media elements will become even more critical for organizations who want to stay competitive. We’ll continue to explore these topics in future postings.