To what extent is social media affecting the public relations industry? According to the Denver Business Journal, “in the past two years, social media has redefined the entire PR business.”

While I don’t think traditional print and broadcast journalists are going away anytime soon, it is true that social media such as blogs, Twitter and various networking sites have given PR professionals a whole new bag of tools to get their messages out to fragmented audiences.

With client budgets shrinking, using social media as part of your PR mix is a smart and cost-effective way to engage customers and prospects at a more personal level. And, as the article points out, creating online communities can lead to a surge in business, even in the midst of a recession.

To read the entire article, visit: http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/05/18/story6.html?b=1242619200^1829293&ana=e_vert

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.