As the US media landscape changes, successful companies must increasingly learn new rules of engagement — particularly for fluid digital media.

What's more, they must pursue cost-effective and measurable ways to engage the public online, especially in the areas of search and social networking, according Edelman Digital.

To help organizations navigate the mutable world of digital communications, SVP/Director Steve Rubel of Insights for Edelman wrote a report (pdf) that outlines five digital trends to watch in 2009. He also included recommendations on what companies must do to stay successful, MarketingCharts writes.

Edelman's five digital trends:

1. PR Meets Customer Service:
Consumers increasingly use social media to demand better service, forcing the blending of customer care and PR functions. By turning to social media (such as Twitter) rather than call centers when they have problems with products and services, they air grievances in a public forum — and potentially affect brand reputation.

These insistent demands for immediate action force companies — both large and small — to adapt their business practices to respond in real-time, and without rehearsal, to consumers. Companies are advised to keep a watchful eye on search sites like Summize.com, which enables them to see what Twitter users are saying about their brands in real-time — then act as quickly as possible.

2. Media Reforestation: The media is transitioning rapidly from a print to a digital model. This process includes three major components:

• The erosion of tangible media
• The blending of news and information sources
• The rise of search and aggregation technologies.

This environment poses both challenges and opportunities, Edelman said, adding that companies that take a broad, flexible, holistic view of the media ecosystem — rather than looking at it as just traditional vs. online — will succeed in the new landscape.

Brands are advised to encourage marketing, PR and customer support to work in tangent to harness social media — which, for a consumer, blends all three.

3. No More Overload: Information overload is forcing consumers into "selective ignorance" and using friends as filters. Egged on by decades of being deluged with new media and new technologies to deliver it, overworked Americans put a higher premium on simplicity and quality of information sources.

This movement toward minimalism compels companies to slim messages down and create personal filters that screen out all but the most relevant content. At the same time, consumers more heavily rely on peers — rather than media outlets and traditional authority figures — for advice and guidance. The marketers and communicators that succeed will be those that provide utility, create integrated strategies that work with both peers and the media, and understand and optimize search.

4. Personal Brands Can Help Companies: In the past, a CEO and his/her executive team were the only ones authorized to serve as a voice of a corporation. Now, "personal branding" and active career stewardship are on a dramatic rise as workers flock to social media sites in an effort to invest in their own brands. (For example, Zappos, Ning and GoDaddy have a number of employees that participate on Twitter — both as themselves, and as corporate representatives.)

Rather than squashing or over-regulating these efforts, smart companies recognize that these individuals — if channeled and guided appropriately — can become social figureheads that improve the brand experience. Organizations that "get all the oars moving" in one direction — and lend their employees some degree of social flexibility — will be in a stronger position to be heard amidst the noise.

5. The Importance of Digital Discoverability: Where pushing messages to mass audiences (e.g. paid and earned media) once ruled, it's now crucial to create digital content that people discover through online search. This means brands must write for searchers as well as readers, and create content that consumers, bloggers and traditional journalists will "pull" through search engines and social networks.

Companies that engage with the public, create content that reaches stakeholders directly, and adopt a simple and utilitarian approach to the new media landscape will be the most likely to flourish in the future, Rubel/Edelman concluded.