Spread the word! Your digital edition is social network friendly and you can easily create links to your digital publications from your favorite social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, and more. Engaging your readers is much easier to do when they know what your publication is about. And aside from encouraging your readers to share and social bookmark pages and articles, actively integrating digital editions into an existing social media strategy will offer visitors both new and old, quick access to your brand and will help increase reader interest and grow online circulation.

Remember, digital editions are not meant to replace printed magazines or publications — at least not yet. Although there are quite a few publishers employing a digital edition only strategy for circulation or to offset their print production costs, the growth in digital publication trends has much more to do with their marketing potential and brand awareness opportunities. Today's readers are much more apt to read status updates on Facebook, newsletter updates from their favorite blogs and follow their favorite RSS feeds before wading through hundreds of articles on a new website or waiting for a sample magazine to arrive.

Using your digital editions in social media gives readers and followers a clear picture of what your brand looks like, what your brand is about and what your brand has to offer. But make sure not to over due it. You don't want to force readers who enjoy your blogs, web articles and printed magazines into reading only your digital edition. You simply need to make it a viable option to them and make your publication easily accessible.

Below are a few tips on how to integrate digital editions into your current social media strategies:

Facebook - Does your magazine currently have a fan page or do you have a large number of friends? Then add a link to your digital edition on your boxes page or to the sidebar of your profile page. You can even add your animated flipping icon to your page by adding the Flash Embed application. And don't forget to periodically include links to interesting digital edition articles or announce the latest issue in your status updates.

Twitter - Twitter is a powerful tool for promoting your publication, your content and communicating with your audience. While you're tweeting about the latest industry trends, magazine content or what your publication is up to, make sure to drop an occasional link to your digital edition articles. It's a great way for new followers to not only get the information they were after, but also become more familiar with your publication.

Digg - You may already be pushing your articles and blogs to Digg but did you know you can also feed your magazine articles to Digg? Just click on any of your magazine's article titles and click on the Add This look to share your articles with Digg and other networks. And if you're already a Digger, then including links to your digital editions in your blog and article posts will help readers learn more about your magazine.

Flickr and YouTube - If your magazine distributes images and videos through social media channels then make sure to include links to relevant magazine articles or articles that use those images. If someone liked what they saw on Flickr or YouTube, then there is a strong chance they'd like to read about it, too.

Ning - Ning provides a powerful tool for publishers to create their own niche social network around their brand. If you already have a thriving ning community then including a link to your magazine in the main sidebar and following up on events or contests printed in your magazine will help your audience stay engaged in your brand. 

LinkedIn - Even our favorite professional network isn't left out. Although status updates may not be followed by "connections" quite as diligently in LinkedIn as other networks, their are plenty of other channels there to communicate with your audience. Many publishers (especially b-2-b publishers) have deployed groups with open discussions and news updates about their industry. Including links to articles of interest, providing "Answers" with links to articles and announcing new issues can be a great way of keeping your connections up-to-date with your magazine.

Remember, these are just a few tips on including digital editions in your existing social media strategies and helping your readers stay engaged with your publications. If you haven't developed a social media strategy yet, then we strongly encourage you to research your audience and develop a strategy that'll help you engage with your audience in their comfort zone. LinkedIn may not be the best place for a teen magazine and MySpace may not be the proper place for a circuit board manufacturing magazine. Spending the time to research and develop a plan before diving into social networks will help you establish real relationships with your audience and grow your circulation.