It’s not news that Dell has really stepped up their game when it comes to social media. Not only do they have some great community forums but they have spent a great deal of time and resources listening to their customers in order to make better products.

I was really impressed by Dell’s announcement yesterday, not only of their new line of Latitude notebook computers, but also of their DigitalNomads.com community. It’s a beautiful site with lots of opportunities to contribute content, articles and generally engage as a digital nomad. Of course Dell had a press conference, but they also engaged media and the public by providing updates on Twitter, answering questions as Twitter users asked them and sending links every few minutes. Dell’s chief blogger, Lionel Menchaca, blogged about digitalNomads and the Latitude line of computers at Direct2Dell and photos of the Latitude events went up on Flickr. All this to say that Dell really brought it to this announcement.

Dell wasn’t always this social media saavy. They probably once pumped out dull press releases in an attempt to garner media interest. With this new line of notebook computers, they put real though into a community that engages their consumers directly and that speaks to a group of people who use their products in a very specific way.

Launches of new products/programs/initiatives can no longer rely on simply traditional PR tactics to succeed. They must be multi-faceted, reaching the consumer who will ultimately but the product, media who want to write about it and casual observers who may be future buyers. Smart PR people will think beyond the press release and regular media relations and find ways to truly build public excitement for new products. Way to go Dell!