If you’re a regular visitor to this blog then you’ll no doubt have noticed just how much we love talking about social media and just how much it has changed the way we practise PR.

But when you consider the stunning results that a well-executed social media campaign can achieve then it’s not particularly hard to see the reason why.

Take the case of an unusual attraction at an amusement park and zoo in Florida, where volunteers are invited to take part in a tug of war with one of the world’s most formidable animals.

Visitors to Busch Gardens theme park in Tampa Bay can pit their strength against a 450 lb Bengal tiger by tugging on a rope that is passed through a whole in a cage to the mouth of the tiger at the other end.

The challenge has proved consistently popular with visitors of all ages over the years and even small children have been known to take part in what appears to be a rather unequal contest.

But now, all of a sudden, the attraction has seen a massive upsurge in interest directly as a result of a simple Facebook campaign, in which users of the site are invited to take up the tiger tug challenge online.

With more than 1,500 Facebook users getting involved in just the first three days and several videos of the tug-of-war contests appearing on YouTube, it was only a matter of time before newspapers from across the world stepped in to cover the story.

Given that the challenge at Busch Gardens had been running for several years, you could hardly describe the attraction as breaking news. Yet it is only now that the story has finally made both national and international headlines.

Few could argue with the fact that putting social media to good PR use is what has made all this possible. And our advice to anyone considering a public relations campaign is that social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are now something that you simply cannot afford to ignore.