Presentation sharing site SlideShare today adds a new Channels service to its professional content sharing arsenal, allowing businesses and brands to create custom microsites within the community. With Channels, companies can create a branded channel for sharing professional content including presentations, whitepapers and webinars, or sponsor a topical content channel curated by SlideShare staff.

Combined with the LeadShare and AdShare programs launched in late 2009, businesses can develop integrated social media campaigns, from custom brand experience to lead generation to targeted promotion of professional content to the large community of business leaders and decision makers that comprise SlideShare’s more than 25 million unique visitors per month.

The above screenshot showcases a highly customizable branded channel experience for Microsoft Office, while the below image depicts the second curated channel option. In the latter, the focus is on curating great content within SlideShare to incorporate around a chosen topic (virtualisation, in the example below). Interested users can follow a particular channel to get notified of new updates.

Speaking with CEO and Co-founder Rashmi Sinha, it is discovered that companies and organizations account for the lion’s share of SlideShare’s recent traffic growth, up 400% in 2009. The site’s newest suite of services from LeadShare and AdShare to today’s Channels announcement seems to wisely target that growing audience sector, giving businesses new tools to leverage social media for brand engagement surrounding professional presentation and whitepaper content.

Has your business or organization used SlideShare to share professional content? Are there any topics you’d like to see covered as curated channels?