Utilizing a Blogger(s) to Spread the Company Brand

A quick example. A friends company found a popular blogger who had spoken highly of the company's brand. Just prior to launching a new product, the company sent the blogger a free sample, inviting him to review it with "no strings attached."

The end result: The blogger wrote a favorable review and generated a flood of comments. So the company got nearly free publicity and feedback. This blogger is a very popular blogger on a very popular blog with thousands of followers as well as content that is syndicated. Product sales surged 35% right after the article/review was written. The traffic to the company's website from the blog tripled (as tracked by google analytics data). Welcome to Marketing Web 2.0.

Las Vegas Hotel/Casino Social Media Review Primer

I'm finally putting together my Las Vegas Hotel/Casino social media review. In this review I will contact 5-10 Hotel/Casino's in Las Vegas and ask them the following questions:

Do they have a Social Media Strategy & how responsive is their PR communications with Bloggers?

What Social Media tools are these companies using? i.e., Tweeter? Podcasts? Video? Advertising on social media sites?

Which Social Media sites are they using to promote their Brand?

How do they measure success?

I will take the first five (5) companies to respond back to me. I will contact them (PR department) first by email, then if they don't respond, by phone. Scoring will be based on the A,B,C,D,F grading system. I'm curious to see if this industry fully embraces the web/PR 2.0 environment. Hang tight people, the review is coming!