This past weekend a group of 8 mom bloggers were taken out to a rural county in Illinois to showcase all that the region offered. While blogger events are commonplace in big cities - for small towns like Galena, IL the idea of bringing in bloggers is incredibly innovative.

The trip was a year in the making and was a big step for the county in terms of digital outreach. Celestino Ruffini, the Director of Sales & Marketing for Jo Daviess County told us he expected it to be the talk of business owners up and down main street. He said:

"The ROI from this trip is immeasureable - it is obviously going to provide some quantitative data through things like unique visitors to our website and increased followers to our Twitter account and Facebook page... but in the end [it's about the business owners] who are learning that social media & blogging can have a positive effects on the tourism industry."

The county isn't replacing traditional media buys, they're simply using the bloggers as a supplement to their print and online advertising efforts. They hope to be a model for how to integrate social media for other rural areas across the country.

Celestino said mom bloggers were specifically targeted because when they reviewed who was following their Twitter account they found moms to be the common thread. Plus, families are taking shorter trips closer to home and Galena is a 3 hour drive from Chicago - where many of the women are from.

MomImpact.com helped organize the trip and got connected with the tourism board after tweeting about a visit to the area last summer.

The group visited historical sites such as Ulysses S. Grant's home, toured an alpaca farm and were taken up in a hot air balloon. Tracey of Just Another Mommy Blog wrote it was the generosity of strangers that impressed her the most. She talks up a local businessman who opened up his closed shop to show them around. "He thought we were just a group of women, walking by. Little did he know that we were there on a trip to get the scoop on Galena!"

{photos: littletechgirl}