I am an avid reader of Louis Gray’s blog. I have always enjoyed his reviews and in depth thoughts in the world of social media and networking. Join Seth Godin, Louis Gray, and Mashable and you have a trifecta of viral, social media knowledge!

Recently Louis Gray wrote a post about Social|Median. Social|Median is a social news network that connects people with personalized news and information. Social|Median is a fairly new service launched around the beginning of March 2008. We can only imagine the promotions problem a new social media site faces when a launch date nears. There are numerous beta programs launched daily. Social|Median figured it out.

They supported a contest where their users voted for their favorite “news source” in the blogging world. Louis Gray happened to win a new iPhone 3G through the Social|Median. The president of Social|Median tweeted that Louis Gray had won the contest. Louis Gray, in turn, posted a blog talking about the contest and how we won the iPhone. He also propped up the Social|Median twitter account by posting a link to the actual tweet.

Whether or not Social|Median used the contest as a way to gain promotion through a famous blogger, it still goes to show the promotional contest still works. Social|Median received increased exposure because of awarding Louis Gray the iPhone 3G.

As business owners, artists, and employees what can we learn from the Social|Median contest?