This article was originally posted at Oxstein Labs.

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Here we are a short week after Old Spice enjoyed the biggest viral marketing campaign of 2010.  The Old Spice name is on the tip of millions of tongues and being read in tens of thousands of articles like this one.  And the big question is just starting to be asked, “Did that successful marketing campaign improve sales?”

The answer so far is “No.”  But to make a fuss about that at this early stage is a waste of time; not that it will stop writers across the blogoshpere and in the corporate media from pointing it out.  In fact you’ll probably read a lot about how Old Spice sales for 2010 are down 7%.  (Yes, even more PR generated from this campaign.)

Does a sales drop happening concurrently with Old Spice’s most successful marketing campaign in years mean that the commercials and viral videos drove sales down?  Of course not.  Correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

It also means that just because they didn’t generate a spike in sales, there is no way to know how well Q1 and Q2 2010 marketing efforts will help Old Spice in the coming months and years.  Especially if they develop ongoing social media marketing efforts to engage with old customers and new fans.

Short term numbers for the Old Spice Guy campaign were off the charts.  With over 5.9 million You Tube views and over 22,500 comments over the course of a few days, there is nothing to complain about.  And by the way, all of the 180 videos posted to You Tube for this campaign will now be working for Old Spice 24/7.  A tremendous marketing foundation has been built.

What the brilliant Old Spice viral videos will prove in the long run is what Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford Motor Company, says often, “Social media marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.”

Thinking that social media marketing efforts will result in immediate sales is short-sighted and will lead to unfulfilled expectations.  No, that’s not what companies want to hear.  Yes, it’s the actual truth and wanting it to be different will not make it so.

Social media marketing done well will increase brand awareness, generate positive word of mouth and drive interest in your company.  Traditional ROI metrics used for quarterly reviews cannot measure these benefits, which inaccurately undervalues their importance to the health of a growing business.

While social media marketing may show a positive effect on short term sales, that is not where the value lies.  The benefits of social media marketing are in building strong relationships and loyalty that drive up the lifetime value of repeat customers.

I loved the Old Spice videos.  They were some of the most interesting and creative marketing that has ever hit the interwebs.  My awareness of the Old Spice brand, like yours no doubt, is higher than ever.  Does that mean that I ran out and bought their products? Nope.

Was your reaction to the videos to go out and buy their products immediately? …or was it to click on some more of their entertaining content? …or to post the videos on your Facebook page or blog?  …or to email links to the videos to your friends?

My dad still uses Old Spice and I never have.  I’ll now consider them to be a hipper brand that is doing a great job at updating their image.  I will pay more attention to them now and might possibly buy a product from them in the future, though right now I have no plans to do so.  But before this campain they weren’t even on my radar and if they keep it up I may become a new and repeat customer.

This post first appeared on the Oxstein Labs blog.

Isaiah, the new Old Spice pitch man, makes the men laugh and the ladies swoon.  His commercials generated so much heat that television could not contain him.  Now Isaiah and Old Spice are social media darlings spreading viral smiles across the globe.

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Isaiah is now in the pantheon of commercial celebrities like the “What’s the Beef?” Wendy’s Lady and the Burger King King who most recently showed up on chat roulette giving away coupons in a smart social media play. While Isaiah is at his peak, and after the World Cup domination of Twitter has ended, Old Spice rolled out this campaign that everybody’s talking about.

In a brilliant PR move,  Isaiah has spent the last couple of days responding directly to bloggers, journalists, celebrities and random Twitter followers through well crafted, funny and sensual You Tube videos.  He even asked a woman to marry a man who requested that Isaiah deliver the proposal for him. The “Isaiah Talks to You” social media marketing campaign hits high notes few have seen.

The Old Spice You Tube channel is bursting at the seams with entertaining videos that you can’t help sharing with others.Though you won’t have enough time to watch them all at least check out the Alyssa Milano response above (which will surely get Isaiah a date) and the Justine Bateman response.

Rick Bakas gives a good overview of why this social media marketing campaign is so effective with some points that are worth repeating. The big takeaway for anyone interested in beefing up their social media marketing is to connect with influencers who care about your product or service.

Isaiah’s first videos responded to bloggers and journalists that had written about the Old Spice commercials.  They have huge audiences, and like all people, they like to hear their own name.  If Isaiah responded to you in a You Tube video how many people would you tell?

The main ingredients of the Old Spice social media marketing campaign come together to show how online and offline branding can work amazingly well together with good strategy.  What we can all learn from this, besides the fact that sex still sells (especially when the bare chested man speaks directly to the ladies by name), is that social media marketing has hit the mainstream.

Major corporations are building relationships with their audiences in more and more creative ways.  Social media has moved the needle to being a very powerful tool that any brand can use to generate awareness, interest and more sales.  So who is your Isaiah and when are you rolling out your next campaign?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A friend sent this to me on Facebook and it struck me.  We talk about how things have changed so much in our lifetimes, but we usually reference things like 8 track tapes and vinyl records switching to compact discs and bytes on an iPod. Did you realize that the patent for the compact disc was filed in 1966 and the first one wasn’t produced until 1982?

But think about how much your life has changed just in the last 10 years from advances in technology.  Can you remember life before you had an email address or a cell phone?  This video is from a newscast in 1981, almost 20 years ago.  Look how how far we’ve come with the advancement of Moore’s Law.

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What made watching this even funnier to me was that I saw my friend’s email on my iPad and clicked a link to go to Facebook to read the message.  Then I clicked into YouTube and watched this on a thin crisp iPad screen.  That’s normal today.  ‘Normal’ when this was broadcast was to move the rabbit ears on a TV the size of a bank safe to get good reception and cable TV was a new phenomenon.

We have definitely hit the age of participatory media.  Old mass media is very sick and broadcast methods of interruption marketing have gone from annoying to impotent, but I don’t agree with the idea that mass media will die.  It will be re-engineered like all industries must in this time of change.

According to the loud mouths in the media, the birth of TV was supposed to kill radio.  Then cable TV was supposed to kill standard TV.  Then VCR home recording was supposed to kill visits to movie theaters.  Now the internet and video games are supposed to kill TV.  It’s just more ‘look, the sky is falling’ hoo-hah.  (And any opportunity to use the word ‘hoo-hah’ is one I’ll take because it’s fun to say.)

Even newspapers will never die.  The industries of the past are crumbling and newspaper subscriptions will continue declining, but they’ll always be around in some fashion.

That said, the era of participatory media is in full force.  It was a babe when blogs and YouTube hit the scene, but  now it’s how young people get most of their news.

As generation Y is poised to dominate the population in a few years, all communication and business marketing methods are shifting to two-way or multi-channel platforms like blogs and Twitter.  Gone are the days where advertisers could win the day by shouting unwanted messages to an unsuspecting public or when you had to wait until TV told you what was happening in your world.

I’s all about community, transparency, trust agents, authenticity and tribes.  Although, for now the signal to noise ratio is still way off as old school people and companies still try to use new multi-channel platforms to broadcast obnoxious marketing messages no one wants without being genuine contributors to conversations people are looking to have.  If they aren’t helping, they’re hurting.  But they’ll learn, or they’ll die.

On another note, you probably remember the famous “Wassup” superbowl commercial in 2000.  What you may not know is that is was originally a short film done by a college student and then Budweiser hired him to remake it into a commercial with beer.

Watch the original ad below and the follow up to it in 2008 with the same actors.  Note how this user generated content (UGC) powerfully conveys information about how the world changed in eight years.  Then think about how much information you’ve learned in the last week or month from UGC videos, blog posts, Twitter tweets and other sources.  It’s a brave new world.

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The times they are a changin’…

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So you finally got on Twitter and feel like you have nothing worthwhile to say.  You’re not alone.  I have clients asking me what to say on Twitter all the time.

First off, you really are more interesting than you think.  Just as you’re harder on your physical appearance than others are, you’re harder on what makes you cool too.

Secondly, tweeting (typing and broadcasting up to 140 characters) is like public speaking.  The #1 sin is to bore your audience.  Tweet what you find entertaining or informative and you’ll be adding value to the Twittersphere.

Here are the Top Ten ways to dive deeper into the Twitter conversation:

1.  Follow interesting people and do what they do. If the people you follow on Twitter aren’t educating and informing you then  search out the people who do.  I follow moms, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and high school kids that I learn from and share with.

See what types of conversations you respond to.  If something makes you smile or laugh, it will make other people feel good too.  Start or join those conversations.

2. Become a more conscious observer. Whenever you hear a funny response in your head to something you just saw or heard or felt tweet that.  Again, if it amuses or informs you it will have the same affect on others and they’ll appreciate your sharing it.

3. Comment on current events. If it’s in the news or your friends are talking about it that means people are interested in that topic right now.  Use Twitter Search to see the Top Ten trending topics people are tweeting about at any given moment.

You probably have a unique perspective on things that are happening.  Maybe not and you truly are the most boring person alive, but I doubt it.  Boring people aren’t interested in connecting on Twitter.

4. Write like you’re talking to your best friend after having 2 glasses of wine. This one is tricky.  Tweeting while intoxicated isn’t always a great idea since what’s funny while drunk isn’t always funny when you’re sober, but sharing authentic thoughts is a great way to attract interest.

5. Comment on other conversations. It’s much easier to join a conversation than to start one.  If you have insight or experience or an opionion (and who doesn’t?) then tweet it.

6. Ask questions. People on Twitter love to help.  If you’re having trouble with work, computers, parenting, your car, whatever, mention it.  I had a Time Machine backup problem and @bldngnerd even created a Camtasia video to help me out because it was easy for him.  Now I’m giving him props every time I teach people about Twitter.

7. If it makes you emotional tweet it.  When something makes you pissed off, laugh, cry, vent to your friends or causes celebration in your heart it’s going to connect with others.

8. Link to content you like. Always add a personal comment, but tweet links to blog posts, news articles, YouTube videos, TED talks, this blog post, or any other online content you browse and find value in.

9. Send appreciation to others. Everyone wants to be noticed, understood and acknowledged.  When you read a tweet that moves you reply publicly to that person.

10. Tweet what has your attention. Mention great books, films, TV shows, sporting events, concerts, theater shows, conferences and events that you like.

If you still can’t find ways to add value to the Twittersphere then let me know and I’ll consider starting an annual award for the World’s Most Boring Person and add you as the first nominee.