MASHABLE — You know those YouTube videos with that manly Old Spice guy and his hilarious responses to Twitter fans? Of course you do. So does everybody, it seems, because Old Spice body wash sales have increased 107% in the past month in part thanks to that social media marketing campaign. We already published stats from video analytics company Visible Measures that made it clear that the Old Spice guy was a hugely successful initiative from marketing firm Wieden + Kennedy, achieving millions of viral video views quicker than past hits like Susan Boyle and U.S. President Barack Obama’s election victory speech. The statistic of the 107% sales increase over the past month comes from Nielsen, which also revealed that sales increased 55% over the past three months...

A SHEL OF MY FORMER SELF — Augie Ray speaks with FIR co-host Shel Holtz about "The ROI of Social Media Marketing," a new research report that goes beyond the financial measures to address a variety of ways to assess the impact of companies’ social media efforts. According to Forrester, "Social media marketing delivers a wide range of benefits to organizations that are beneficial in the short term and long term in ways both quantitative and qualitative. To properly value the impact of their social media marketing investments, interactive marketers must align their objectives, metrics, targets, and strategies across four perspectives -- the financial perspective, the digital perspective, the brand perspective, and the risk management perspective"...

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — Earlier this month, social media darlings around the internet were singing the praises of Old Spice, with Mashable claiming that the now infamous campaign was the "future of marketing" and that the agency involved, Wieden + Kennedy, had set a "standard marketing experts will admire and follow in the years to come." Now, various marketing blogs and online news sources are reporting that sales have "fallen by 7%." But, with barely a week gone since Mr Old Spice conversed with "everyone" on YouTube, is it simply too early to predict ROI from the campaign? Looking at the numbers, it seems the original analysis of the drop in sales may be flawed...

THE SOCIAL TIMES — The continued proliferation of social networks, further growth of streaming video and the domination of  free mobile apps in the marketplace. No surprises there. But taking a closer look at the quarterly New Media Measure study issued by Interpret reveals a number of less obvious trends in media behaviors, device ownership, attitudes and product consumption. Social networking shows no hints of waning popularity, as usage of social networks has increased 20 percent from the first quarter of 2009. Facebook remains the leader, growing 33% over the past year. Facebook has also become a boon for casual gaming, eclipsing Yahoo! as the most visited gaming site among casual gamers – 28% in the past month have played a game on Facebook (versus 21% for Yahoo!)...

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — Imagine an advertising and marketing platform that reaches billions around the world, and doesn’t cost you a penny. Free to get involved, free to share and promote content, with a massive locked-in audience who will actively promote your content for you. Unfortunately it doesn’t exist. Social media is many things but despite several statements to the contrary, free is not one of them. Many companies planning a social media campaign are attracted by the seemingly low set up costs and ongoing overheads involved, but scrape away that optimistic surface and you’ll find there’s a need for real investment if you want your campaign to function properly...