As you will have undoubtedly heard Speed hosted a breakfast for Social Media Week today. The title was simple, ‘No more hot air’ and lets face it, the social media world has a bull**** control problem. It is full of PRs, online communicators, conversationists (WTF are they?) and self proclaimed gurus harping on about how social media will simply outdo all other forms of communication.

Yet the four case studies that were presented at the breakfast today all involved a blend of social media with more traditional forms of communication, like interacting with people in the real world.

The one that caught my eye the most was Nicola Savage’s work with The Cloud, the wireless broadband provider. Nicky and the team created a Facebook fan page and social media chatter to target Apple fans and industry commentators eagerly awaiting the launch of the iPhone, hopefully securing some coverage for The Cloud on the back of it all. Sure enough the branded fan page became populated and discussions were happening in the right places online.

However, it was the final personal touch that ensured the fantastic coverage for The Cloud.  The PROs took to the streets and met some of the fans on the Facebook page – who by this time were all queuing outside mobile phone stores. They dished out branded hoodies and beanies to the patient consumers, brought teas and coffees, made friends, chatted to them all and headed home to await the results.

Anyone who was interviewed outside these stores had The Cloud branding literally all over them. Also, those that may have forgotten all about The Cloud Facebook page after receiving their shiny new iPhone, were reminded of the friendly folk that gave them tea and biccies and many were prompted to include at least a mention of The Cloud in their iPhone reviews.

Sure, the social media side of things gave a good foundation to the whole campaign.  But it was the integration of more traditional forms of communication and PR tactics that binded the whole thing together and brought results.

Social media has opened up new communication channels. But all this nonsense about it being the stand alone platform on which all communication should take place is just trendy flatulence and nothing more.