Having been to a number of IAB workshops over recent months as well as the Social Media World Forum earlier this week, I’ve heard a lot of opinions and views about how brands need to ‘become social’.

We all know that social media is growing in importance with marketers and as a result there has been a rush of brands investing in social media campaigns.  However, this at times has been done with brands not taking a step back and realising that in order to implement a truly strategic social media presence, they need to fully understand and embrace the medium – essentially becoming social themselves inside and out – before engaging with the outside world.

Why is this so important?  Primarily brands need to ensure a consistent tone and message across all facets of the brand from the marketing department all the way through to those who are face to face with consumers on a daily basis. We talk a lot about consumers collaborating with one another and interacting with brands but what about how the brand interacts internally?

Last year we had an example where one of the Navigate team went to Domino’s to claim a free pizza which was promoted via foursquare. My colleague was initially denied his free pizza (despite showing the relevant offer to the Domino’s restaurant manager) however after protesting and several calls to the head office, the offer was verified and the free pizza was redeemed. This is just one example, but it amplifies the importance of sharing knowledge across all levels of a business – not just the marketing department.  Only when this is achieved can a brand truly be seen as being authentic and true – not only externally, but internally too.

Essentially, ‘being social’ isn’t all about investing hundreds and thousands of pounds into social platforms.

We need to strive for a step change in how brands understand social media and steer towards internal collaboration from the top down.  Without this, we face the situation where a brand is portraying one image via social media but when it comes to the product/service itself there is a huge disparity.

I understand that this is not as easy as it sounds especially for larger brands but in the long term an investment (not necessarily financial) is required – particularly where face to face interaction with the consumers is key.

I think we all know ‘doing’ social media isn’t something that should tag along at the end of a digital campaign but an ongoing internal social commitment is required in the long term. Social is still seen by many brands as ‘something we do’ rather than ‘something we are’ and we all have a responsibility to help this change.