The following post is part of an ongoing blog mini-series titled: Without A Strong Brand, You Ain’t Got Jack So…cial! A Dozen Rules For Attracting & Keeping Your Social Consumer.

To all of you brand haters that think social media makes the brand less important, please. Brands are actually more valuable than ever before – both personal and business.

I’m not going to name names, but there’s a good chunk of the swelling social media consultant population that spends more time chirping about their expertise than they do focused on their own brand.

Tip: if you’re ever considering hiring one of the self-proclaimed “experts” to help you build and grow your social media presence, make sure they practice what they preach and have done a bang up job on their own brand before you let them get within a decent WI-FI connection of yours.

After all, if a social media consultant or agency’s Facebook page fails to inspire, how can they be trusted to handle your brand and budget? They can’t.

Brand is your look, tone, feel, and differentiating talent all wrapped into one.  Take the time to figure yours out.

I’ve listed only highlighted 8 categories in the image above, but when you activate a brand right it can extend into basically everything; from business cards, email signatures, hold music, human resources, all the way down to the office furniture and wall paint.

By all means, educate your internal and external staff too. Having multiple voices coming from a single brand just confuses people.

The goal of this social thing is to connect with new friends. To make strangers comfortable with you are. With that said, don’t leave them scratching their heads as you put on a social media ventriloquist show.

If you run a deli known for outrageous corned beef sandwiches, does your menu reflect this brand equity and your brand personality? Is there a disconnect between your website and the interior design of your restaurant? More importantly, have you checked to make sure the person running your Facebook page isn’t a vegan?

I’m deadly serious.

There are businesses out there paying a lot of money to social media managers, and many of those people don’t even have a background or interest in the subject matter their attempting to socialize.

How on earth do you expect to exchange meaningful dialogue with fans if the voice coming from your brand doesn’t even consume (or isn’t passionate about) your product or cause?

Good luck with that.