The following post is the first in 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.

Snapshot: The candid insights in this 6-week crash course are meant to provide inspiration for how you can create a bigger following, more engagement, elevated experiences, and social ROI by leading with your brand. Study up. Any of these basic branding tips and tricks can be used to improve your results on Facebook, Twitter, or your next blind date for that matter. Enjoy.

There’s no question that social media moves at a speed we’re just not accustomed to experiencing. Keeping up with and making sense of it all is sort of like trying to watch your favorite TV show while holding down the fast-forward button on your DVR. It can be incredibly distracting and overwhelming (and I’m not even mentioning all of the buzzwords that seem to bubble up every other week…).

Just read Mashable or TechCrunch for a day, and it’ll make you feel slow, old, and dumb. You take in a post about a new social startup that has launched or something innovative a company is doing and you feel like you’re just standing in brand quicksand, because you’re not able to keep up with the tools, techniques, and trends of tomorrow.

Sound familiar?

Don’t press the panic button and make any rash decisions. Take a deep breath. Trust me, the last thing the world needs is more hyper-ventilating, A.D.D., 24/7 tweeting misfits.

Anyone friends with any of these callused thumbed updaters that only seem to care about letting the world know how busy, informed, or popular they are?

Well, what they’ve taught us is that there’s a huge difference between being ACTIVE and being PRODUCTIVE.

So there ya have it, the question of this generation;  how do we succeed and achieve results using social? How do we become both efficient and effective and enjoy our quality of life away from our connected devices?

First thing, don’t let your adrenalin take over and begin flapping around and chirping on the internet without a plan.

Secondly, don’t run away from the marketing and common sense fundamentals that have proven successful in other mediums.

While social media may be the latest and greatest marketing weapon we have in our arsenal, we still need to bring our brands to life, provide meaningful customer experiences, and compel consumers to take action and get involved.

Fact: If Twitter, Facebook, and other social media tools have yet to yield significant results for you, don’t expect Google+ to move the needle either. Your lack of success in this new medium has very little to do with the social network itself.

Ready for this? One of the main reasons businesses and public figures fail on social media, is because they first and foremost fail on brand.