What Does Social-First Even Mean?
Cultural alignment is more than vertical videos.
What keeps marketers up at night? The true meaning of being social-first and how to achieve this elusive state.
Perhaps mildly dramatic, but also not totally untrue.
And if you’ve spent more than five minutes working on brand social, you’ve probably heard the term thrown around like confetti.
But here’s the thing: if we’re going to say “social-first,” we need to actually mean it.
Which brings me to Coach’s Spring campaign.
Let’s Talk About Coach’s TikTok Play
Here’s the setup: Coach dropped their Spring campaign, titled On Your Own Time. It was shot and edited like a fashion film. Editorial coloring, glossy cinematography, A-list talent like Elle Fanning. It was stunning.
But is this social-first? I gravitate towards not.
Even though I saw it on TikTok first. And, disclaimer: I do love the brand’s recent revival so it’s not all critique.
Here’s how I would have adjusted the hero film for social:
Open with a hook that instantly pulls you into the world — a moment you can’t scroll past.
Drop the editorial color grade.
Keep the fast cuts, but make them tell a story, not just to showcase the products.
Hire creators — not just celebs — and let them script the story.
Layer in a creator voiceover. Social video connects the persona to the brand.
The Bigger Problem: Social Isn’t Just a Distribution Channel Anymore
This all connects back to a larger issue we’ve been talking about in the industry for a while: brands still fundamentally misunderstand what social is for.
Social isn’t:
A secondary channel for campaign assets.
A place to trim your 30-second TV spot into a 6-second Reel or TikTok.
A never-ending race to chase trends.
Social is a behavior strategy, a creative strategy, and a brand strategy all in one. It’s where you show people who you are — every single day — in ways that make sense for how they actually experience culture on these platforms.
Misconceptions That Need to Die
If you’re still thinking about social as “posting content,” you’re already behind. Some of the biggest misconceptions holding brands back right now:
Thinking organic equals free or cheap.
Believing social needs to be “fast and scrappy” to work.
Assuming every brand needs to jump on every trend to stay relevant.
None of that’s true. You need a budget and a process to win.
And chasing trends without context? That’s how you end up looking like everyone else — or worse, losing your brand POV entirely.
Trend-Chasing Won’t Save You
This came up in a recent podcast conversation, and it’s worth repeating: following every trend doesn’t make you relevant — it makes you invisible.
At best, you look late to the party. At worst, you dilute your brand until no one remembers why they cared about you in the first place.
The brands who actually win with trends do one of two things:
They get there first — which requires speed and clear workflows.
Or they make it their own — which requires a real brand POV.
So What Does Social-First Actually Mean?
It means starting with culture, creators, and platform behavior — not with your existing creative assets. It means asking:
What does our audience actually want to see here?
Who’s the right creator to tell this story?
What makes this feel native — not like an ad break?
How do we show up on this platform in ways that make sense for us — not just in general?