You need to look at Pain’s RECORD. While she is clearly a social conservative, she is first and foremost a fiscal conservative. Not as mayor or governor has she ever introduced legislation on social issues, deeming them a “private matter,” and she has never made social issues a part of her platform. She has always emphasized fiscal and reform issues.
McCain had very weak credentials in the social conservative arena, hence his campaign used Palin’s social conservatism to his benefit and built it up into something it hasn’t really been in terms of her governance so far.
If she'd gained more experience as governor, taken more time to prepare for a national campaign, and had her own team of campaign advisors before making her national debut on 2012 she'd have had far more control over her image, and likely would have had far more success coming off as a fiscal conservative/reformer. As it stands, she has an uphill battle changing the image she got within a few weeks of entering the national stage.
On the same topic, there’s a reason candidates often pick boring and/or already well known running mates: it’s always going to be difficult to control the image the country gets of someone in such a short time, and there’s no guarantee that initial image will be fair.