Bear Paw Credit Union of Havre, MT, which has 12,838 members and assets of $59 million, has recently become a customer of CUBUS, utilizing the CUBUS CULoyalty and rolling out a new rewards checking program. Thanks to CUsource, our partner in Montana, this makes the tenth customer in the state. Welcome Bear Paw!
Trying to attract a younger crowd?
If you’re like most credit unions, attracting twenty-somethings is a part of your member building strategy. But how do you attract them when many of the Gen Y generation have little financial education or awareness of credit unions? Click here to read our latest blog post to find out how.
Why not spread the good word about your credit union to this group by providing sound financial education? We’ve found a great resource that can provide you with a wealth of financial information for this young demographic. It’s called Feed the Pig, and it has advice, articles, tools, tips, useful links, calculators and more. All this great stuff is part of a national campaign sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and The Advertising Council. The goal of the campaign is to encourage and help Americans aged 25 to 34 to take control of their personal finances.
You can re-purpose this information, such as this infographic, or one of their many free savings tips on your website and through social media networks.
Paper statement presentation and other member communication are inevitable
expenses for credit unions. Most credit unions are eager to go paperless for all member
communication to save money, but more importantly, to increase the security of all
members’ accounts, protect them against fraud and provide a timely, convenient, and
environmentally-friendly alternative. We recently talked to Redstone Federal Credit Union about their path to creating a paperless communication exchange with their membership and how they were literally able to save a million dollars a year using the CUBUS Notification Suite. Click here to read the case study.
CUBUS Solutions exhibited at the Open Solutions user conference this week in Orlando. We handed out Dutch cookies called stroopwafels, which is a waffle made from two thin layers of baked batter with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle. They were first made in Gouda in the Netherlands, in 1784. Okay, we didn’t go to the Netherlands to buy them, but we found a great source in Schep’s Bakeries which is located in Canada. They were a hit with the crowd who scooped up over 700 packets of them. That’s Crystal, our booth “spokesmodel” in the picture who handed out the cookies to the crowd.
According to a recent study by www.thefinancialbrand.com, the typical credit union has 300 followers on Twitter, and adds approximately one new follower every two days. The report says a vast majority of tweets sent are one-directional, often with links back to a press release or similar credit union web page.
The typical credit union has been on Twitter 2.2 years, which is more than enough time to evaluate its viability. Having just 300 followers after two years is a poor result. Is it that the consumer has no interest in connecting with their credit union on Twitter or is it a result of poor social media management?
The consumer has no interest because the credit unions are doing a poor job of managing the content. Pushing out one-directional, self-serving messages (i.e. It’s all about you at XYZ Credit Union or Have you heard about our $499 flat fee loan origination) does little to engage followers and can even put followers off. Plus failing to integrate Twitter or any other social media marketing with other credit union marketing campaigns creates confusion and a rogue marketing element.
An example of an engaging integration: If your credit union is having a shredding event, it is probably being promoted in various ways, i.e. statement inserts, POS signage, on your website, etc.
To promote this event’s value on Twitter, a hashtag like #safety, #protection, or something similar should be included with every tweet. The days and weeks leading up to the event questions like, “how do you destroy your sensitive documents,” and, “how long do you keep banking documents/statements/etc.” should be tweeted. Posting articles from reputable third party websites on protecting identity with the hashtags mentioned above, along with asking people their opinions, creates interest and engagement for the event.
Take pictures, share them, and then talk about it post-event by asking people what they thought, how could it be better, how many documents did they shred, etc.
Or, how easy is it to put up a sign inside a branch that says, “Have a good service experience today? Tell us about it in 140 characters or less by Tweeting @yourcreditunionsname. Didn’t have a good experience? We want to hear that too – after all, it’s how we get better.”
Do credit unions need to be on Twitter? The answer is no. But is there value there if it is done right? The answer is yes. We’ve cited just a few ways that Twitter can be a meaningful way to engage members. But if you do it wrong, you might as well not do it at all.
Top 20 credit unions on Twitter according to TheFinancialBrand.com.
A blog is another form of communication you can have with your members. Posting items of interest to them can further help your credit union to engage and retain members. Secondly, a blog can drive potential members to your website through the fresh content that you post and the subsequent results that can be generated by search engines for the blog and your website. As inspiration we provide the following:
Whatever you do, if you start a blog, just know that consistency and relevancy are the two keys. There’s nothing worse than going to a blog that hasn’t had any postings for months, except going to a blog that doesn’t understand its audience and therefore has irrelevant and uninteresting posts.
Houston-based, Energy Capital Credit Union has chosen the CUBUS Solutions’ CUStatements, CUAlerts and CULetters to add to their delivery of next generation online banking services to members. Chartered in 1935, Energy Capital has over 17,000 members and over $170 million dollars in assets.
“These services enable our members to save time, take control of their personal finances and even help the environment by opting to receive electronic statements and letters. It also extends our philosophy of offering a full-service online solution that is convenient and easy for our members to use,” said Randall Dixon, CEO/President for Energy Capital Credit Union.
Click here to see the press coverage on CUTimes.
• Don’t advertise—engage! People come to Facebook to socialize, to be entertained, and to get useful information, but almost nobody comes for the deliberate purpose of being advertised to. To reach people on Facebook, you need to grab their attention by giving them something they need.
• Show, don’t tell. Remember that the best way to persuade Facebookers that you have something great to offer is to use Facebook’s sharing tools to give them a taste of how great that something is, rather than just telling them about it.
• Don’t just talk—listen. The great value of social media is that it creates a two-way connection: an opportunity to build a stronger bond with your audience by listening to what they have to tell you and responding to them directly. In a world where customers who try to contact companies are routinely greeted with, “Please listen carefully because our voice menu options have changed,” genuine communication is a killer app. If fans know they can get your ear by visiting your Facebook Page, that can do wonderful things for your traffic.
• Responsiveness matters. One of the worst things you can do is set up a Facebook Page and then neglect it. Make sure that you have one or more people keeping an eye on the Page on a daily basis to respond to comments and questions in a timely fashion. You want your customers to feel like there’s a real live person on the other end of the metaphorical line when they post on your Wall (as opposed to the feeling of talking to, you know, an ordinary wall).
• Practice good customer service. Generally when customers complain, the main thing they often want is an opportunity to voice their frustration and know it’s been heard—a chance to vent. It’s amazing how quickly you can turn their frowns upside down (or at least smooth them out a little) if you give people a sympathetic ear, acknowledge their frustration, and demonstrate your desire to make things better.
About the Author: Ginny Cain is the owner of Cain Communications, a 360-degree marketing consulting firm, which assists businesses of all sizes with their marketing strategy.
Facebook is primarily a social space—it’s like a party where you should show up in something casual and a little fun instead of your navy-blue business suit. The vibe on Facebook is relaxed, friendly, and social. Which means that to enter into the spirit of the party, the voice you use to communicate with customers (and potential customers) on Facebook needs to feel friendly—rather than overly formal, pushy or promotional.
So how do you achieve that social, friendly tone? Here are some useful dynamics to consider:
| Cold | Warm |
| Formal | Informal |
| Distant | Congenial |
| “Written” style | “Spoken” style |
| Prerecorded | Live and spontaneous |
| Official | Confidential |
In general, for social media, you want to steer toward the warm side of the scale for the dynamics listed above.
• Formal vs. Informal: Even if you’re in a more formal kind of business, on Facebook you can move the slider a little more toward the informal side of the scale than you might in your regular business communications. Be conversational, direct, and by all means use contractions. You don’t have to use slang or dumb things down—eloquence and proper English are never anything but a plus—but you want to sound like you’re talking to your “fans” rather than making a speech to them.
• Distant vs. Congenial: Think of yourself as the host or hostess of your Page, and your fans as your guests. Be welcoming, supportive, and continually let them know that you’re grateful for the enthusiasm and energy they bring to your Page. You want your fans to understand that there are real live people on the other side of that Facebook Wall, and that you’re enjoying the process of connecting with them.
• Written vs. Spoken Style: This is closely related to the Formal/Informal dynamic mentioned above. The best social media writers manage to create the feeling that they’re speaking out loud to you as their writing is read. That brings energy and a sense of connectedness that’s appropriate to the medium. Try saying your status update out loud—does it sound natural and conversational? If not, rewrite until it does.
• Prerecorded vs. Live and Spontaneous: Even if you’re writing content for your Page days or weeks in advance so it can be pre-approved by a manager, it should be written to sound like it’s as spontaneous, timely, and “in the moment” as possible.
• Official vs. Confidential: Ideally, you want your fans to feel like you’re lifting the veil just a little bit—confiding in them and giving them the real dish, so they get more out of their Facebook connection with you than they would just by reading your regular advertising or the official copy on your website. I wouldn’t recommend actually typing “Pssst” at the beginning of all of your status updates—but if you imagine doing that, it might help you find the tone.
