Joining the Conversation, Being the Conversation

It has been much too long since I've posted here on The Loop. The past several weeks have been filled with exciting, but time consuming, progress as well as a bit of panic due to some hardware failures. Anyway, lets get to it.

The hot topic right now in most spheres of marketing is “how do we join the conversation?” Between Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and all the other social sites that are enabling people to communicate in new ways we have our hands full. So, how DO you join the conversations that take place in these venues?

First, make a note, you can’t just start a Facebook page and hope people will be your friend. Take this past election for example. Every time McCain dropped “my friends” into a speech, twitter exploded with people replying “I’m not your friend!” You can be sure that you will get a similar response if you put up a Facebook page and try to be your members’ friend. As much as we’d like to be, we just aren’t their friend; we are their credit union.

People use these social sites because it offers them something. That might be a way to keep track of long time friends who have moved or are in school, entertainment, activism, etc. So, ask yourself this question before trying to get into the social media space, “what would this offer our members? What’s in it for them?” If you’re not providing something useful or engaging in the space you become just another advertisement that will be largely ignored.

The trick is to engage people and to show them that there is a person/people behind your logo. Be a person, do something that engages them and encourages their participation.

Don’t think this takes millions in your marketing budget either. There are so many great free tools and networks online that require little to no monetary investment. It just takes creativity, time, and knowledge of who your members are.

Here are a few simple things to remember when trying to engage your membership.

Get them involved

Let your membership feel like they are in control. Give them a space to interact with you, or be in the space that they are already conversing in. Encourage them to participate, and offer them something for their participation. Let them know that their input matters and that that this is their credit union (and in turn their website, and their branch, and their community).

Get them engaged

The best way to get your membership engaged is to actively participate in something. Maine State Credit Union just ran a photo contest that allowed people to submit their photos of “Maine through a Mainer’s eyes” to be used as the header images on the website as a small scale test of user generated content (pardon my cliché). We got over 200 photos from over 20 people (all members). I then put all those photos into a Flickr account (thanks to a great tip from Morriss Partee) and added them to several Flickr groups dedicated to photos of Maine. This attracted quite a few eyes to Maine State Credit Union’s Flickr account, the contest, and hopefully the institution itself. This has led to a lot of great conversations via email with members from all over the state about where they live and the places they love in the state.

Just a side note, running this contest cost almost nothing other than an investment of time and effort.

Start Conversations

Be a person, talk like a person, and interact like a person. If you are running a contest, or any other campaign geared to encourage member participation, try to be personal. Strike up a conversation. Make a comment on their participation. As an example, many of the photos that came in during our contest here at Maine State Credit Union were of places that I have been and it was actually quite fun to start conversations about those areas of our state. Find a common ground with your members and be a person they can identify with through conversation.

Join Conversations

There are some very easy, and cheap, ways of tracking what is being said about your credit union. Set up Google Alerts and keep track of what is happening online. If somebody posts a blog that mentions your name (especially if they are an existing member) leave a comment and join that conversation. If you want your members and potential members to be engaged with you, you need to be just as engaged with them.

Be a Person

Sign your blog posts with your name, not your credit union’s name. During your interaction with members online, be personal and avoid canned email responses. There is always something you can comment on or say that can really break down that “us vs. them” feeling that usually comes with an email from a financial institution.

So, be creative, be a person, and have fun with it. Find the tools that best fit your goal of engagement and be an active participant in your community. Show them that you are there because of them and that they are the ones that make the credit union go ‘round.

I wish you all the best this Thanksgiving!

Are You Experienced?

The race is on. Nearly every credit union, bank, and business is chasing after a new demographic. We all see the importance of capturing the attention of the 70 million members of generation Y. Just like the Boston Marathon, this isn’t a race to enter unprepared.

The way generation Y thinks about business, communication, and life in general is completely different than even the Gen-X-ers who preceded them. This is leaving many business leaders scratching their heads, wondering how to reach this new group of individuals.

The world of web 2.0 is a daunting thing from the outside. It is nearly impossible to describe to somebody who has never used Twitter, Facebook, or Wikipedia what exactly they are. Like the Matrix, nobody can be told what it is. You have to see it for yourself.

So, what does it take to enter this new space? In a single word: experience.

To truly understand how the world of the social internet works you have to experience it. As daunting as the space might look from the outside, its much simpler to get involved than you might think.

Most social sites require little more than an email address to get started. The best way to find out what this whole web 2.0 thing is all about is to sign up on something like Facebook or Twitter. Enter the conversation. Explore menus, applications, and groups. Watch how things go down. It’s really not as scary as it seems.

The thing with social networks is that from the outside they seem incomprehensibly large. Once you enter the space and start to see how it functions though, it becomes apparent that what you once saw as a massive collection of people is really divided up into countless, smaller social circles.

It’s almost like walking into the lunch room at high school as the new kid. At first it seems daunting. It looks like a giant mass of people with no order, structure, or division. Once you sit down, talk to people, and find the people you want to talk to, the social circles start to become apparent. No longer is the lunch room a giant mass of people, but a collection of smaller, coherent circles.

The best advice I can give to a credit union looking to enter the world of web 2.0 is, get involved personally. Enter the space as an individual. Post pictures you have, search out old schoolmates and friends who might already be there. Find the familiar faces and get used to how the space works. Start a conversation. The great thing about social networking is that, on a personal level, there really isn’t a “wrong way” to go about things. So go ahead...take the red pill, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

As a side note, one of our board members, Lee Cabana, has recently set up his own Facebook account. Check him out and say hi!

'Tis the Season for Resolutions

What an adventure it was getting into the office this morning. Its snowing again, and somehow I missed that we're getting another foot today. I live on a little side street, so we didn't get plowed out before I left. Within the 200 yards to the main road I managed to get myself stuck 3 different times, requiring several minutes of shoveling to free myself from my icy prison.

It's New Years Eve! hopefully you'll all be out enjoying the merriment tonight. I've finally come up with a few resolutions of my own (I'm such a procrastinator) that might also give you a few ideas for your own blog or credit union.

5) Change the way we look at social responsibility. As I mentioned in this post, I feel like credit unions (especially large institutions such as MSCU) have seriously lost touch with the communities they serve. I want to see the focus of our social responsibility program move away from a single lump dollar amount. If we really want the public to see the effort and get involved, we need to be out in public being involved.

4) Participate on more social networks. There are many out there and new ones are springing up as we speak. To be honest I've never been the Myspace type, but it (and other sites like LinkedIn, Bebo, tagworld...etc.) offer a much needed change in the way people interact. I think it is especially important for CU's (or more preferably, a person from your cu) to get into these networks and allow people to interact with an institution that is seen as unchangeable by most people in the public. Put a face, or at least a voice, in front of your institution that your members (and hopefully a few non-members) can identify with.

3)Educate people on the difference between Bank and Credit Union. Behind the scenes, your credit union is a completely different animal than the Bank of America down the street, But can your members see that difference? Probably not. Do something to show that you're different. Whether its focusing your advertising on the non-profit, local, and personal involvement that you offer or starting an online community, do something to show what makes you different. Just make sure you're actually offering that personal feeling before you make it the focus of your advertising efforts.

2)Refocus on what the credit union movement actually is. When I see a credit union, I see a co-op of members who own their financial institution and have a unique opportunity to influence what happens to the money they put there. Most people see a bank with a funny name. People aren't aware of the nature of credit unions, and unfortunately there are some credit unions that have lost touch with the message as well. We need to rededicate ourselves to serving our communities financially, educationally, and as a source for volunteer efforts around our local areas.

1)Have fun with it. The best way to get people involved is to make something that would usually be a chore into something interesting and fun. Start a blog, organize a group outside the walls of your credit union, start a contest...anything that can engage your membership in something that interests them outside of deposits, loans, and investment accounts. It's important that YOU have fun with it as well, if you don't seem interested, nobody else will.

So, there you have it. My short list of things I hope will change the face of credit unions in the coming year. Remember, the only way for there to be change in the credit union movement is for you to change it. Don't wait for the CU president to suggest it, go in and present your opinion. Without a new point of view, things will keep going the way they are, and if you wait too long, it might be too late.

I hope you all have an exciting, happy, and safe new year.

Oh, and an obligatory "don't drink and drive"!