Credit Unions can be Interesting! Super-charge your Brand with an Integrated Social Media Challenge Marketing Campaign

Tim McAlpine
February 16, 2010 | COMMENTS

Social media is all the buzz in credit union marketing right now

But is the buzz warranted? Yes and no.

Social media advocates will tell you that traditional media is dead. They will have you believe that TV, radio and print can be completely replaced with social media and word-of-mouth marketing. The promise of Web 2.0 will conquer all. To perpetuate the myth, credit union marketers are being bombarded at industry conferences and in trade publications with the notion that all they need to do is start a blog, a Twitter profile, a Facebook fan page or a YouTube channel and the millions (if not billions) of people online will find and flock to their lovable credit unions.

While I agree that the social web is extremely exciting and presents an opportunity to connect like never before, I do not agree that social media is a replacement for all other forms of marketing. What's missing from all of the buzz is the notion that social media is a great addition to other mediums that marketers have at their disposal. The real power lies in integrated social media marketing. There is a huge opportunity to marry many different marketing approaches.

The business case for an integrated social media marketing program

Social media as an island-unto-itself offers little ROI. There is definitely a paradox at play. Unless you are selling product through your social media efforts, it is very difficult to justify the expenditure. But to-date, credit unions that have entered the social web have primarily concentrated on listening to members. It is widely believed that social media is only to be used to listen and to connect with members and potential members; by being open, transparent and conversational this will demonstrate that your organization cares about its members and this display of caring will compel people to do business with your credit union.

While this approach has merit, it's extremely passive and will not satisfy your CEO, CFO and board of directors' who want to see a return on investment. I strongly believe in listening and learning from your members online, but let's be honest, everyone who is online representing a company ultimately has something to sell. Why should we feel bad about that? I don't believe that marketing and sales are off-limits.

A legitimate business case can be made when you combine “listening + engagement” executed with “care + conviction” in an open and honest way, set against the backdrop of a really relevant product offer and a really compelling social media challenge. Within this framework, members and non-members will be receptive to your marketing and sales messages. You can actually measure your campaigns by counting up the total products sold and the total deposits, loans or investments made.

Use a challenge to make a noise

You need to ignite a following and create real excitement. The basic premise of a social media challenge is to draw considerable attention to your credit union by throwing down a unique challenge stoked with significant rewards, and by encouraging people to creatively participate, compete and connect.

In the case of our Young & Free Spokester Challenge, the challenge is to compete for a dream job with a great salary, great gear and total freedom to be creative online. This gets young people fired up and really moves the campaign beyond passive contesting and throw-away promotions.

Your challenge should drive a select group of people to action. Ideally, it should grow naturally from your credit union's focus and brand while aligning with your credit union's goals and objectives.

Your challenge website needs to do a lot

This is why I am a big advocate of a having a dedicated microsite for your program. It really comes down to features and functionality. To successfully host an integrated social media program, the site needs to do a lot. Your site must have the ability to embed videos, podcasts and other widgets from various web services. Your layout must incorporate various ways to reveal all of the great content within your site.

If your program will include a public vote, you site will need to allow for quick layout changes between phases and you will need to design a voting system that is easy to use and completely secure. In addition, your site will need to include prominent links to mainstream social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others. And finally, a blog with an RSS feed is a must.

If you can do all of that on your corporate website, go for it. However, corporate IT departments prefer to keep their networks as closed as possible. Your IT department would probably not be very open to embedding third-party code from YouTube, providing direct links to Twitter, Facebook or MySpace or allowing site visitors to leave comments on your primary corporate website.

Even though the security risks for doing so are low, most IT departments are intentionally conservative when it comes to Web 2.0. I completely understand this position, as IT's first priority is to keep your network up and running and to make sure that your customers have uninterrupted access to your online banking system.

Four mistakes to avoid when launching an integrated social media program

There are four big mistakes that I see.

• The belief that you can just launch a website on its own. You need to use traditional and non-traditional marketing to jump start and sustain your program.
• Thinking it's a three-month campaign versus an on-going program. An integrated social media marketing program has the potential to last for years. It can either be year-round or it can be an annual 3-4 month promotion. Because the creativity comes from participation, the story will constantly evolve and take your program in new directions.
• Believing that the social web is just for young people. People of all ages are participating online in niche communities. We recently launched Verity Mom. We've had moms from the age of 23-47 actively participating in this very unique challenge to become a paid blogger for Seattle's Verity Credit Union.
• The lack of a long-term, content-creation strategy. You can have a great concept, a great product offer and a fabulous reward. You can promote your initiative with your staff, your customers and your potential customers. You can have a memorable URL and a great website with plenty of ways to interact. You can have all these things, but if you do not have great content and lots of it, you can't sustain momentum over time.

Creating a steady stream of interesting, entertaining and educational content is key, but it is sorely lacking from so many of the campaigns that I follow.

Tips for creating content

Some social media experts will advise that you should only publish a blog post when the feeling hits you. I can agree with this advice for a personal blog, but I cannot agree with this advice for a major marketing initiative for a business. If you are investing time and money in an integrated social media marketing program with the expectation that you will attract new members who will want your products and services, you have to be very disciplined. I would recommend approaching blogging like publishing a newspaper.

• Establish a very regular publishing schedule with hard deadlines. Publishing regularly and often is critical to making a return on your investment.
• Institute quality standards. Boring, uninspired content doesn't get any better with quantity. Everything that you post to your site should meet a minimum quality standard that you are comfortable with. This definition of quality is up to you and what you feel your audience will connect with. Your site should have a consistent tone of voice and personality regardless of whether there is one author or 10.
• Include artwork or photos within your posts from time to time. Text posts can get pretty repetitive—especially if you are cranking out new posts everyday. Including imagery will help your posts grab attention and get read, especially within an RSS reader, where all content looks the same.
• Throw some video into the mix. You can either embed existing video from YouTube or create your own. You don't need a professional video crew or expensive equipment. For as little as $150, you can get a Flip digital camcorder with built-in video editing software and you are in business. And with free video hosting at sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv and Viddler, there is no excuse not to produce your own videos from time to time.

Advice for credit union marketers who want to jump in during the current economic meltdown

You can't sit on your hands and hope for new members. The current unrest in the economy actually presents a great opportunity for credit unions with a good reputation to tap into integrated social media marketing.

Create a simple business case that outlines a realistic annual budget and goals. Once you start to itemize all of the elements that you will need and the resources necessary to back your program, you will soon realize that the scope and scale of an integrated social media marketing program is much bigger than launching a corporate blog. However, when done well, an integrated social media marketing program has a much higher chance of driving an actual return on your investment.

I highly recommend introducing a new market-leading product that is directly tied into your program. You need to aim to recover the costs by attracting new members to your credit union that will utilize your products and services.

See you in March

I hope you are inspired to amp up your credit union marketing! I look forward to seeing you this March in Washington, DC for the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council conference.

Tim McAlpine is the President & Chief Strategist for Currency Marketing in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.