01/30/2008

Creativity and social media is kind of powerful. No?

By Tim McAlpine

Forgive me, my next post will be about something other than social media and blogging.

I'm going to add one more blog post to the pile.

'The video' has travelled from Northern Alberta through the credit union blog-o-sphere, broken through to the North American credit union industry and now it is on the world stage. In seven days.

It is being shown at credit union meetings, at school presentations and in boardrooms from Canada to Mexico and beyond (and those are just the folks who asked for permission).

Yesterday, the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) asked if they could feature it on their homepage. WOCCU represents 172,000,000 Members and 46,000 Credit Unions in 97 Countries.

Jeff Mulligan, President and CEO of Common Wealth Credit Union said it best, "Not only are we accepting of this proposal, we are honoured to be recognized by WOCCU, in this manner."

I think the word is out.

Here are some links to the blogs I've seen Larissa Walkiw's video on. It has been a great discussion and a wild ride to follow. For those of you new to this conversation, Larissa is Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free Spokesperson.

Linking blogs

• The Best Education Piece Ever – Currency Marketing Blog
• Larissa Explains It All – Open Source CU Blog
• What’s Wrong With This Video? – Ron Shevlin's Whims Blog
• How are Credit Unions Different? – Piedmont Credit Union Blog
• Do You Know The Difference? – The Boardcast Blog
• Credit Unions are Like Macs – The CU Loop Blog
• WOW! Young & Free is Amazing – CUES Nexus Connection Blog
• What is a Credit Union? – Mount Lehman Credit Union Blog
• Credit Union Difference – A Renaissance Man Blog
• The Difference Between Banks and CUs – That Credit Union Blog
• The Difference Between Banks and CUs – Otto Radke Blog
• What's Really Wrong with This Video? – CU Skeptic Blog
  
• Of Rorschach and "The Video" – CU Communcator Blog
• Obsession With The National Silver Bullet – The True Story Blog
• On the CU Tube: Touting the CU Differnce – CUNA News Feed
• A Case Study, Not a Silver Bullet – The CU Loop Blog
• Check Out This YouTube Video – Bruen/Bensley CU Blog
• The Video That's Got People Talking – Payment Industry Insider

Only time will tell if this single act of creativity attracts new credit unions members and excites and educates current members and employees.

I've been asking myself, "How is this possible? How does a young woman who has been a credit union member for just over two weeks have this kind of impact."

Way to go Larissa. I'm your biggest fan.

---

 

01/28/2008

Podcast 02: Credit Union Innovator Wayne McKay

By Tim McAlpine

Welcome to episode 2 of Credit Union Innovators. My guest is Wayne McKay from Westminster Savings Credit Union located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.

You can listen by streaming audio here on the blog or you can subscribe to it in iTunes and listen on your iPod.

Again, the format of this and future episodes will be interviews and conversations with people that are doing good things for the credit union movement.

I have known Wayne for more than a decade. He has been working within the credit union industry since 1965!

 
First with Vancity in the early days pioneering daily interest and lending to woman, then in his own marketing practice, Wayne McKay & Associates and, finally, as the Vice President of Marketing with Westminster Savings Credit Union for the past few years.

He is an avid collector. His office is filled with bobble heads and sports memorabilia. I had the pleasure of interviewing him in this great space on Friday, January 18, 2008.

Fast facts about Wayne

• How long in the CU world? 43 years
• Favorite ball team? Brooklyn Dodgers
• Favorite ball player? Duke Snyder

In search of new intro music

Nala was quick to point out that my music choice for the podcast intro "sucked." So, I am turning it over to my listeners to help me select a better track. Listen and then vote.

Track 1: A Song for Jake by Oregon Chad
Track 2: Emo Shuffle by Oregon Chad
Track 3: Autobahn zur Hauptstadt by Oregon Chad
Track 4: All I Said by Everyday Jones

Looking for innovators

If you know a credit union innovator who I should interview, please e-mail me at tmcalpine at currencymarketing dot ca.

Production notes

+ Recorded with a M-Audio Microtrack II mobile digital recorder
+ Edited in Audacity
+ Hosted on Evoca
+ Podcast RSS Feed through Feedburner
+ Music is All I Said by Everyday Jones licensed through Creative Commons

Thanks for listening.

NOTE: If you are listening on this page and want to post a comment, there is a good chance the CATPCHA will time out. Make sure to hit the 'Post Comment' button twice. Copy your comment to your clipboard just to be safe. Thanks!

---

 

01/25/2008

The credit union blog-o-sphere is an amazing ongoing conversation.

By Tim McAlpine

This last couple of weeks of blogging for me have been really fulfilling. There is such a tight-knit group of really smart, passionate people that are so intent on ensuring a bright future for credit unions.

As a graphic designer turned marketer turned blogger turned cheerleader, I have been increasingly fascinated with the social web.

My post Who's in charge of this stuff on Open Source CU was an attempt to articulate this nagging feeling that the credit union industry was letting the social web pass it by. The interest and comments blew me away.

I then posed the question, If your credit union won't start a blog for the love, how about the money? on the Currency blog.

What transpired from there really solidified the wisdom of crowds for me. Ron Shevlin took me to task with his post Getting the boss to blog (or at least let you start one). We battled it out in the comments and he finished it with this Twitter gem.

Morriss Partee from Everything CU, then composed his ALL CAPS call to arms, How many CUs should be blogging?

Gene Blishen added to the conversation on his Tinfoiling blog with a great post,
How many CUs should be blogging or how many angels can dance on a head of a pin?

All the while, my Twitter feed has been going crazy.

In the meantime, Lisa Hochgraf has been exploring the question, Are blogs really so different? with her posts on the CUES Nexus Connection.

So what's the conclusion? If you are considering a blog for your credit union, the answers lie in these posts and, especially, in the comments. Explore these links—they are golden.

My take away is if your credit union is considering blogging, do it well and do it often. Dedicate resources and make it part of your marketing and communication DNA. You can't do it properly off the side of someone's desk.

Blogging infrequently without a plan and a consistent, compelling voice is like peeing in a dark suit. It may make you feel warm, but nobody is going to notice what you are doing. (You can quote me on that one Shevlin).

I sure hope Terrell from Verity Credit Union isn't right when she says, "Blogs are overhyped. There is a disconnect between bloggers (us) and the people we are trying to communicate with. Not everyone reads blogs."

What I do know, is that as all of this conversation has been going on, a powerful piece of social media delivered by a new voice in the credit union blog-o-sphere enlightened my computer screen (no it wasn't you, Mr. Skeptic) and proved the credit union difference using social media. Serendipity?

Thanks for participating everyone. I really need to move onto a new subject now!

---

 

01/24/2008

The best education piece on the credit union difference that I have ever seen.

By Tim McAlpine

 

Larissa is knocking it out of the park on a daily basis on Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta blog.

+ Add this feed to your reader. She will make your day.

+ Share this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawzTSVTP2M

Everyone involved in the credit union movement should watch this video.

I have been marketing and believing in credit unions for more than 15 years. Honestly, I have never seen the credit union difference so powerfully illustrated.

Other than setting the stage and providing a forum for conversation, we have nothing to do with the direction or the content of the blog. Everything you see here is Larissa. She has an inquisitive mind, a wry sense of humour and mad skills beyond her 19 years.

She is doing Common Wealth Credit Union, the credit union movement and her generation proud.

Bravo!

---

 

01/22/2008

I've been Shevled.

By Tim McAlpine

My post on blogging for love or money definitely split the crowd.

My friend Ron Shevlin writes:

Tim, I’m really sorry to say this in a public forum, but you’re wrong — on a number of fronts: 1) You confuse acquisition marketing with retention marketing; 2) You confuse relationship building with selling; 3) You completely miss a number of alternative tactics; and 4) You pooh-pooh some potentially good economic returns.

 
Ron describes, in detail, nine considerations that credit union leaders contemplate before launching a blog.

I agree with Ron's rebuttal. The sad thing is, everytime I get 'Shevled,' I agree with Ron's rebuttal! Damn him and his big brain.

Here's what I was really trying to say in my original post: There can be more than one driver behind blogging.

I am not advocating that credit unions drop everything and start a blog. I am advocating that credit unions consider blogging as a great addition to their overall marketing and communication plan. My thinking is that since more than 99% of credit unions aren't blogging for the love, maybe we can encourage a few to blog for the money.

I applaud every credit union who has tested the waters and I feel strongly that credit union leaders and marketers should gain at least a basic understanding of the power of social media and consider their own 'to blog or not to blog' strategy. Full stop.

One last point: I apologize for the dig at direct mail—not all of it is junk.

No one in the blog-o-sphere can systematically tear your blog post a new one like Mr. Shevlin. In tribute to his mastery at the 'My Take' rebuttal, I have created a custom badge that anyone who has even been 'Shevled' or who will ever be 'Shevled' can proudly display on their own blog (that means you Denise Wymore).

Enjoy.

---

 

01/21/2008

Statistically, your credit union won't start a blog for the love. How about the money?

By Tim McAlpine

Blogging by the numbers

It is estimated that there are more than 150 million active blogs worldwide. Technorati, a free blog ranking and aggregation service, reports that over 75,000 new blogs are started each day. Technorati tracks about 1.2 million new blog posts each day which equates to about 50,000 new blog posts per hour.

We can officially say, this blogging thing is not a fad.

Blogging and credit unions

I believe that credit unions should have a social media strategy and if they have something worthwhile to say, credit unions should be blogging. As community-based, member-owned organizations, credit unions are in a unique position to have open conversations that matter. There is a real opportunity to form deeper relationships with members and potential members.

Apparently the Canadian credit union system does not yet agree with me. In Canada, less than 1% of the 500+ credit unions are blogging. These are the only active blogs that I can find:

• Common Wealth Credit Union Young & Free Alberta blog
• Mount Lehman Credit Union blog
• Vancity Change Everything community

The US credit union system has a similar opinion on the subject. In the United States, less than 0.2% of the 8,000+ credit unions are blogging. Here is the list from the comprehensive Open Source CU blogroll.

• Carolina Postal Credit Union's I Love My Hoopty blog
• Comala Credit Union Connection blog
• First New York Federal Credit Union blog
• First Tech Credit Union blog
• Forum Credit Union blog (for Teens)
• Forum Credit Union blog (for Unofficial Spokespeople)
• Hopewell Federal Credit Union blog
• Member's Credit Union CU Warrior blog
• Midwest Federal Credit Union blog
• Old Hickory Credit Union Member blog
• Piedmont Credit Union Member Connect blog
• Secure First Credit Union blog
• Service One Credit Union blog
• TEUCU blog
• UFirst Boardcast blog
• Verity Credit Union Our Voices blog

I am sure I have missed a few, but you get the point—very few credit unions are blogging. Both the Canadian pioneer in the credit union social media space, William Azaroff from Vancity and his US counterpart, Shari Storm from Verity, regularly speak to large groups on the subject of credit unions, social media and blogging.

William and Shari are very quick to point out that blogging has been transformative for their credit unions. Ironically, both of them are in New York this week at the Net.Fin@nce conference educating a group of bankers on the power of blogging!

So why aren't more credit unions blogging?

Blogging for the love

It can't be the newness. At 150 million blogs and growing, blogging has clearly crossed the niche line.

It can't be the barriers to entry. You can pop over to CU blogs, WordPress, Typepad or Blogger right now and be up and running immediately. For free or nearly free. Yes, you will need a champion and content, but I bet there are a number of eager employees in your midst.

It could be the fear of the unknown. What will we say? What if no one subscribes or visits? What if no one comments? What if someone is critical? What happens if it peters out?

Most likely, it is the difficulty to prove return on investment that has stopped most credit unions from entering the blog-o-sphere. The commenters on my guest post on Open Source CU seem to think so.

Blogging for the money

What if your credit union could actually acquire new members and sell products and services by blogging?

There is an unwritten rule that social media shouldn't be used to sell. The experts warn that people will see right through your pitch. Blogging is for connecting. Blogging is for building your reputation. Blogging is not for hawking your wares.

Hogwash. A blog can be the centre-piece of your credit union's marketing and communications initiatives. Through blogging, your credit union can conversationally discuss new products and services and create meaningful relationships at the same time.

Of the credit union blogs listed above, only two have an obvious product marketing focus—Carolina Postal Credit Union's I Love My Hoopty blog and Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta blog. I don't know about the results of the Hoopty campaign, but I do know that the Young & Free initiative has been wildly successful at both connecting and selling.

When I first started blogging, I questioned the value for credit unions. As a marketer through and through, I looked at this altruistic medium and wondered if there was an opportunity to combine communication with sales.

There is.

I'll bet there would be a lot more credit unions blogging if the leadership and marketing department understood how they could use this new medium to better connect with members and to sell more products and services.

The alternative is to bury your head in the sand and send out yet another direct mail piece that yields a 1% response rate.

Am I wrong or am I right?

---

 

01/17/2008

Podcast 01: Credit Union Innovator Gene Blishen

By Tim McAlpine

Currency now has a podcast! It's called Credit Union Innovators and you can listen by streaming audio here on the blog or you can subscribe to it in iTunes and listen on your iPod.

The format of this and future episodes will be interviews and conversations with people that are doing good things for the credit union movement. Credit union leaders and employees and partners to the movement including vendors, technologists, strategists, designers, specialists, marketers, developers, speakers and members. Anyone with passion for the credit union movement and with something to say.

I have met so many great people involved in the credit union world and want you to get to know them too.

First up is my good friend and long-time client, Gene Blishen. Gene is the General Manager of Mount Lehman Credit Union located in Mount Lehman, British Columbia, Canada. It is a small community just north of Abbotsford and about 45 minutes east of Vancouver.

Mount Lehman Credit Union has 1,800 members and 10 employees and bucks every credit union rule! Who says you can't be small and innovative?

 
Some links to get to know Gene even better

+ Gene's personal blog
+ Gene's Flickr photos
+ Mount Lehman Credit Union's website
+ Mount Lehman Credit Union's blog
+ Mount Lehman Credit Union's YouTube channel

Gene is doing great work and is a credit union innovator to the core. Get to know him.

Fast facts about Gene

• Live? Burnaby, BC
• Height? 188 cm
• Favorite color? Green
• Favorite computer? Mac
• Most embarrassing thing on a Trans-Atlantic flight? Sitting beside a rugby team

Looking for innovators

If you know a credit union innovator who I should interview, please e-mail me at tmcalpine at currencymarketing dot ca.

Production notes

If you are considering producing your own podcasts, here are my production notes. It took a fair amount of digging to figure out a good way to produce these without having to lug around a bunch of gear. I found it really difficult to get clear answers on all this stuff. Hopefully my research can save you some time!

+ Recorded with a M-Audio Microtrack II mobile digital recorder
+ Edited in Audacity
+ Hosted on Evoca
+ Podcast RSS Feed through Feedburner
+ Music is All I Said by Everyday Jones licensed through Creative Commons

Gene actually recommended the Microtrack to me awhile ago—it is a very cool device. Man, that guy knows everything!

I chose Audacity because it is very simple for a non-audio engineer like me and it is free.

I chose Evoca because I can easily embed audio clips on our blog and Evoca also provides an RSS feed for selected files at reasonable cost. And there are some really cool recording options with Skype that will come in handy for future long-distance interviews.

And, finally, after all that, I am using Feedburner to see if anyone actually listens and downloads our podcasts. Having never gone through the process before, I was surprised that both Evoca and iTunes do not track the number of listeners or downloads. Feedburner also helps you put your RSS feed information together properly so your podcast artwork and details display correctly in iTunes and on iPods. The most time-consuming part was getting the feed approved by Apple—it took five days. I guess they were pretty busy with Macworld to worry about me.

I swear, the tangle that is Web 2.0 boggles my mind sometimes. It has been an adventure figuring all of this stuff out. Kind of fun, but mostly painful.

Go easy on me!

My interviewing skills are not at Oprah or Letterman level yet, but I think my first attempt is alright! Hope you enjoy it. Want to really make my day? Write a (positive) review in iTunes!

NOTE: If you are listening on this page and want to post a comment, there is a good chance the CAPTCHA will time out. Make sure to hit the 'Post Comment' button twice. Copy your comment to your clipboard just to be safe. Thanks!

---

 

01/10/2008

News alert: Kids are on the Internet!

By Tim McAlpine

A daily news alert that I receive from Canada's Marketing Magazine had an interesting article from reporter David Brown.

Video viewing up 360% at CTV youth brands They say this whole Internet thing is going to be big with the kids. Well, CTVglobemedia has some pretty good proof. Streaming video traffic to CTV’s two youth and music station websites, MTV.ca and MuchMusic.com, was up 360% in 2007 (CTV acquired MuchMusic with its takeover of CHUM last year). Kids flocked to MuchMusic’s site mostly to watch music videos from the likes of Rihanna and Avril Lavigne, while MTV delivered full episodes of shows like The Hills and Laguna Beach. In total, 120 million videos streams were viewed by nearly 19 million unique visitors on the two sites. Video streaming accounted for 80% of site activity, with visitors spending an average of 50 minutes per month viewing video content. + Read the whole artlcle here

Those crazy kids are on the Internet. Sounds like a good place for your credit union to have a presence. Who knew?

---

 

01/09/2008

Shout Out: Great Credit Union Times article today on lack of member growth.

By Tim McAlpine

Study Indicates Community Charters Don’t Solve CU Growth Challenges

I read this article written by By Eileen Courter with interest. Mark Weber from Weber Marketing provides most of the content and he offers some terrific, straight-forward advice that credit union marketers should pay attention to.

Mark Weber says, "If good service were the secret, credit unions would be thriving in membership growth today," he continues. "Unfortunately, good service is not the bar by which people switch financial institutions. We've had seven years of the worst growth in history in credit union membership. You absolutely have to be working much, much harder than simply saying 'We have great member service' when everyone else is saying it." Weber notes that even though some 20% of credit unions now have a community charter, the vast majority are not growing. "There are two big surprises when a credit union gains a community charter," Weber says. "First, absolutely nobody is beating a path to your door. No. 2, you have to completely transform your business, operational, and sales models."

+ Take a read—more food for thought.

It all points back to the real need for your credit union to be different and desirable.

---

 

01/07/2008

Open Source CU guest post: Who's in charge of this stuff?

By Tim McAlpine

I was invited by Brent Dixon of Trabian to contribute a post on the Open Source CU blog. The post is titled:

Who's In Charge of This Stuff?

By this stuff, I mean this new stuff. Web 2.0. User-generated content. Social media. Whatever you want to call it.

All this stuff you live and breathe. All this stuff that continues to come in waves. All this stuff that you know is perfect for your credit union. All this stuff that you can’t explain to anyone who is not involved. All this stuff your members are doing online. All this stuff that you know is passing your credit union by...

+ Read the rest on Open Soure CU. Thanks for the invite Brent!

P.S. Shameless self-promotion alert. If you linked over here from Open Source CU, why not subscribe to our 'stuff' as well?

+ http://feeds.feedburner.com/CurrencyMarketing

---

 

Viewing 1 - 10 of 11      |   Next »

 

BLOG SEARCH

BLOG CATEGORIES

30 Things (24)
A Day In The Life! (56)
Announcements (27)
Awards (7)
BarCampBank (15)
Big Evil Banks (17)
Blogging (22)
Blogs To Read (7)
Board of Directors (2)
Book Reviews (2)
Branding (47)
Challenge Marketing (19)
Collaboration (2)
Community (4)
Conferences (46)
Co-op Advertising (2)
CU Branding 101 (11)
CU Innovators (19)
CU Movement (15)
Cuckoo Campaigns (6)
CUES Podcast (4)
Currency Work (21)
Demographics (3)
Economy (1)
Endorsements (2)
Guest Posts (10)
I Heart CUs (33)
In The News (8)
Innovations (10)
Marketing (80)
Member Acquisition (1)
Member Service (16)
Musings (4)
Naming (3)
New Competitors (2)
Off Topic (3)
Opinion Polls (6)
P2P Lending (4)
Podcasts (26)
Positioning (8)
Press Coverage (2)
Product Dev (10)
Productivity (2)
Public Relations (8)
Ranting (5)
Scary Big Ideas (4)
Segmentation (2)
Service Not Enough (3)
Shout Out! (25)
Small CUs (5)
Social Economy (6)
Social Media (137)
Speaking (40)
Technology (20)
The Truly Weird (4)
Tips: Bad Practices (2)
Tips: Good Practices (3)
User-Generated (31)
Viral Marketing (6)
Web 2.0 (154)
Wet Blanket (1)
Young & Free (78)
Youth Marketing (83)
YouTube Videos (76)

ARCHIVES

August 2010 (3)
July 2010 (2)
June 2010 (2)
May 2010 (2)
April 2010 (3)
March 2010 (2)
February 2010 (7)
January 2010 (5)
December 2009 (5)
November 2009 (6)
October 2009 (7)
September 2009 (27)
August 2009 (5)
July 2009 (3)
June 2009 (3)
May 2009 (6)
April 2009 (8)
March 2009 (6)
February 2009 (7)
January 2009 (6)
December 2008 (11)
November 2008 (17)
October 2008 (11)
September 2008 (25)
August 2008 (20)
July 2008 (18)
June 2008 (18)
May 2008 (18)
April 2008 (21)
March 2008 (21)
February 2008 (14)
January 2008 (11)
December 2007 (7)
November 2007 (6)
October 2007 (6)
September 2007 (7)
August 2007 (9)
July 2007 (12)
June 2007 (11)
May 2007 (7)
April 2007 (3)
March 2007 (3)
January 2007 (1)
December 2006 (3)

OUR WRITERS

Nala Henkel (38)
Tim McAlpine (354)
Colleen Pepper (1)
CU Skeptic (1)

RECENT POSTS

August 31, 2010
Want to attend How Magazine's Mind Your Own Business Conference? I've got a code for you!

August 20, 2010
Lack of young blood runs deeper than membership

August 8, 2010
Young, Free and Super-charged

July 28, 2010
There actually IS meat on bacon!

July 19, 2010
Co-op Vegas?
(2 Comments)