08/29/2008

Shout out: Hockey Stars microsite by Citizens Bank looks like a winner!

By Tim McAlpine

Citizens Bank of Canada, the virtual bank division of Vancity, has just taken its Hockey Stars website out of private beta. The site is gorgeous and I can tell that Citizens Bank is doing a lot of things right with this site and initiative. Here is a link to a description of the initiative on its site.

Earlier this week I published a pretty exhaustive post on what I think credit unions need to be doing to be successful with their social media efforts. Let's put Hockey Stars to the test.

Talent: looks like there will be a dedicated blogger and most of the content will be user generated.

Purpose: Connecting the real stars of the game. It's right there, front and centre and it's very compelling.

Point of view: A little hard to say at this point, but I get the sense that the content will be encouraging and extremely positive. This is the type of site that doesn't need opinionated editorial commentary to encourage dialogue and participation.

Content: The content will be compelling to a highly engaged niche group. Hockey and Canada go hand in hand and as long as there is a high level of participation, compelling content should not be a problem.

Frequency: The site is brand new, but I imagine there will be a lot of activity taking place here.

Promotion: Right out of the gate, there is an interesting Season Opener contest with more than 100 prizes that is sure to encourage people to register on the site and take part. I am unaware of the supporting on and offline marketing strategy for Hockey Stars, but knowing Vancity, they will back it with appropriate marketing support.

Well done and congratulations to the Citizens Bank team.

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08/29/2008

Being "a number" is okay for some

By Nala Henkel

I know it seems like I've been slacking, but over this busy summer I HAVE managed to ask three people what it would take for them to become a credit union member (remember this post? Johanne, thou hast not been forsaken!)

And dang it if all three weren't ALREADY credit union members! But here's the ironic thing I found out. My question opened a very emotional memory for one of these people–I'll call him John.

"I recently lost my member number." John told me. He used to have quite a low number, and when his credit union merged they adopted a new banking system which resulted in him losing his low number. Now he doesn't feel special, he said.

Let's forget for now that, after some scoop reporting, I tracked this merger down to find out it happened OVER FIVE YEARS AGO and that he obviously has difficulty with the definition of "recent." This fellow still hasn't gotten over it! I've only HEARD stories of people like him (and they're usually in their 70s. This man is in his mid-40s.)

And that begged another question - why was his sense of importance to the credit union tied to a number? Didn't the credit union make him feel valued in other ways?

His answer? No. Now (he says) I'm just like everyone else. Before it was a topic of conversation, now there's no conversation. This could have been one of those catalyzing moments that had him moving all of his business away, but when I broached this he shrugged in that ambivalent way many consumers do when weighing the aggravation of the event against the aggravation of finding a new financial home and said "I have all my stuff there."

I'm completely unaware of whether or not I have a member number at my credit union. The only numbers that matter to me is my account number and my PIN numbers, because I need them for transactions. Maybe if I had a member number I would feel more like I belonged?

What are your thoughts about numbers?

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08/28/2008

On the fence about BarCampBankBC? Canadian social media icon Mitch Joel thinks you should attend!

By Tim McAlpine

Mitch Joel, from Montreal's Twist Image, wrote a great piece for the Vancouver Sun entitled "Changing Business Through the Unconference." You can also read and comment on the article on his Six Pixels of Separation blog.

Cool. I'm a big Mitch Joel fan. I saw him present at the Credit Union Central of Canada conference in Niagara Falls last October and had the good fortune of introducing Mitch at the MACU conference in Whistler in June. He knows his stuff.

And if Mitch says you should check out BCBBC, you better listen. :)

Housekeeping

• If you have put your name on the Wiki, but haven't paid, please do. You can go directly to the payment site by clicking here. You can pay by credit card or PayPal. Come to think of it, how did I get strapped with the bookkeeping job when my two organizing partners, Gene and William, are credit union employees and actually know how to build a spreadsheet? Hmm.
   
• We will be ordering shirts next week, so if you haven't voted on which shirt you think should get produced, please do so now! Choice A is leading the pack, but if strongly disagree get voting.
   
• If you do want to attend AND want a cool shirt, sign up AND pay by September 3. After that, you can still sign up, but you better not come topless expecting anything other than pointing fingers AND strange looks.

That's it for now. Less than a month to go to BCBBC. See you there.

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08/27/2008

Are you listening? What your credit union can learn from EA and Tiger Woods.

By Tim McAlpine

By keeping tabs on what is being said on-line about its products, Electronic Arts picked up on a user-generated YouTube video that demonstrated a glitch in its Tiger Woods 2008 video game. For the release of the 2009 version of the game they produced this new commercial.

 
This is a quote from the WOMMA website. 

Tiger Woods Responds to Fan's YouTube Video A fan of the video game Tiger Woods 08 posted a YouTube video highlighting a "glitch" in the video that enabled the Tiger Woods character to walk and golf on water—dubbed the "Jesus Shot." In response, and as a promotion for the Tiger Woods 09 game, game creators Electronic Arts and Woods posted a video that shows the real-life Woods taking that very same shot. The video's message: "It's not a glitch. He's just that good." It's a great example of the good ideas that can come from keeping a pulse on what people are saying about you and your brand online.

EA took a possible negative and made it into a huge positive. Well done.

Listen. React. Repeat.

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08/26/2008

The credit union social media articles and white papers are coming. I hope they include the stuff that matters.

By Tim McAlpine

I have had a half dozen calls recently from writers who are working on credit union social media articles and white papers. The good news is that credit unions are waking up to the possibilities of social media and industry publications are in the midst of preparing best-practice information. The bad news is that these articles and white papers will likely just scratch the surface.

These writers will most likely address:

• Blogging platform choices including free and open-source options like WordPress, Typepad, Blogger, Drupal and other proprietary or custom-coded solutions
• Sources for tracking the blog-o-sphere including Google Alerts, Technorati and Google Blog Search
• Sources for tracking readership including Feedburner and Google Analytics
• Best practices like including photos of your bloggers, signing off each post with the author's name and various linking options
• Podcast hosting options, microphones, portable recording devices, video cameras and editing software choices
• The myriad of free social media services and networks including Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, Second Life, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Friend Feed, YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, Flickr, Photo Bucket, 12 Seconds and the like
• Best practices for moderating comments and dealing with spammers

But honestly, you can muddle your way through all of the bullet points above without making too many mistakes. And if you do make mistakes here and there you can easily right your ship as you progress.

So, what should these articles and white papers really include?

I just published a seven-part blog starter kit series. As I researched which blogs to include, it was great to see that we now have dozens of credit unions that have caught the social media bug.

What I was struck with, though, was how great the personal blogs by credit union employees are and how mediocre the blogs by credit unions are (there are some exceptions, but not many).

How can you move from mediocre to great? Here are six things that I hope the writers of these articles and white papers consider: your talent, your purpose, your point of view, your content, your frequency and your promotion.

1) Your talent

Recruit a strong writer or group of writers and give them free reign to express real opinions. Don't impose stringent editorial guidelines. Whether they are employees, contest winners or members of your credit union and community, let them do their thing. Trust that you have allowed the right people to be your voice. If they are employees, give them ample time to produce good content. Too often, corporate blogs die on the vine because they are run off the side of an overflowing desk.

2) Your purpose

Publish a differentiated purpose for your blog. With more than 70 million active blogs in the world, we don't need another vanilla corporate blog without a purpose. Within your purpose, define your audience and your subject matter. Who are you talking to and what are you trying to say? By doing this work up front your talent will find it much easier to produce content that's on message.

Your purpose should be different than any other blog in your marketplace, if not the world! Here's a good example that passes this test, "The latest news and announcements from the UFirst Federal Credit Union Board of Directors."

The narrower you go, the more potential you have to create a following. Here's another good example of a simple stated purpose, "Welcome to UTFCU Rocks, the new student site for UT Federal Credit Union. Here you'll find information on special contests, promotions and events."

3) Your point of view

Credit union blogs suffer from the same plight as credit union brands: they are designed to appeal to everyone and therefore appeal to no one. Don't be scared to alienate. If your blogs lacks focus and is interchangeable with all other credit union blogs, why put in the effort?

Take the Currency blog for example. You could ask a regular reader why they follow and he or she would probably say something like. "That Tim guy is a credit union super freak that doesn't like banks at all. I like it when he occasionally loses it."

Could your credit union publish this article? QueerHistoryProject.com. Probably not and that's what makes Vancity's Change Everything community blog so awesome. Not only will Vancity allow a community member to publish this story, Vancity promoted it to their community home page!

4) Your content

Entertain me. Enlighten me. Tell me a good story. Do not repurpose material that is available elsewhere. That includes your newsletter articles and brochure copy. Report on things that matter to your community—not the credit union blog-o-sphere. Make a point. Stir the pot. Call the kettle black. Do not waste your readers' time.

5) Your frequency

Credit unions are posting far too infrequently to create a following. I've heard the 'post at least once per month' rule. Wrong. You need to publish once per week at the very least. Ideally, you should be publishing two to four posts per week. These can be a mix of writing, audio podcasts or video clips. You decide.

Look at The Financial Brand blog. It is less than half a year old and it has vaulted to the top of the pack in its niche. Why? Jeffry Pilcher has an original voice on a niche subject and he publishes up to 10 highly researched, high opinionated and highly educational posts every week.

Take social media seriously or forget it.

6) Your promotion

Publishing those two to four blog posts per week is just the beginning. Not only do you need to invest some money in marketing your social media effort in the form of traditional and non-traditional paid media, you need to immerse your credit union in the local blog-o-sphere (not the credit union blog-o-sphere). Are members of your credit union posting comments on local blogs everyday? This is a terrific way to get included on local blogrolls and to have local people reading and leaving comments on your blog.

Is your blog URL plastered all over your branches? Your website? Your newsletters? Your community cruisers? Your statement stuffers? Your advertisements? And your foreheads? It should be! Use every existing communication channel to promote your new blog. Your membership is not going to magically stumble on it.

And now to pick on an innocent bystander

Robbie Wright is a friend and a fellow credit union blogger. I am going to use him as an example to illustrate what I feel is the major issue of under-performing credit union blogs today. I am calling him out, because he is the only person that I could think of that has a personal blog and and also is the main blogger for the credit union he works for. He's also a good sport. Right Robbie?

Robbie has one of the best personal blogs that I read: The Life and Times of a Credit Union Employee. Here are four of his posts from the last few months.

• Lemmings (July 31 with 12 comments)
• I lost a little respect (Posted July 1 with 5 comments)
• Is Discover more thrift oriented than credit unions? (June 10 with 13 comments)
• REI and the credit union spirit (May 9 with 9 comments)

Now, here are four of Robbie's posts on his CUSO's blog from the same time period.

• NACUSO launches new site and blog (July 8 with 0 comments)
• MasterCard’s new Debit Platform (April 7, 2008 with 1 comment)
• The Federal Reserve’s Legal Opinion on Deposit Reclassification (March 31 with 0 comments)
• Our new partnership with CUES (March 18 with 0 comments)

Robbie's personal blog headlines and articles are opinionated, provocative and generate great conversation. His headlines and blog content for the CUSO are safe, boring, infrequent and generate little dialogue.

When employees blog for employers, they self edit and second guess their own instincts. Its human nature. Nobody wants to get in trouble for stirring the pot. A nice safe blog post won't get you fired. Unfortunately, it probably won' get you any online attention either.

I am not saying that every blog needs to be written in the style of the crackpot that the local paper publishes in the letter-to-the-editor section, but make me laugh, cry, question things and make me want to come back for more. Can a blog about Deposit Reclassification do that? I say hell yes! Especially if Robbie writes it in his personal persona without the fear of pissing people off.

This goes back to my first two points: define your purpose and point of view at the beginning and everything from that point on will just flow.

Maybe creating conversation isn't part of your blog's stated purpose. Maybe you just want to push news out there. That's fine. Turn commenting off and stop worrying about it. Seth Godin's blog and Daring Fireball are two of the most popular blogs in existence. Neither allow comments.

The comment conundrum

But it seems to me that you do want comments. "How do I get more comments?" is the most popular question that I hear from corporate bloggers. My quick answer is you have to work at it every day.

I co-presented the Young & Free story in New York with Cathy Graeber from Forrester. You can view the slide deck here. On slide seven there is a graph. At the bottom is a line that indicates what percentage of the Internet users comment on blogs. It looks like about 20% of Generation Y and 3% of Baby Boomers have left a comment on a blog.

Here's the ugly truth about the blog-o-sphere: a large percentage of comments are left by bloggers looking to build cross links to their own blogs in hopes of increasing traffic. It is very difficult for a business blog directed to consumers to garner a lot of comments. Consumers aren't necessarily in the self-promotional game and leaving a blog comment can be really intimidating for a first-timer.

Your content has to be incredible. It has to inspire or polarize the audience. People only comment if they really agree or really disagree with what is being written. And with headlines like "Ten reasons retirement is coming," its no wonder credit union blogs lack any real dialogue.

The Young & Free Alberta blog has had more than 900 comments in less than one year. So it is possible, it just takes hard work and great content.

Final thoughts

Sure you can click over to WordPress and start a blog this second, but social media is not free. It takes a smart strategy and a ton of execution by dedicated resources.

If you do all six of these things well, you might actually get some comments, connect with your members, build your brand, grow your readership, sell some products and services and produce a positive return on your social media investment. You may even acquire some new members along the way!

That's all I have to say about that. What about you?

P.S. I bet I get at least one comment on this post. Sorry Robbie!

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08/25/2008

Blog starter kit part 7: a dozen blogs that are just silly and fun.

By Tim McAlpine

This last list has real potential of making you think less of me!

This is a collection of hidden gems, time wasters, gut busters and just plain weird blogs. Click if you dare. I have marked a few with asterisks (*). These blogs are not suitable for those easily offended and are best not to be viewed at work. You will have a hard time explaining why you have your earbuds in and Coke coming out of your nose. I crowd sourced a few of these on Twitter, so if any offend you, it's wasn't me (really).

Final warning: This is not the list to give to your boss to convince him or her that your credit union should get involved in social media. That's what part 1 to 6 is for.

1. Feed | URL | Indexed
2. Feed | URL | Fail Blog*
3. Feed | URL | Funny of Die*
4. Feed | URL | LOLZIES!!1@!
5. Feed | URL | Storylog: True Stories
6. Feed | URL | Stuff White People Like
7. Feed | URL | The Alka-Seltzer Great American Road Trip
8. Feed | URL | The Big Picture
9. Feed | URL | The Dilbert Blog by Scott Adams
10. Feed | URL | The Onion*
11. Feed | URL | Violent Acres*
12. Feed | URL | You Look Nice Today*

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media 

Done. Phew, that was harder than I thought. I have given you 88 hand-selected blogs to pick and choose from. I know that is a lot, but with more than 70 million active blogs worldwide, hopefully I saved you some time finding some good blogs to follow.

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08/24/2008

Blog starter kit part 6: a dozen blogs about marketing and social media.

By Tim McAlpine

These are blogs that I read to keep up with what's new in general marketing, social media and technology. If you are in the midst of creating your own social media strategy or if you are a seasoned pro, I guarantee these blogs will continue to teach you.

1. Feed | URL | Boing Boing
2. Feed | URL | Buzz Canuck by Sean Moffitt
3. Feed | URL | Church of Customers by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
4. Feed | URL | Chris Brogan
5. Feed | URL | Copyblogger by Brian Clark
6. Feed | URL | Groundswell by Josh Bernoff
7. Feed | URL | Logic + Emotion by David Armano
8. Feed | URL | Mashable
9. Feed | URL | Problogger by Darren Rowse
10. Feed | URL | Techcrunch by Michael Arington
11. Feed | URL | Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
12. Feed | URL | Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions

• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations

Next up:

• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

When I first thought about creating a blog starter kit series, I thought it would be easy! Needless to say, its taken more work than I thought to come up with a list that I am willing to put my name behind. Feel free to add to it in the comments.

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08/23/2008

Blog starter kit part 5: a dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations.

By Tim McAlpine

These are blogs that represent credit union chapters, leagues and associations. I had to scrape to find nine including a couple that are just news aggregators and a couple that seem to be dormant. That not to say there aren't gems here—I particularly enjoy Jeff Hardin's CU Communicator and CUNA's YES Summit Blog.

1. Feed | URL | Austin Chapter of Credit Unions
2. Feed | URL | CU Communicator
3. Feed | URL | CUNA News Now Headlines
4. Feed | URL | YES CU Blog: Serving 18-to-30s
5. Feed | URL | Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions
6. Feed | URL | NAFCU Compliance Blog
7. Feed | URL | NCUA Recently Posted Information*
8. Feed | URL | The Mica Minute
9. Feed | URL | WOCCU's International Partnersips Blog

And, since I could only find 9, I'll round out the dozen with two more credit union blogs that should have been in the previous list and one wild card that I don't know where to fit!

1. Feed | URL | Coor's Credit Union Blog
2. Feed | URL | What are You Saving For? by Member's Credit Union
3. Feed | URL | The CU Skeptic

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions

Next up:

• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

You know the drill! If I missed any of your favourites, add them in the comments.

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08/22/2008

Blog starter kit part 4: a dozen blogs by credit unions.

By Tim McAlpine

This category may be the only one that really matters! These are credit unions involved in social media and actually engaging in dialogue with members and potential members online.

1. Feed | URL | Carolina Postal Credit Union's I Love My Hoopty Blog
2. Feed | URL | Forum Credit Union Unofficial Spokespeople Blog
3. Feed | URL | Hamilton Community CU Blog
4. Feed | URL | Hopewell Federal Credit Union's Blog
5. Feed | URL | Piedmont Credit Union Member Connect
6. Feed | URL | Tech CU Money Savvy
7. Feed | URL | The Addison Cafe
8. Feed | URL | The Boardcast by UFirst
9. Feed | URL | UTFCU Rocks
10. Feed | URL | UWCU Source Code—The Web Branch Blog
11. Feed | URL | Vancity's Change Everything Community
12. Feed | URL | Verity Credit Union Our Voices Blog

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees

Next up:

• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

This category was extremely difficult to narrow down to just 12. If I missed your credit union's blog, I apologize. My criteria for selecting blogs to include was based on how interesting the writing is, how frequently new articles are posted, does the blog have a differentiated point of view, does the blog demonstrate a personality and does the blog give me any reason to come back for more.

I mentioned above that these are credit unions engaging in dialogue. Perhaps a better phrase would be attempting to engage in dialogue. If I went by comment count, this list would be pretty sparse! In general, credit union blogs don't generate many comments. That's a topic I will explore in an upcoming blog post.

There are far more than a dozen credit unions blogging now, so please build on my list by adding more to the comments.

P.S. I left Young & Free Alberta and Young & Free Texas off the list to make sure I included room for an unbiased dozen (that was hard)!

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08/22/2008

Blog starter kit part 3: a dozen blogs by credit union employees.

By Tim McAlpine

This category was a little tough since I follow quite a few credit union employee blogs. To narrow the list, I have intentionally excluded personal blogs that aren't centered around credit union issues since these folks probably wouldn't want a bunch of credit union marketers and technologists following their personal adventures in life!

This list includes a board member (Luis) and a great new blog by a former credit union employee (Mark) and the most prolific blog in the credit union space (Bruen and Bensley). None of these blogs are sanctioned by their credit union employers—I will list those blogs in the next post.

1. Feed | URL | Bruen/Bensley Credit Union Blog
2. Feed | URL | CreditUnion2Zero by Luis Barros
3. Feed | URL | It’s Accrual World by Mark Sadowski
4. Feed | URL | Nancy Zimmerman (a Canadian money coach)
5. Feed | URL | No Brand Pimps by Butch Holley Evans
6. Feed | URL | The Credit Union Warrior by Matt Davis
7. Feed | URL | The Life and Times of a CU Employee by Robbie Wright
8. Feed | URL | The Loop by Andy LaFlamme
9. Feed | URL | Thwart Mediocrity by Trey Reeme
10. Feed | URL | Tinfoiling by Gene Blishen
11. Feed | URL | William Azaroff
12. Feed | URL | Wired CU by Gabriel Garcia

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions

Next up:

• Dozen blogs by credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

I know I must have missed somebody important! Please add them to the comments.

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