Give With Us is a no-brainer: it's time to put on your social media water wings

To blog or not to blog? That is the question that so many credit union leaders and marketers are asking these days. My answer is yes, but only if your credit union can produce meaningful content that has a strong point of view and is relevant to your members and potential members.

The answer is yes, if a blog fits into a formalized marketing and communications strategy and the leadership or a core group of committed employees post at least once per week.

And finally, the answer is yes, if there is a long-term commitment.

My answers probably disqualify most credit unions. However, there is another form of social media that I believe would fit with almost every credit union in North America. It's called Give With Us and was developed by our friends at Trabian, a US digital agency focussed on helping credit unions, in partnership with the Filene Institute's i3 Group. The folks at Trabian are also the curators of the very popular Open Source CU blog that I refer to lots here.

Give With Us was created to facilitate a connection between credit unions, their members and the community at large. It is a blog-style website which allows local organizations to post volunteer opportunities and it allows comments from participants. Give With Us is also integrated with flickr.com to allow the credit union and organization to share images from events. Very cool indeed.

The first installation is for Washington's Verity Credit Union. This is no surprise. Verity's Shari Storm really understands social media and pushed Verity to become the first credit union in North America to have a blog. Check out the site to get a feel for how Give With Us works.

It seems to me that Give With Us is perfectly aligned with what credit unions should be all about. It will also go along way to differentiate your credit union. And it's very affordable.

It slices, it dices and lint on your jacket will be a thing of the past. I am beginning to sound a little like an infomercial, so I will stop here.

I defy you to come up with one good reason not to sign up your credit union. Drop what you are doing and contact Doug Williams at Trabian! Order now and he might throw in a free juicer! Mention this blog post and get 0% off. OK, I'll really stop now.

Tim