This past Monday I spoke about Young & Free at the CUNA Councils Marketing and Business Development Conference in Washington, DC. I added a slide to my deck near the beginning of my talk to try and get across a growing concern that I have about credit unions and social media.
We all know that there is a lot of hype about the power of social media lately. Credit unions (and every other type of business for that matter) are finally taking note and getting involved in social media. Over the past couple of years, social media, social networking and social media marketing have moved from niche to mainstream.
But it begs the question: Is the typical credit union social media strategy working?
- Many credit unions have added a blog, but without a compelling reason to be, a long-term content creation strategy, dedicated people to contribute to it and adequate on-going promotion, it will sit idle and collect dust
- Next up, a rarely updated Twitter account with very few real local followers—instead the credit union is following other credit unions and credit union insiders and randomly broadcasting its hours and rates
- Add in a Facebook fanpage with the same industry fans and same lack of compelling content and interaction
- And finally a YouTube channel with a couple of barely viewed corporate videos
These vacant social media outposts become the equivalent of digital tumbleweeds blowing through the vast desert.
"Is your credit union utilizing social media?"
"Oh yeah! We've got a blog and we're on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube!"
This hands-off, low-impact, toe-in-the-water appoach reminds me of a quote that I heard from a friend, "It's like peeing in a dark suit. You may notice, but nobody else will!"
I call this check mark social media marketing and it's not necessarily doomed to fail, but it is doomed to not do a whole lot and ultimately turn credit unions off of social media.
Tim