In anticipation of the event, #BankSocial Media Conference panelists Eileen Rivera, president/CEO for SkyOne; Rebecca Bozeman, marketing specialist for SkyOne; Rudy Pereira, president/CEO for Royal; Tara Graff, vice president of marketing and business development for Royal; Brandon Michaels, president/CEO for Mazuma and Ann Chen, senior marketing officer for Citizens Bank of Edmond shared their thoughts on everything from bridging the trust gap to best social media practices with CU Times.

CU Times: What, if any, were some of your reservations regarding social media at your credit union?

Rivera: I was slow to coming around to embracing social media from a business standpoint for two reasons: I feared that members would post negative comments about SkyOne and that we wouldn't have the resources to quickly and adequately address the concern that is now out there for everyone to see. And, secondly, I didn't think that members would have any interest in hearing from their financial institution. How could we possibly compete with selfies, vacation photos and kittens?

What changed my mind was when we learned from one of our credit union volunteers, who is a member of one of our very important sponsor groups, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, that there was a negative comment about SkyOne on the NATCA list serve. We wanted a voice at the table, but we didn't have one.

CU Times: What are your top three tips for building trust/communication between the CEO and social media strategist?

Michaels: Both parties need to understand why social is important and what the goals of the program are.

Use data. Social is one of the most easily measurable things in marketing, so use that data to show how many people you've reached and who they are.

Communicate about strategy and effectiveness so that the CEO understands what's being done and why, and feels comfortable letting the strategist play around and figure out what works best.

Pereira: Start with hiring the right person who embodies the values of the organization and has the skill set needed.

Then, empower and trust them. If mistakes are made, don't punish but allow them to grow from the experience.

When you have outstanding talent who are passionate about creating a great experience for your members, give them the freedom to do it.

CU Times: What role does social media play at your financial institution and how has it evolved?

Bozeman: At SkyOne, social media mainly serves as an additional channel of communication with our members. It also helps to create a public awareness of what we do and who we serve. When I first came to SkyOne in 2013, I was not experienced in being the voice of a financial institution, but our CEO Eileen put full trust in me to help create an online persona that was consistent with how we've always communicated with our members in person and on the phone. This voice has evolved in the past few years into one that is more relatable and conversational.

CU Times: Many don't "get" social media. How have you successfully made a business case for it?

Pereira: At Royal it's a priority and we view it as an invaluable communication channel to gain greater insight into our members. It's another process improvement tool. Every Monday we review comments, good and bad, and work on how we can improve our processes. So my advice is to gather and share the data collected and provide the information back to the organization as opportunities for process improvement. Help others recognize that social media can be used to advocate for positive change in the organization.

CU Times: What are your social media dos?

Graff: Remember these are personal channels your members want to be on. Their family and friends are here, so relate to them on levels they want to be related on. You can't just sell, that comes after the relationship evolves based on the personal engagement you start with.

Rivera: CEOs want results. It's difficult to measure direct results from social media outreach efforts. But social media marketers can show how we can measure results. Perhaps they can create a social media dashboard of key metrics. Utilize tools like Google Analytics and educate their CEO on those metrics and results.

Ask your members to rate you on social media regularly. For a long time, we didn't tell our members to rate us if they liked our service. Old ratings remain at the top until more current ratings are posted. So encourage members to rate you and move those negative comments out of view.

Michaels: Be self-reflective. What would make you stop and read something on Facebook? What sorts of posts do you read and interact with? Use those thoughts and ideas as a starting place. If you can't conceive of someone being excited enough about something you post to click on it, chances are good no one will.

Show no fear. Short of being sexist or really political, you can try all sorts of things on social and just see how it goes. So throw that silly joke out and see what kind of response you get – the worst that can happen usually is that people will ignore it and forget about it. Sometimes, things go really well.

Chen: Share the good that you do in a way that lifts up others in the community.

Find that balance so you are not that person at the cocktail party who only talks about himself or herself and turns everyone off. Our experience has been that when you recognize and lift others up, the goodwill you've built and deposited in that social bank comes back twentyfold.

Get everyone involved. Our employees are our biggest champions and brand advocates. When they share their positive experiences with their social circle it makes a difference in tipping the balance in your brand's favor. Without that third party voice, there's no authenticity.