What Does Social Media Mean for CUs? Experts Talk Strategy

Social media – a catchall for different internet platforms that allow users to generate content and interact – enables credit unions and fintech providers to build their brand identities.

However, they have a few challenges to consider. For one, not all forms of social media are equal, at least when it comes to different age groups. And, many consumers remain wary about product advertising, especially for financial products.

“The typical consumer has been well aware for some time now to not believe everything they read or hear on the internet,” Lynne Cornelison, research analyst for the Lombard, Ill.-based Raddon, a Fiserv company, said in a recent study, “Payments Insights: Rise of the Digital Pioneers.”

The recent headlines about Facebook posts only confirmed their suspicions. “Yet for many, Facebook and other social media remain a primary destination and an enormous source of information for consumers,” she said.

The Raddon report asked: What influence does social media marketing have for a financial institution? To that, Cornelison replied, “Maybe more than the doubters think.” When Raddon asked survey participants if they had seen or visited a credit union or bank ad or through a social media or blog page, 23% said they had. And that number jumped to 31% when asked if they had seen an advertisement for any of the financial institutions they currently do business with.

Raddon also noted 30% of consumers said information or advice found on social media influenced their product or service purchase decisions. For financial product or service purchase decisions, that number increased to nearly 40%. Nevertheless, while 34% of consumers will click on a product or service advertisement, if it’s for a financial institution’s product or service, only 15% will click.

“We can’t really sell effectively through social media because there’s just this inherent level of distrust around this. But what we can use it for is to educate,” Bill Handel, vice president of research for Raddon, emphasized.

Raddon, which measured the effectiveness of all the major social media sites, found Facebook the leader by far, with almost 80% of respondents using it. However, a separate Raddon study from last year found videocentric Gen Zers tuned in to YouTube more. “That’s how they communicate,” Handel noted. “Different social media is more relevant for different groups and video is really the one that is emerging.”

Over the past several years, the $286 million, Gadsden, Ala.-based Alabama Teachers Credit Union successfully amplified its social media presence, which began in 2009. The credit union developed an aggressive social media plan and put a marketing liaison team in place with representatives from each branch.

Emily Mayben, marketing director at Alabama Teachers, emphasized the importance of using social media as a tool and hiring a person who is dedicated to monitoring and maintaining social media accounts, noting this is especially important for credit unions because of their community focus.

“Social media will work for you as much as you dedicate the time to work it,” Mayben said. “We really work on having that organic growth and having engagement because if people are just fans, they are not seeing your content or interacting with you.”

The credit union utilizes several social media platforms including YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. But Facebook is its heavy hitter. In two years, Alabama Teachers doubled its Facebook likes to almost 9,000.

To drum up interaction and grow membership, the credit union implemented monthly contests with prizes that were usually connected to a promotion, such as its spring auto loan special. “It’s a continual evolution of monitoring using the analytics in Facebook and then tweaking them month by month, week by week,” Mayben said.

Joe Wood, Alabama Teachers’ graphic designer and social media specialist, said the credit union gets valuable feedback through Facebook’s Insights, an analytics app, and Pages Manager, which helps monitor activity. They allow the organization to engage with members and observe their interactions precisely, and Wood noted it plans to keep incorporating social media into its marketing pushes and encouraging employees to participate in the process. “They love being a part of it and I think that has gone a long way into helping us see a lot of success.”

Alabama Teachers also leans on its digital banking supplier, Malauzai, for help with its social media presence. The Austin, Texas-based mobile and internet company provides a readiness package to help financial institutions protect their reputation and brand.

Malauzai’s Digital Banking Toolkit includes a section on social media with sample posts and primers on using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Kristi Kelley, vice president of marketing for Malauzai, explained, “The toolkit is a written guideline of best practices around leveraging social media – how to respond, how not to respond and how to handle member questions.”

Another organization, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based CUSO PSCU, has increased its corporate social media presence and provides guidance to others. “PSCU helps hundreds of credit unions, both large and small, be more effective in their social media efforts. In fact, 39% of the over 850 credit unions that PSCU helps with social media are non-owners,” Myles Bristowe, vice president of marketing strategy for PSCU, said.

PSCU utilizes social media in several different ways. For example, it maintains a private Facebook employee group that it created as a lifeline during Hurricane Irma. “We also post content on our public social media channels to help credit unions and their employees navigate the rapidly changing payments and fintech world,” Bristowe said. Additionally, PSCU provides free social media content that credit unions can use.

PSCU also negotiated a shareable license agreement with a leading social media management software company that allows credit unions to leverage a suite of tools at a fraction of the cost of buying the software directly. Called Engagement Builder, it manages workflows, integrates with call centers and helps credit unions measure all their social media activity.

Every credit union leveraging the content has increased member social media engagement, Bristowe noted. For example, the $1.5 billion, Suitland, Md.-based Andrews Federal Credit Union has dozens of social media admins in several countries posting, engaging and collaborating on Engagement Builder.

Another active credit union partner, the Islandia, N.Y.-based loan origination provider Teledata Communications Inc., uses YouTube to post training videos for its DecisionLender 4 loan origination platform.

“We’ve been uploading all of our tutorial videos, as well as sales-related videos, which demonstrate all the different products we offer at TCI, how they work and the different ways customers can utilize them,” John Ehrling, ‎creative and marketing supervisor for TCI, explained. The videos cover ACH, audit trails, credit reports, balloon loans, notifications, advanced searches, stipulations, cross-selling, dealers, credit groups, OFAC and consumer loan origination.

Ehrling noted the videos have shown traction in just a couple of months. “We’ve already seen several thousand views across all the videos.” In addition, viewers watch at least 60% of the entire video, considered very high for YouTube where the typical abandonment rate is around 30%.

Ehrling commented that although TCI utilizes multiple social media platforms, it chose YouTube to house the videos because of the channel’s ubiquity and reputation for a high-quality, safe platform. Plus, TCI’s videos are in high-definition and professionally edited. “By having a high-quality video out there, it also reflects upon what we have to offer as a loan origination system,” Ehrling said.

Andy Olinger, lead underwriter for the $422 million, Ames, Iowa-based Greater Iowa Credit Union, added, “These tutorials not only help us maximize the platform’s features, they increase the organization’s productivity and ability to satisfy our members’ needs.”

Social media should not be considered a replacement for traditional marketing channels; instead it should augment traditional channels as part of a coordinated approach. “You must find the combination of channels that will constantly push you into a greater awareness about your organization, but in a relevant way,” Handel advised.