Thumbs Up!

In 2012 $900 million/81,000-member School Employees Credit Union of Washington, Seattle, decided to get into social media to connect to the education community it serves.

“School Employees Credit Union of Washington is primarily an online credit union, with a focus on electronic and remote services. We maintain only two branches located in the state of Washington,” says Christa Peck, field marketing operations coordinator.

“We introduced social media into our marketing strategy to assist in increasing member contact, strengthen our relationship with our members and build a community space where they may interact with each other, and ultimately to drive current and potential member traffic to our website.”

The CU launched its Facebook page on July 1, 2012, with the objective of having 970 fans by the end of the year, representing 1.2 percent of its total membership.

Peck created a clever campaign that far exceeded goals and helped her win CUES’ GMA Rookie of the Year, an award for a marketer who has been employed by a credit union for two years or less.

Winning the award took Peck by surprise. “I love getting to work in social media, and have been really proud of how well the page has been doing since the launch. It was so flattering and exciting to have my hard work recognized, especially when there were so many amazing entries,” she says.

Campaign Details

The target audience was current members who already had Facebook accounts, as well as education employees who qualify for membership but are not yet members.

The CU launched its Facebook page with a supporting marketing campaign and Facebook contest, giving away an iPad to a member who had “liked” the page and filled out a short online form.

“In order to reach as many members as possible, we placed a banner on our website advertising our Facebook presence and the contest. Additionally, we sent an email to the 50,000 members who subscribe to our marketing emails and placed an ad in brass|MAGAZINE—a financial magazine targeted at young adults,” says Peck.

“The contest duration was the month of July, and we had the goal of reaching 150 members by the end of the first month, and gaining another 150 each month thereafter.

“We wanted to reflect the more casual and fun nature of Facebook, as well as incorporate familiar elements of our logo into our marketing pieces. Because the launch was happening during the summer season we chose a tropical background, and then added accent stars, as a star is part of our CU’s logo. We placed these images around an iPad frame, chosen for its relevance to the social environment as well as highlighting the iPad giveaway sweepstakes,” she says.

The CU picked an iPad for the contest giveaway for its usefulness in classrooms and other educational settings.

The Facebook page launched on July 2; by July 3 the page had 407 fans.

After the marketing email went out, the number of “likes” increased an average of 134 per hour for the first 24 hours. For the duration of the month, the page gained an average of 116 fans each day, according to Peck.

The CU spent just $3,288 on the campaign. But the results far exceeded goals. By Aug. 1, the page was at 3,663 fans, or 4.5 percent of total membership. As of April 26, 2013, there were 4,333 fans, representing 5.4 percent of the CU’s total membership. And by the end of 2013, the CU had 4,453 fans.

A quick scan of the CU’s Facebook page showed posts about the new $100 bill that entered circulation in October, a TED talk about learning, photos of award-winning schools and teachers, a financial checklist and an article about keeping online information safe. In addition, questions like “What is the best book you’ve ever read?” and fun teacher-related cartoons had lots of comments and interaction.

The CU’s staff played a role in the success of the campaign, says Peck. “Our staff have worked hard to create an organization that truly serves its members, resulting in an enthusiastic and engaged membership. Had they not done that, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at the kind of success I had. Their efforts laid the groundwork that allowed me to step in and give those same enthusiastic people another platform to engage with us.”

“As an industry, we need to proactively seek ways to ‘connect’ with our younger members,” says President/CEO Scott Adkins, CCE, a CUES member. “Social media is an excellent platform to create a conversation with these members. This campaign gave us a solid foundation upon which to enhance our ‘connection’ with our members and potential members.

“As a former graduate of CUES’ CEO Institute program, I am delighted that one of our own received this special recognition from CUES. Christa has tremendous talent and a bright future in the credit union industry. We are very blessed to have her on our team!”

Theresa Witham is a CUES editor.