Posted by Ron Jooss
You’ve probably read and heard about the marketing potential of social media until you were ready to barf. You’ve also probably heard the old saw that the key to member retention is to engage them, keep them interested, even excited, about your credit union. And you know, that’s a lot easier said than done, especially when your have tellers are more interested in their own Facebook pages.
Well, I think A+ FCU, in Austin, Texas, has found a way to use Twitter to keep its members informed, excited and engaged. I honestly don’t know if the A+ FCU's Twitter posts are making a difference on their bottom line, but any A+ FCU member who follows the credit union on Twitter can’t help but feel entertained and informed, but also like—maybe a term like “valued member of the organization” isn’t the best way to describe it—but like a friend of the credit union. And, you can check it out for yourself, A+ FCU is a pretty fun friend to have.
Community Education Specialist Kelsey Balkitis tweets for A+ FCU. Kelsey says she keeps up with a lot of blogs and Web sites throughout the day and spends "15 minutes here and 15 minutes there" posting to Twitter. She said she attended a couple workshops in Austin and took part in a couple more Webinars as well to get up to speed on her Twitter skills. But I think she told me the key to her Twitter magic, "I love doing it," she said. It shows.
As for myself, I admit I just wasn’t getting Twitter, though I had, several times, given a half-hearted effort at what I would call sticking my beak in the Twitter bird bath. Then my colleague and main hombre at CUES Christopher Stevenson told me to try Tweet Deck and just start following credit unions en masse. He promised me I’d be surprised at all the wonderful things credit unions were doing. Boy, was he right. Like Christopher said, checking on the credit union Twitter space a couple times a day is like getting a breath of fresh air. I don’t know any other way to put it.
I actually feel a twinge of guilt for singling out A+ FCU because so many other CUs—and CU folks
are out there entertaining, informing and furthering the cause of credit unions all at the same time—but A+ FCU really, well, engaged me. Kelsey mixes in some A+ FCU-specific information, general financial news, and some pop culture fun to keep their members—and me--waiting for the next tweet. Check out some of her tweets from last week:
#musicmonday: What's your favorite song about money? Mine is "Mo Money Mo Problems" by Notorius B.I.G. Share here or on http://ow.ly/klUD From WSJ: Making seniors more money saavy http://ow.ly/kk54 Something fun for your Friday: in honor of the new season of Mad Men this Sunday http://ow.ly/k6IU RT @Bellco_CU: "Ditch your bank for a credit union." MSN/Money gets right to the point. http://bit.ly/mG5Sr Here's some school spirit! http://twitvid.com/F2FD1
In my recent post Opportunity Lost, I wrote that it’s time we find all the right reasons why we should have a national credit union awareness campaign, rather than looking for reasons why we can’t have one. All the energy and creativity and talent to start that campaign could be found in the credit union Twitter space right now. I encourage everyone to join in on the fun.
