Something to Talk About

For MECU of Baltimore, Facebook and Twitter are the medium for daily interactions with members, and it’s definitely a two-way conversation.

“Our aim is to share what MECU is and to demonstrate our commitment to community, financial empowerment and education—to keep it truly social and informative,” says Michelle Krecz, director of marketing communications for the $1.2 billion credit union serving 110,000 members. “And members post reviews, questions, and comments, so we’re definitely using it as a listening tool as well.”

The credit union shares financial advice and tips on protecting personal finances from fraud on its social media channels, but its most popular entries are photos of community events and members, like a young woman who recently received a MECU scholarship. Employees are encouraged to share photos from their branches so the marketing staff can post them, Krecz says.

“It’s almost a quasi-customer service channel, because Facebook is a good way for members to contact us, and we use Twitter to monitor what’s being said about our brand,” she adds. “We want to be present and share our involvement with the community, to listen and react to what our members are saying.”

MECU also relies on Make Your Money Matter from CUES Supplier member PSCU, St. Petersburg, Fla., for social media content and graphics to help convey the credit union difference and benefits of joining the cooperative movement. The credit union began using the basic free version in March and enrolled in a trial version of InboundPlus in May, which provides more automated messaging across social media channels.

“It’s great to have that content available to mix in with our campaigns and local content,” Krecz says. “Make Your Money Matter offers an awareness campaign on credit unions and co-ops, and the holiday graphics are nice, too. It supports the kind of friendly interactions that are essential in social media—a supplemental tool with readily available content that helps keep it fresh.”

The target audience of Make Your Money Matter is Millennials, but the content appeals to MECU’s range of social media followers, the majority of whom are women ages 35-44. Posts promoting the cooperative spirit seem to get the most likes and reposts.

As with any conversation with friends, the most memorable exchanges in social media often flow from happenstance. In MECU’s case, “our most liked post so far has been a picture of a falcon that landed on a window ledge of one of our buildings,” Krecz says. “It didn’t have anything to do with credit unions or finances, but it got so many comments and likes that I’m hoping more birds land on our ledges.”

Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Middleton, Wis.