Credit unions’ fractured focus on social media

If credit unions had the national or world spotlight turned on them for three days straight, would the industry know what to do with that attention? Bad news, good news, any news….what would the social media world come away with?

I was thinking about this while watching the tragic terrorist events in Paris on all of my feeds. The issue became more than religion and more than the country of France – it became a focus on free speech issues and massive rallies supporting the writers, cartoonists and staff at the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo who were specifically executed. It was, and is, a tough time of healing and understanding going on while, at the same time, people are trying to grasp the balance of sensitivity and satire when it comes to religious issues.

I’m not talking about crisis communications and public relations messaging here. I’m talking more theoretically and organically. What would be the social media impression left on the world by that kind of focus? Would the world understand the message behind credit unions and cooperatives to rally around?

So many questions, I know.

I’m not asking, like so many others have, to push for a national credit union campaign. I want to know what the common social media message is that’s being shared to all of your different (some would say “fractured”) audiences.

I did some research to find what words are being associated with “credit union” over the past 14 days. Here are the top 5 words/phrases being associated with the industry: “Rates,” “difference between banks and credit unions,” “job openings,” “weed,” and “suing Wells Fargo.”

While this list made me laugh a bit, it also confused me. This, my friends, is what I call a “fractured focus.” Meaning, the industry appears to be spreading its message, but it’s a lot of different messages. This is where “social (media) collaboration” and “crowdsourcing” could do you some good.

Try Crowdsourcing

With many CU leagues merging, this would be a great time to get all of your credit unions trying a focused crowdsourcing campaign. First, just ask your members one question: “What do you want?” Take those answers back to the league and do some audience research (it’s not as dull as it sounds) and use those finding to poll members on Facebook, Twitter, Google+. Of course, you should offer some incentive to get members to vote.

Those results will become branding gold – and will help create a consistent and strong message that all CUs can get behind in that league. And a message that was basically crafted by your membership!

I’ll write up a full “How-To Crowdsource” piece for you to use over at michaelloggedin.com and I’ll share it here with CUInsight.com because, you know what? CUInsight is a fantastic collaborator and sharer! We’ll get into social media collaboration specifics next time.

Until then, go back through your social platforms and read what you’ve been posting while asking yourself, “Is my credit union standing for anything?”