Help your members get educated through content

by. Jason Vitug

Members are seeking financial answers from online sources. At Phroogal, we found that 6 in 10 people use search engines to find answers to financial questions. When people are ready to take action and you aren’t available on search you’ve taking yourself out of the decision-making equation.

Money habits are learned through social interaction and search engine queries. It’s why personal finance blogging is big business and why companies spend a great deal of money and time to rank high on search engine results.

Are you search visible? Are you seen as an online source of financial knowledge?

If you are marketing to members about product features, then you are failing at positioning your credit union as a trusted source of financial information. Members are educating themselves on financial situations online. Content provides your members valuable information to make better decisions about financial needs. Be part of that online resource.

Why content?

• Content strengthens your credit union brand as a helping place.
• Content gives your members another reason to come to your website.
• Content gives you a reason to send members an email.
• Content help people discover your credit union through search engines.

The 3 Cs of Content.

1. Create. Content should be created to educate not sell. Blogging is an opportunity to share financial knowledge to members in a story format. Blogs compliment the colorful and bulleted marketing materials. Take the stance that all content on your blog should be educational in nature not a long-winded version of explaining product features.
2. Curate. Creating engaging and original content is a full-time job. You don’t have to create original content all the time. You can curate and share engaging content from trusted sources. This strengthens you as a source of financial information.
3. Collaborate. Build a network of money experts, content writers and bloggers.  Collaboration helps people associate you as knowledgeable of money topics and connects your brand with financial experts. Agree on a content exchange (writing for each other’s blog) and cross promotions.

Find your voice. Your organization has a culture and a unique way of speaking with members. Speak that language and make it easy for your members to understand without the jargon. Find other writers and experts that speak that language. If you find your message not resonating with your members, test and retest your voice

Social Media. Many confuse content with social media. Content is information and social networks are communities. Users of certain social networks like to be communicated a specific way. If you are sharing your content on social networks, make sure your post about your content is specific to that community. How you engage with Facebook users around your content will be quite different with Twitter users.