Reaching Members (And Potential Members) on Twitter

by CUNA Councils

by Mark Arnold

The Information Age is in full bloom with no end in sight. Millions of Americans and billions of people across the globe are taking full advantage of a variety of social media channels, including Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter.

A November 2012 Credit Union Journal article (“CUs See Twitter as the Next Social Media Frontier”) shed new light on how credit unions struggle with implementing social media into their marketing and branding plans, particularly with regards to Twitter. Challenges cited include: tracking return on investment (ROI), measuring audience feedback and allotting sufficient time and manpower to the plan.

According to the article, almost all credit unions surveyed currently use Facebook to reach members, and a significant number also use or plan to use Twitter. It’s not hard to see why, as the statistics on Twitter use are impressive:

  • According to Media Bistro, Twitter now boasts more than 140 million active users
  • Each day, Twitter receives 300,000 new visitors, and 1 million new accounts are added
  • Each second, users share 750 new tweets for a daily average of about 175 million
  • As a search engine, Twitter beats Yahoo and Bing—combined

Clearly, Twitter is a serious force in the social media world.

Credit unions are realizing that their members (and potential members) are very likely on Twitter, and they’re seeing the value in trying to reach them and develop meaningful relationships via this medium. The question is: What’s the best way to do it?

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