ORLANDO, Fla.–How does a credit union interact with all those members who never come into a branch?
Many don’t, and their respective numbers of inactive members reflect that lack of engagement. But one expert said that social media—when used correctly—can be key to making that connection. Unfortunately, said Sundeep Kapur of Digital Credence in Columbia, S.C., too many credit unions misuse and misunderstand the various social media channels that are now available.
“How do I meet with people who don’t come into my branch? I’m going to flirt with them on social media,” said Kapur in remarks to the joint annual meetings of the CUNA Operations, Sales and Service Council and the CUNA Technoogy Council. “The other way to use social media effectively is to talk to them essentially about things they need. Instead of the message, ‘Here’s a loan at 1.99%,’ which all sounds the same, you talk to them about a need.”
Kapur noted that for 29 years he has spoken the same language, and for 29 years he has been going to the ATM for the same transaction. And for 29 years his financial institution has been asking what language he speaks and what he wants. “After 29 years, someone who does not know that about me now has the audacity to make an offer to me?” he said.
Kapur pointed to a bank in India that has 60 million customers, 22 million of whom are online bankers.
“They recognize what language you speak and your last transaction, and don’t bother you with a receipt,” he shared. “Because of this, more than 70% of people pay attention to what they are saying. They are able to close one-in-five deals. They track you across channels and try to make the offer as relevant as possible.”
What Makes Social Media Work
And that, said Kapur, is what is so critical to making social media work. “Social media is about driving this kind of relevance to take conversations further,” he said.
“Why do people come into the branch,” he asked, before answering. “For advice and sales. When I’m looking for a financial institution, I look up your products and services on social media. Social is the new search. Do any of you click on a pay link? (No one in his audience said they did.) So you can spend a lot of money on paid search, ad words, etc., but what if we provided all this on your social media channels?
Kapur recalled walking into the branch of a credit union in Raleigh, N.C., recently and finding 22 different, trifold brochures. “That’s six sides of information that nobody reads.”
Kapur urged credit unions to learn a lesson from the current state of GroupOn. Once a high-flying example of the new digital retailing, it recently laid off 1,100 workers and has been named by one publication as a top 10 brand that is likely to shut down. “Why? It’s very easy to get sign-ups for freebies, to get ‘likes.’ But how do we turn that into engaged members?”
Kapur called on every credit union to understand and think through its value proposition before engaging in social media. Indeed, he urged CUs to rethink the value proposition of every product and service. For instance, he said he is working with one credit union in New York and he has been asking a lot of questions around the value of its plastic cards.
“What if I started charging a fee for membership?” he asked. “This would make me top-of-mind. Write down the pros and the cons regarding a card fee, because (if a fee is implemented), eventually you will have to use social media to explain yourself.”
Follow American Eagle
Kapur pointed to a practice at the clothing company American Eagle that he believes every credit union should deploy. That company assembles a monthly report on the top searches on its website for which it does not produce any results—in other words, it can’t answer the prospective customer’s question. It then creates that content.
As someone who has a personal passion for backyard birding, Kapur said he often pictures credit unions as throwing seed at birds. “Credit unions say ‘like me, like me, like me.’ It’s better to have members tell other members.”
According to Kapur, there are key fundamentals in digital when it comes to finding the right consumers:
- Better onboarding/know them better.
- Get fans to promote the CU (it isn’t the credit union that should be saying “I am awesome),” he said.
- ROI. “If there isn’t any, it’s not worth it. The three measures are: is engagement level up, was I able to drive costs down, and was I able to drive attributable revenue?”
- Train employees.
Too many credit unions attempt to use social media to hard sell, said Kapur, which only serves to turn members off. He pointed to Delta Airlines as a company that does a very good job with its mobile app by mixing in important information in its social media, “so a message from Delta doesn’t seem like it’s sales, sales, sales.” He cautioned, however, that one thing Delta does not do well is that often its front-line, passenger-facing employees aren’t as up-to-date on information as its app, which only leaves employees looking “stupid. That’s what we need to think about more, empowering our employees.”
He further cautioned CUs not to over-focus on Millennials when it comes to social media. “When you go to Starbucks it’s not only the youngest people using their app.”
Dillards intentionally makes a mistake in its campaign messages and challenges employees to find them.
In whatever social media channel(s) a credit union uses–Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Google–it all involves the success triangle of vision, member/consumer, and employees.
“Whatever your vision is, explain it really well to your employees so they can explain it to those they serve. Focus on the front lines,” he said.
Those employees often don’t feel empowered. He noted he participates in many strategic planning meetings with credit unions, which often includes Friday morning brainstorming sessions at the branch. “I went to three different branches in three different states,” And it often felt like the movie Ferris Buehler’s Day Off: ‘Buehler, Buehler, Buehler….’ Do what retailers do. They make their people stand up and everyone has to chime in.”
Looking at some of the social media channels, Kapur outlined how each should be used:
Facebook: Front-facing engagement, announcements and updates, products and services, testimonials, business development, games and contests, questions and answers, branding and engagement.
“You can especially target the message using data already available on Facebook,” he said.
Twitter. Use crisp, clean, and concise language. It’s for grabbing attention, indexing content and keywords, A/B testing, long-tail marketing, and leveraging events.
YouTube. “Drive the member to a landing page so they can listen to the rest of your story,” said Kapur. “If you start creating good content it’s going to be worth it. There is a lot you can do yourself. Use testimonials and share them.” He said handheld devices such as phones are just fine for creating that content. He also reminded that many people will be watching videos on an equally small screen.
Pinterest. Kapur said he’s not a big fan of Pinterest, although it is a good place to go to find soccer moms. In that case, a message for an auto loan should stress the safety of a vehicle.
Kapur pointed to Jim Blaine, CEO of State Employees Credit Union in North Carolina, for his engagement philosophy that is based on a couple of principles: shame on me if you didn’t know I offered that service; and the answer is yes, what is your question?
“What I have been preaching is teaching MSRs to read a credit report backward so they can show the member how much money they are spending at too much interest elsewhere, and how the CU can do a better job and save the member money,” said Kapur. “We need to raise the awareness level, the confidence level of our employees, and a great way to begin doing that is through social media channels.”
The key success drivers in all channels, according to Kapur: be relevant, be direct, be precise, be honest, be respectful, be conventional, be compelling, know everything, keep them hooked, and follow up.