Enough already! Credit union blogging is not for everbody!
Anyone who reads credit union blogs, likely reads OpenSourceCU. Yesterday they had a comment that said:
If I hear one more vendor referring to their social media clique members using terms like “cool kids” or “big brains”, I am going to puke. Just take a look around at some of the posts on this site and the sites of active contributors to see what I am talking about.
Instead of talking about results, folks here seem to like to feed each others egos about how “cool”, “innovative”, “creative” and “smart” they obviously are. Of course, only these “big brains” get it and do not need validation of some payback and getting together to pontificate is more than enough.
Please, please, please quit breaking your arms patting each other on the backs and focus on the results that can and has been achieved by credit unions using social media. It’s really not about any of you; it’s about making credit unions more competitive and able to differentiate themselves in a very competitive market.
This post is not really about the barcamps, which may be very cool and worthwhile, and is more about accountability and getting real stuff done.
Wow, so I wont bore you with my response. You can read it here.
As I was driving home from the agency, I tried to wrap my noodle around the three big questions that are constantly asked pertaining to getting a blog started at the CU level.
- Has a CU blog ever been effective in creating membership?
- What is the typical CU blog ROI?
- How does a CU protect itself from exposure?
So, lets tackle some of these big bad questions.
Is your membership taking a blogging?
I would say yes, a blog has been effective in creating membership. Can I prove it, nope – not a chance. Can you prove a billboard has? How about a radio or television spot? I have looked at media tracking sheets from credit unions. If the MSR even asks “What brought you in today” most people say the first thing that pops into their head. “I heard and ad on the radio” or “I saw an ad in the paper”. I actually had a credit union get that response after they had a three-month radio and newspaper blackout to experiment on how accurate their member acquisition surveys were.
The member may not even know that their interest was an accumulative effect of multiple channels of marketing. It may have even been a referral from another member but they don’t want to answer a bunch of other questions so they blurt out what they think will be the path of least resistance and an end to the interrogation.
The point is that unless you link to an online membership form through your blog or have some firm metric to prove conversion, chances are you will never be able to prove that your blog creates memberships. But if your blog is done properly, it will be at least as effective as billboards, newspaper and radio advertising at 1/1000th the maketing expenditure.
Blogging up your ROI
That brings me to Blog ROI (that sounds like a good blog name). Lets take a look at blog expenditure.
| Outside Hosting | $5/month |
| Blog Template | $Free |
| Customized free template | $100 to $500 |
| Custom Template | $500 to $2,000 |
| Writing | |
| In House | $25/hr x 2hrs a week = $200/month |
| Agency | $100/hr x 2hrs a week = $800/month |
| Marketing | |
| In House | $25/hr x 2hrs a month = $50/month |
| Agency | $100/hr x 2hrs a month = $200/month |
So, I think that covers the basics. What we see is that if you want to run the thing yourself you could probably do it for a real world expense of $255.00 a month once you have a blog strategy in place with posts set at once a week by an employee working for $25 an hour. Though, costs may vary, basically any credit union could run a decent blog for $2,400 a year.
Blogs are easy to track for visitors. You can use free programs like WebTrends or Google Analytics to see who visits your blog, where they come from, what posts they are reading and what links they are clicking. You can see if the blog is effective using these tools that are far more accurate than MSR and call center surveys.
The more you promote your blog, the more effective a tool it will become. The clincher here is that some credit unions are replacing their corporate website with a blog or incorporating their blog into their site’s home page (that’s what I did). A blog can have as many pages as you like. You are not limited to a single page “Newsletter” web site. So, now you have a complete marketing tool that is ALSO your credit union website. Now you can ask what the ROI is on your credit union website. Do you know?
Hanging your blog out in the wind
Ok, so now you are saying “$255 Bucks? Ok, it is worth a shot. Let me give this sucker a whirl!”
Slow down champ. When you roll this by the CEO or the IT department you will likely hear “Blogs are not secure.”, “What if someone says something bad about us?”, “Who will do the writing?” and so on. Since these are the three biggest questions that I get after someone gets wide-eyed about credit union blogging – let’s line them up and knock them down.
Your blog should not have any secure data on it. If it is breached, the worst thing that could happen would be that the site will go down or someone will put up a strange post. But the same thing can be said of your corporate site. The blog will be no more and no less secure than any other kind of site. You can mitigate your exposure by hosting your blog offsite. There are literally hundreds of places that will host your blog for $5 a month. It might go up if you want to stream audio or video or you start getting a ton of traffic. But the best thing is that you can get hosting that has nightly backups so even if you get hacked, you can be back up and running in a few hours like new.
What if someone doesn’t like me? Well you don’t have to publish their comments. You have that power. Now I don’t recommend that you wield that power with an iron fist. I prefer to use a velvet glove, but that is another story. The general rule is to let in the good with the bad because one of two things will happen. Either another member will stand up for the CU adding even more legitimacy to the CU and the blog as a forum for honest dialog or YOU can say “Hey, wow, we didn’t know that bothered you. Would you like to come in to share more of your ideas with us?”. Look, here is the reality. If they aren’t complaining on your blog, they are complaining somewhere else. You WANT them to bring the heat to you otherwise you will end up on The Consumerist or Yelp as another casualty of social media – and that does you no good and limits your ability to mitigate the damage to your brand.
So that’s it folks. Is blogging for you? How do I know? If it is done right though, it could better position your credit union, provide an invaluable resource to your members and help prevent your members from feeling frustrated and lashing out at you from afar. Each of these may not mean a load of new members, but it could definitely help with your member retention efforts. And if you can’t have one, it’s good to have the other.
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Comments
Ginny, you reminded me of two things I had forgot to include!
First, it doesnt have to be the marketing department that writes your blog. The Board members are an excellent resource, so are young tellers that can not only give you a list of topics but fill you in on an outside perspective of the credit union. Anyone in the credit union could have something to contribute. Find out who has a point of view worth exploring. Ask them to write something up in their spare time. Tellers are looking for exposure to management, this is their opportunity. Board members have a stake in the direction of the credit union and want their voices heard. Both of these sources could write posts at little to no costs dropping overhead to that $5 monthly hosting fee.
Second is the idea that you may have bloggers roaming the floor of your credit union. Have you asked? Having a blogger in the credit union means you have someone who already have someone who is used to writing and presenting their point of view. Not only could they act as a “Guest Blogger” on the credit union’s blog but they could also lend additional exposure by talking about the credit union on their blog. It could be a “Win-Win” relationship that, again, drops your writing expense to almost nothing.
Way to tear it apart and put it back together!
And I like your additional insight in the comment above.
“Having a blogger in the credit union means you have someone who already have someone who is used to writing and presenting their point of view.”
So often we have a person within our organizations who already has shown interest and expertise, and yet we fail to ask them to help. Maybe they don’t have the right “title” and we deem their involvement above their pay grade.
Keep creating…and stirring the pot,
Mike
Tony, I love your math.
Add to that, ROI is not just in the blogs ability to attract new members-even if credit unions were for profit corporations, which they are not. ROI in credit union land is service to members. This communication tool enhances members ability to provide visible feedback directly to their credit unions.
SOmeone please send the person who left the ROI comment an email invitation to attend Credit Union Development Educator training. It makes me very sad to see our movement’s leadership stray from our principles.
Tony, Expense (and so ROI) can also be reduced by having a blog that is developed and maintained by the BOD. When I point this out I am often met with skepticism - WHAT - the board will never do that!! or A Board blog will have even less “controllability” than a blog maintained by CU personnel. I’m encouraging a new kind of BOD who would blog to open a dialog with members. If there are any cu board members reading this blog, email me to begin to explore a board blog initiative.