Is it a perfect storm for Social Media and Credit Unions?

 

The definitive answer unless you have been hiding yourself in the 1990’s is a resounding YES! 

I will admit right now that sometimes I feel like the “Social Media Noah” at my corporation, telling everyone that will listen that they better start pitch in and help to build that “Web 2.0 Ark,” lest they all start practicing the “flotsam backstroke.” 

Truth be told, not everyone is “on deck,” most of the traditionalists are in reactionary mode with the Fed, the stock market, and the law of diminishing funds. 

Maybe it is the entrepreneurial spirit that I have been “weather-proofing” within myself that sees the latest turn in the economy as an opportunity as opposed to a negative consequence. 

I have been fascinated by the P2P services (Zopa, Prosper, Lending Club, etc), the integration of social finance applications integrated within Facebook and the online discussions occurring about ideas for the future of credit unions and finance with a few of my colleagues in virtual space. 

I am looking forward to participating in my first BarCamp (3/29 in S.F.) where I hope to interact with some of the bright minds of the industry. 

Because I prefer to “try and build things” – all I need is the tattered robes on my back and a handsaw (OK, maybe my laptop and assorted electronic gizmos – I’m more of a modern day Noah).

 P.S. As I finished writing this I read that a Facebook API will let you display a Facebook application on a website, here is the link.  OK – give me two programmers, two computers, two…well you get the idea.

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Social Blogism

I was thinking about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution on my way home tonight – OK, yes is the answer to your next question – it was just as I finished my customary quad espresso.

 I was thinking that it might not be too far fetched of an idea to theorize that “the survival of the fittest” concept could be applied directly to the “evolution” of some of the current social media trends. 

If you are thinking early fossils that are deeply embedded into the conscious of most of our minds when it comes to originating the decentralized P2P file sharing concept, then you HAVE to be thinking Napster. 

Napster thrived as an early primitive specie and proliferated the idea of file sharing over networks, garnering millions of music file sharing users. 

Natural Selection however (and the Recording Industry Association of America) stomped it out with a stud-laced Metallica boot. 

It’s funny to think about it now because it was ultimately the unauthorized release of the demo song “I Disappear” by the hair band that fueled the early extinction for Napster. 

The great thing was that while Napster slept with the fishes, a couple more lung-breathing fishes made their way to shore and transformed the concept in bold new ways. 

There would be no iTunes without Napster and certainly no BitTorrent type file sharing services without that “disruptive” and “trendy” concept. 

I look at some of today’s concepts of P2P in particular P2P lending and read those same type of comments about a ”disruptive” and “trendy” model for lending money. 

Right now there are several models for P2P lending “evolving” and not all of them will “survive,” but you have to think that one will, and it just might completely transform the lending business. 

Some of the other type of forward thinking businesses that were called “disruptive” and “trendy” were companies like eBay and more recently, YouTube. 

I predict that other Social Media technology will evolve the concepts of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – maybe even combine them. 

I imagine that I will someday have a widget on my desktop that feeds me lending rates in P2P format where I can see the institutions (or personal lenders) information on a network and in several click gain access to statistics on their financial stability (sort of like BitTorrent feeds where you can see the “health” of a feed).  

I also predict that I will be constantly managing my money daily – searching for the best return on investment – and probably being even more hunched over my computer than I already am.

 

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The Tao of Credit Union Blogging, Tip #5.

 

When you creative ideas are running on empty– Prime your carburetor.

 There have been occasions where I have walked the hallways at work with my hand on my chin pondering the latest developments in the space of social media and wondering how I could best take advantage of them. 

Truly in a world of my own I have been known to carry on conversations with my cellphone voice recorder. 

You see, I commute about 62 miles one way to get to work and recently my trucks antenna snapped in thirds, leaving me with a pointed stub that at best, gets two stations – cellphone  morse code and scratchy easy listening. 

I’ll opt for cellphone morse code if I’m trying to stay awake, but usually it will be the scratchy easy listening for about 15 miles and then I’m stuck with my thoughts. 

Enter the cellphone voice recorder. 

My one-sided conversations are typically fueled on by the copious amounts of espresso shots I’ll consume along the way to stay awake. 

To various Starbucks drive-thru personnel I have become to be known simply as the “quad espresso guy.” 

That’s right. – Four shots of high-octane, caffeine-laced cocoa beans. 

Grinded, pressurized, steamed and served up “au natural.” That would be – “without any other additives” to you city folk. 

I imagine that this same process repeats itself the moment the caffeine contents of my beverage dissolves it way through the synapses my brain. 

Here is a sample “thought explosion” that results from forcing “pure rocket fuel ” straight into your brains carburetor:

Download here or stream it at the bottom of this entry:  wiredcu02.mp3

While I don’t recommend taking four shots of “rocket fuel” to spur your creativity for your communications, I’m simply just saying to use moments of opportunity to think. 

When your brain is sending you RSS feeds, make sure to subscribe to those channels and come back – you just might find some relevant material to write about.

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Don’t let your “networked polyester” get publicly scratched!

 

I have noticed an interesting trend occurring in my journeys through the networked polyester that is the Internet and RSS feeds. 

I like the word “networked polyester” because it sounds much more apropos to how I feel about what I am going to tell you next – BUT, because this is a one-way conversation, you’re going to have to wait! 

Here’s my favorite definition of polyester swiped directly from wisegeek.com: 

“Polyester is a manufactured product made from synthesized polymers. It tends to be very resilient, quick drying, resistant to biological damage such as mold and mildew, easy to wash, and able to hold forms well. While polyester is often maligned as a textile, it has many useful applications. Polyester is, however, highly flammable, so care should be taken when wearing it.” 

OK, so now you have a word I will probably use quite frequently in future blog entries and I am sure to invent other words along the way and add them to my accumulating lexicon. 

There are now several podcast production companies “tailoring” themselves specifically to credit unions. Some are actually quite good and probably quite expensive, but others smack of a turnkey model. 

It is in very small circles we travel, so I will not name any names, but they know who they are. 

As a credit union podcaster myself, I am all for sparking up the microphone and participating in conversations that are informational, lighthearted and fun.  

There are occasions where talking about products and services serves a purpose in podcast form – I’ve created a few for companies that wanted to use short YouTube videos with a voiceover to demonstrate a product to a potential customer from their iPods. 

What I discovered though was that nobody wants to actively download a recurring marketing pitch say on iTunes or on YouTube – it becomes in a sense, just another commercial that is quickly tuned out.  

I’ve experimented and have also gotten reamed publicly for doing so when one of my test polyester molecule productions got RSS’ed into iTunes and inadvertently indexed in Google – big mistake, I deserved it. 

So a hard lesson I learned that you could definitely benefit from – Don’t let your “networked polyester” get publicly scratched!  

If you are going to go the turnkey route with a podcast production company, make sure you really invest the time to research a format that rings authentic and “breathes” and is not just a bunch of synthetic polymers that may resist mold and mildew, but stinks and goes up in flames under the bright lights! 

(p.s. I will talk more about podcasting tips in future blog entries.)

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The Tao of Credit Union Blogging. Tip #4.

Tip #4: The First Rule of Social Media Club.

Talk About Social Media Club-But Prepare For A Fistfight!

So you’ve done the research and you have tracked the trends in your industry and they all point to a shift in the world you’ve previously know as traditional marketing.There are no more 30 second radio commercials to be produced, no over-the-top television commercials featuring some non-desrcript actors you’ve parlayed your diminishing budget funds over to in hopes of scoring the right branding message for your company and finally earning you that key to that elusive executive lounge.

Nope!

You’ve discovered in your infinite wisdom that the key to winning product loyalty from your members is this new media marketing technique known as word-of-mouth marketing and social networking. In earnest you’ve experimented on your own, often blogging and podcasting into the late hours of the evening, furiously cross-seeding URL links into various social networking platforms and finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Of course, you’ve attached metrics to your efforts and you’ve painstakingly watched and tweaked those tiny little graphs and have watched your seedlings grow from a few page views to thousands of page views; each with a heartbeat of their own.

They pulse with activity and your Google search rankings begin to rise in the spectacle that is RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and yet, you’ve invested nary a single dime.Or have you?The moment has arrived for you to convince the traditional marketing executives that you’ve stumbled on Black Gold, Texas Tea…and your ready to be a movie star.

You enter their world of half mast smiles, charts and groans and tell them that the future is in actually participating in conversations with members online.

And then you realize that only half of them know what Social Media is and the large percentage of them associate the word “social networking” with Myspace and YouTube.

The moral of our story: Give them the education they lack when it comes to new media strategies. Make sure you track every effort in social networking circles with measurable data and research.But also remember to strength your neck so you can avoid those razor sharp samurai swords!

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If Albert Einstein Were A Podcaster

If Albert Einstein were around I can almost guarantee you that he would be one of us – he’d be blogging and podcasting!

Enjoy and share!

Download here:e-stein.mp3

Or, simply choose the play button below.

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Pac Man’ing LinkedIn Contacts

I decided that one of my many New Year resolutions would be to start translating my business and personal contacts into more than just a stockpile of business cards helplessly containing themselves inside of a single drawer in my office.

Like most people, I have participated with some of the past trends of storing networked connections and business cards.I’ve put them on rolodexs and spun them around a few times…daydreaming at the array of colors and patterns that resulted.

I’ve kept a few of the most valuable ones in my wallet for a few years, only to find that after a year or two, the person I was trying to contact via telephone had moved on or that the email message just came skipping back.

I’ve beamed a few…that is, when my Palm Pilot was charged and working and I wanted to look hip at a networking event where someone actually HAD a compatible device to receive one. Now that too, outdated, sits on a shelf in the corner with dust.

I’ve also accidentally given away a few by mistake with my telephone number on the back, in reaction to not having any of my own business cards available. I imagine that an old contact of mine may still have my cellphone number (since changed) on the back of a tattered Jiffy Lube business card (this probably wasn’t the best presentation of my credentials!).

So now I am using the service LinkedIn to store all of my “handshakes in virtual space”and networked contacts.

The service has some interesting features such as being able to send email invitations to contacts to “join your network.” The drawback for me currently with LinkedIn is that while I have a huge thick stack of business cards and email contacts, my current profile blinks back with me with only 16 direct contacts. As I have been inviting my contacts to join my “nano network”, I’ve been curious if there is some sort of judging going one before my invitations are accepted, since my contacts are visible.

Do you think some people are hesitant to add a contact that isn’t say, “high enough on the food chain” in fear of being socially rejected to a preferred network?

Case in point (and mind you that I am not keen on Politics), Barack Obama.

Barack currently has over 500 contacts and is probably pretty well networked, so I just invited him to join my network. I figured I would use the “Friend”option as the method of my invitation.

OK, who do I know that KNOWS Barack Obama?

Oprah Winfrey of course!

So I am curious that if the tried and true method of actually “social networking” a contact the old fashioned way through “name dropping” would work.

My guess…probably not!

Barack or his staff will receive my invitation, persuse and judge me by my existing contacts, Google me, and then ultimately…reject me.

Why?

Because he won’t find my name on the Fortune 500 list, and he definitely won’t find Oprah Winfrey as a contact in my network.

(Defeated Pac Man Sound Effect) Even though all I really wanted was a “virtual handshake.”

p.s. I’ll keep you updated on my certain rejection.

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The Tao of Credit Union Blogging. Tip #3.

 

Tip #3 Find one defining voice for your communication. Don’t write your blog entries like you are reading from a powerpoint presentation.

There is a very important premise to follow when defining your “voice” for your credit union blog and that is to put yourself as a reader at the other side of the equation.

Try to resist writing an entry that is one-sided and is meant to serve the purpose of regurgitating out information or facts about a particular subject without a pulsing heartbeat behind it.  I guess what I am saying is don’t write your blog entries like you are reading off of a powerpoint slide presentation.

Here’s a funny story along these lines.

I worked once at a startup company during the infamous Dot Com era where there were some old school executives new to powerpoint slide show presentations.

I was in marketing of course, and was tasked with the assignment of compiling various slide show presentations from all of the executives into one large slide show to be shown to the whole company.

Of course you can imagine all of the different flavors of slides I received from the panic-attacked executives and their assistants.

I persevered and assembled the most beautiful slide presentation ever – I had scaled the Mt. Everest of powerpoint presentations without a sherpa and without bottled oxygen.

There was not a stray font or missing image to be found in my assembled masterpiece – it was perfection exemplified.

That is until one old school executive who was late to the meeting and HAD received the email notice to bring me his slides, showed up two minutes before he was about present to the entire company and handed me TRANSPARENCY SLIDES!!!!

I said literally, “What the heck am I supposed to do with these, hold them up in front of the projector lamp and do a jig as you speak!”

The entire company laughed for two minutes straight – I kid you not.

So please, my fellow credit union bloggers, do not hold up some transparent meaningless one-way conversations on your blogs like old school transparency slides and expect me to read them.

Use the voice that is truly yours and if it is humor that is your voice, than use it and show your readership that there is a heartbeat behind your communications.

P.S. I’d love to hear your favorite Dot Com era stories too!

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How Credit Unions Partner with Zopa.

To follow up my last discussion regarding Zopa.com (Zone of Possible Agreement), I wanted to talk about how credit unions actually partner with this unique person-to person social lending service.

As mentioned in my first post, Zopa is currently partnered with just six credit unions (I have learned that they are currently working on an in-depth partner program which tentatively is scheduled for rollout in February 2008).

The following is a simplified version of the current partner program (please reference Zopa.com for more detail):

Zopa handles all aspects of hosting and managing the main Zopa website, along with handling the servicing and statement processes for all transactions. Primarily this is electronically processed only and includes membership and registration, identity verification, payment processing, and account verification. They also handle call center support as well.

Members who wish to transact on Zopa must already be a member of one of the six credit unions listed on their site or join one of them, based on geographic eligibility via their integrated online new member application process.

The partnered credit union maintains ultimate control of approving new members, Zopa CDs and Zopa loans using Zopa proprietary technology, which requires no technical integration by the individual credit union.

For early-partnered credit unions, it is a way to supposedly test the waters with the targeted demographic of 18-34 year olds.

It also appears that Zopa may be looking to targeting partnerships with credit unions with a pre-existing large membership (they mentioned being appealing to CU’s with memberships in the millions) but also makes a small pitch to the smaller credit unions in their current program marketing information.

I will be watching and reporting closely on the social lending and credit union trend in 2008 and will also be reviewing some of the other related services. I am also hoping to get a hold of Jim Bruene’s (Netbanker.com) “Person-to-Person Lending 2.0” report.

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