VERNON HILLS, Ill. —When it comes to social media in the credit union community, the spotlight quickly turns to Faceb ook, Twitter and Instagram, often ignoring LinkedIn.
"Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms are where people choose to spend time," said Minneapolis-based media consultant and author, John Nemo. "People are on LinkedIn to do one of three things: find a job, find an employee or find a business partner. It's all business, all the time. That's why LinkedIn is growing like crazy."
There were 277 million LinkedIn users in 200 countries with an approximate 85 million residing in the United States as of February, according to Digital Media Rambling (DMR). There were also over 1.2 million products and services showcased on the site last year, and roughly 40% of users' access via a mobile device.
Whether LinkedIn is growing industry-wide exponentially depends on respective credit unions.
For example, Baxter Credit Union doesn't require its employees to have a LinkedIn profile, but strongly encourages employees to participate.
The $2 billion credit union, with 414 employees and 185,880 in 38 branches, has a two sided approach to the LinkedIn platform, explained Kate Carr who serves in Baxter CU's communication department.
"From a human resources and talent management perspective, we seek to expand our brand presence, promote existing open positions to attract the best top talent nationwide and highlight the BCU difference as an employer," said Carr. "From a marketing perspective, we seek to increase engagement with our existing membership base and leverage the platform as membership acquisition tool for our A-SEG employees."
Carr concedes that the credit union is most active on Facebook and has a Twitter account. "From a marketing perspective, LinkedIn is overall leveraged less, but similarly to other channels; all accounts actively promote the brand."
Promoting LinkedIn
Baxter CU isn't alone in having Facebook as a leading platform. In an online survey conducted late last year Credit Union Journal asked readers which social media platform they were "most likely" to monitor from their office.
Some 43% of respondents cited Facebook, 34% said LinkedIn and 18% Twitter. A mere 5% said Google Plus.
"The reason I tell people to go all-in on LinkedIn is that there is literally no other social media platform on this planet that makes it easier to locate, connect and engage with your ideal prospects or customers," said Nemo who founded LinkedIn Riches, an online training program that helps businesses, brands and individuals leverage LinkedIn to generate more sales leads, clients and revenue.
"LinkedIn literally does all the work for you," Nemo said. Think about how much information you can glean from someone's LinkedIn profile, and how easy that makes it for us to instantly locate and engage with the exact person we want to do business with."
The potential of LinkedIn isn't lost on Baxter CU.
Carr said marketing tests through the channel have "shown that it is effective at new membership acquisition specific to our employer charter."
"Human resources consistently find top talent that brings value to BCU through the LinkedIn channel," she added. "For example, a management role critical to BCU was sourced through LinkedIn."
Nemo noted that credit unions have to use and look at LinkedIn differently than other social media outlets. To this end, he said organizations should create a "Company Page," which explains "who you are, what you do" and most importantly what the value and benefit is to joining your organization.
"I'd leverage existing member testimonials on the company page, along with videos, images and other multimedia content that helps humanize your credit union for existing and potential members alike," said Nemo. "I'd also create and share content, resources and insights that are aimed at helping members make better financial decisions, along with helping them discover new ways to maximize their membership in our credit union."
Carr explained that due diligence has gone into developing Baxter CU's LinkedIn presence. To date, the credit union has joined LinkedIn pages specific to the industry. These include: Credit Union Network, Credit Union Marketing Professionals, Credit Union Hire Network, Banking and Credit Union Network, Credit Union Employees, Credit Union Hire (dot com), Credit union Payments and Mobility and Credit Union Talent.
"Our homepage functions as a forum for our members to respond to BCU updates and ask questions of our team," she added.
Demographics And Best Practices
When asked how LinkedIn demographics are determined, Carr responded that 74% of the CU's followers are at a senior level or higher in their current professional position. Some 48% are in the financial services or banking sector and 27% are Baxter employees. Among the credit union's employees, 16% work in sales and 15% in finance.
"We conduct outreach through sharing updates, maintaining our site content, and testing advertising using employer-group targeting," she said.
As is the case with Facebook and Twitter, just because a credit union "builds it" doesn't mean the members will come to the platform. And when it comes to LinkedIn, Nemo said he continually sees organizations making blunders.
"The single biggest mistake I see is that everyone is bringing a bullhorn to a cocktail party," he said. "Organizations and individuals alike spend way too much time talking about themselves: 'I work here, I do this. I graduated from this college, I won this award,' or 'Our credit union did this; we won this award; we've been around for this many years," Nemo continued. "The only problem is this: Nobody cares! You know what I care about if I'm a credit union member? Myself! I care about how you can solve my problems!"
When asked what credit unions should do differently to maximize its LinkedIn presence, Nemo offered the following four steps:
- Rewrite your profile or company page so it is member-facing, meaning it's written in the tone of: we help members achieve "xyz" benefits by leveraging "xyz" tactics.
- Invite all existing members via e-mail or via other methods to follow your credit union on LinkedIn. Ensure the invite explains to the member the value and benefit of following your credit union on LinkedIn. "Will they be getting exclusive content, tips, ideas, etc.? What's in it for them? They aren't going to follow you just because you ask them to."
- Create a new LinkedIn Group, which is different from a "Company Page" for your credit union. "Invite all your members to join with the promise of the Group featuring valuable resources, Q&A, original content, announcements and networking opportunities."
- Find and join other LinkedIn groups where your ideal prospects are congregating. Depending on your credit union, that might mean searching a geographical area such as Boston and then combining it with a certain type of profession such as small business owners or just searching by profession and industry.
"Once you find a Group that looks promising, join it. And once you're accepted as a member, immediately go to the 'Members' page of the group and then use the search box on that page to refine the list by job title, company name and location. You'll instantly create a list of your ideal prospects based on things like job title, company name, physical location, etc. Then start connecting."
Looking forward, Baxter CU views LinkedIn as a growing channel. Most recently the credit union posted that its CEO, Mike Valentine, was featured in the current issue of Profile Magazine. Another posting announced that Baxter CU was named to the Chicago Tribune's Top 100 Workplaces for the second consecutive year.
"BCU will continue to test marketing initiatives across the channel and ultimately implement a cost-effective advertising solution," said Carr. "In addition, we will continue to use the channel as a networking opportunity for available positions and leverage social promotion through interpersonal interactions as engagement continues to increase."
