MEDFORD, Ore.-Credit unions make up 25% of the Power 100, a new social media ranking feature from The Financial Brand, but are limited mostly to the bottom half of the list and continue to be outshined by the big banks.
The Power 100 was launched through a partnership with Social Media Explorer, a digital and social media marketing agency and blog, and ranks FIs according to a point system based on Facebook likes, Facebook engagement rates, Twitter followers, the number of tweets sent, frequency of video views and subscribers on YouTube, and more.
Navy Federal is the highest-ranking CU on the list, coming in at number 12, while Chase and Capital One hold the first- and second-place positions on the list, with B of A, Wells Fargo and Citi making appearances in the top 10, alongside banks from India, Nigeria and Australia.
Thrivent FCU, Appleton, Wis., is the second-highest ranking CU in the list, coming in at number 24, though its Power 100 score is only about one-third of Navy FCU's score. Utah-based Mountain America CU (number 41) and Credit Union Australia (number 46) round out the top 50. Credit unions make up nearly half of the bottom 20 spots in the rankings.
Credit unions' comparatively poor showing in the standings flies in the face of analysis from many social media pundits, who have said that CUs are often in a much better position than the banks when it comes to capitalizing on Facebook and Twitter, because CUs have a better understanding of their membership than banks do of their core customer base, and so can better craft their messaging through those channels. However, the larger customer bases of many of those banks also influence the numbers.
Other Findings
The editors of the Power 100 note that the list is not attempting to establish or quantify ROI on social media. The Financial Brand has also created filters that break down the list by category (bank or CU), country and social media statistics. The CU-specific list can be seen at http://socialmedia.thefinancialbrand.com/power-100-rankings/top/for/power-100-ranking/for-credit-unions.
Other findings of note:
* Of the 25 CUs in the ranking, 11 have 10,000 or more Facebook likes.
* The Golden 1 CU ranked at number 53 overall, but it has the highest number of Twitter followers of any CU actively using Twitter today (7,702), according to The Financial Brand.
* Despite the high number of CUs using YouTube, very few are able to generate significant traction with that channel. Only three CUs in the Power 100 have more than 100,000 all-time video views.
