CU*SOUTH announced today that its CUSO Media Services team has expanded their portfolio to help credit unions engage with members through social media. “I’m a tech guy,” says CEO Leo Vaulin. “So social media seemed too fuzzy at first. But I believed it was an important component for CUs to develop effective communication channels with members. Marketing guru Seth Godin talks about understanding your members through self-affiliating ‘tribes’ – and social media gives CUs a very low-cost way to understand what those ‘tribes’ are, and what they’re thinking. It costs nothing to post about a particular event, or service, or merchant partner, and then you see how many members comment and affiliate with that subject. It’s amazing what you learn about your members’ preferences; all part of knowing your members better.”

The value, reported CUSO Media Services’ Taylor Bell, was in the immediacy of relating to members as well as surprising search engine capability. A concentrated focus on one platform brings several marketing channels together: publicity, name recognition, and the opportunity to build a solid and positive impression of the credit union.

“It also allows our clients another easy way to interact in real time, and give us feedback on how we are doing that we otherwise might not have gotten,” adds Bell.

To that end, CUSO Media Services developed a multi-category posting strategy for CU*SOUTH’s 2017 Facebook presence, featuring company and CUSO information, industry developments, and news about CU*SOUTH’s member credit unions. Additionally, CUSO Media Services will regularly post “shareable” graphic product content aimed at credit union members, for use by credit unions on their own pages.

“No LOL cats!” promises Bell. “Just more interaction and collaboration with our clients, as we analyze the data from Facebook to provide the content they’re are looking for.”