The economy is harvesting individuals and businesses that arenot efficient. That is the truth. I think there is an epic strugglegoing on in American business today and it does not involveMcDonald's, Ford and Bank of America.

It's between Burger King and Wendy's; brands seeking to beoption B. McDonalds, Ford and B of A will be here in 2030, but mybet is that Wendy's and/or Burger King may be extinct when BartSimpson is in his 40s.

After Bank Transfer Day, it is now up to credit unions to pursuebeing option B. An Option B that is the best and mostefficient option B in American banking. It will mean fewer creditunions. However, if CUs can be to banks what Target is to Wal-Mart,that's a great place to be.

The frenetic energy of Bank Transfer Day has been replaced witha tangible silence as credit unions ask the question: Now what? Behonest, there is not one credit union in the world that sat down in2010 for their strategic planning sessions and asked how best toexploit an unexpected wave of media coverage and visibility in thefall of 2011.

That is why for years I have preached the concept of a flexibleresponse versus a strategic plan. However, now that Bank TransferDay is over, what will you do to exploit it? Here are someideas.

• Social Media (tired of that phrase yet?) I am,too. But BTD completely legitimized Facebook as a marketing mediumfor credit unions. If your CU does not have a fan page you need toget one and then give people a reason to go there. Don't replicateyour website on Facebook; take chances, be creative and give thingsaway. Otherwise you will have fans when what you really want is afollowing.
• Twitter? That's up to you. But in my opinionBTD means we have to compete with banks by being more like them.Especially community banks. Today the marketplace is a tapestry ofindividuals and small businesses that have no interest in doingtheir business banking in one place and their retail banking inanother. If you have business development and marketingprofessionals who use Twitter, ask them a simple question:Which do you have more of this week: tweets or personalcontacts with small business owners in yourcommunity? If the answer is tweets, I would terminatethem immediately. There is a circular conversation of the obviousgoing on right now in the Twitter world between CU employees thatis of no benefit to your CU brand or members and is in factbordering on time theft. The week leading up to BTD, I wascontacted by phone by Chase and two local community banks who wereobviously mining city hall filings for LLC, DBAs etc. I did not getone contact from a credit union.

Finally, hire performers and fewer of them. Get rid of yourproblems and borderline employees. You simply don't need them. Andif you don't have an app by end of year 2012 you are going to be inbig trouble in 2020. BTD put CUs on the A List, now you have toearn the right to stay there as a solid, more efficient optionB.

Jason Diasis president of Eloquent Online.net and host of the RadioFree CUshow.