Six Steps to Building Great Social Media Campaigns

Acknowledge that social media management is a real job. Building and running social media campaigns requires actual skilled labor. Whether that's a full-time job at a credit union, however, depends on resources and goals, Amber Fielder, MAC's board chair and marketing manager at Xceed Financial Credit Union in El Segundo, Calif., said. "Realistically, most credit unions don't have that luxury, so I think that adding it to someone's job description and having them split their time 50/50 between social media and some of the other marketing tasks is typically the way I've seen it."
Use the correct platforms. "If you're a SEG-based credit union, you'd better make sure you're on LinkedIn. Be on LinkedIn, be on Facebook, be on Twitter," Fielder advised. "If you are a university-based credit union, make sure that you have a Snapchat presence – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all of those things. It's knowing who your core is and going to those platforms."
Show it. "One of the things that I notice more than anything is that a lot of [winning credit union social media campaigns] have a really great use of video, which we keep hearing now: Video, video, video, that's what people want," Fielder said. Some of the best aren't much longer than 15 seconds, she noted.
Choose what you're going to measure. One of the distinctly useful aspects of social media is that credit unions can measure how many people saw, clicked on and engaged with their promotions. But early on, decide which specific metrics will measure your success, Fielder warned. That data helps calculate true returns on investment in social media, and it allows marketers to prove that social media is worthwhile, she said.
Make sure it's in the budget. "If a credit union has a very small social media presence and they want to see significant results from growth initiatives, a marketing budget is a must. Every business of every size you can imagine is now on social media and fighting for space in users' newsfeeds. It's very much pay to play in 2018," Pape said.
Don't try to do it all in a day. Successful social media campaigns have a lot going on behind the scenes, so factor that into the timing. For Brooks, putting the video-submission process together took time. Plus, the judges had to watch over 100 videos and select the winners. "It's a lot of work to do a contest," he said. But it's worth the time and energy, he added. "Ultimately when you're creating something, if you can have fun with it and the member or the person who's participating can have fun with it, then they're getting something out of your brand that maybe they're not getting out of other brands that are associated in the financial world."

Instant Insights /

MAC Award Winners Reveal Social Media Campaign Secrets

Related Stories

Recommended For You