Social Media at Credit Unions: Put Your Money Where Your Word-of-Mouth Is
Report Summary
Social Media at Credit Unions: Put Your Money Where Your Word-of-Mouth Is
With regard to social media, credit unions must not underestimate the investment necessary to provide an impressive return.
Boston, February 7, 2011 – A new report from Aite Group analyzes U.S. credit unions’ current and planned use of social media to support their marketing efforts. The report, based on an Aite Group online survey of 50 credit union executives in the United States, conducted between August and October of 2010, captures the social media strategies currently deployed by credit unions and forecasts spending on social media endeavors.
Credit unions are in the early stages of building their competency in social media. Today, six in 10 consider themselves a social media “novice” or “beginner.” Credit union size is a good predictor of social media experience; the largest credit unions are usually the most advanced in their use of social media. Regardless of a credit union's size, barriers to social media program implementation are not commonly considered to result from budgetary restrictions; more often, barriers include a lack of human resources or time. To see a return on investment, credit unions should not underestimate the amount of resources--in the form of time, personnel, tools, and budget--they must allocate to social media.
“Dabbling in social media marketing isn’t likely to return much for credit unions,” says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. “The absolute impact on overall profitability is marginal at relatively low levels of investment. For social media marketing to have a major impact on profitability, credit unions must invest a significant percentage of their marketing budgets into social media.”
This 26-page Impact Note contains 23 figures and four tables. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking service can download the report.