Happy International Credit Union Day to one and all!

As we’ve mentioned here, here, and here ICU Day is celebrated across the globe throughout the credit union community and is a great way to promote the credit union difference, especially in today’s economic climate. To help celebrate, we thought it would be a good idea to highlight ICU Day resources to help your credit union share the message.

Feel free to select some or all of these and share with your members and staff via Twitter, Facebook, email and even on your credit union’s website! And don’t forget to leave a comment about how your credit union is using these resources or other ways you are celebrating International Credit Union Day.

Cheney video for CU staff

We shared the video message from CUNA’s CEO Bill Cheney to credit union members the other day. Credit unions and CU organizations responded by posting the video on their websites and sharing with their members. Now we’d like to share Mr. Cheney’s ICU Day video greeting for credit union staff! Be sure to share this with your staff.

Young & Free videos

Young & Free spokesters from across North America created some awesome videos to help spread the word about International Credit Union Day. They set the following six credit union attributes to music:

1. Membership is open to all
2. Members call the shots
3. Rates and fees should benefit members
4. Credit unions are just as accessible as banks
5. Financial education should be free and available to all
6. Giving back to the community is a priority

How cool is that? The music videos include an orignal rap, a Lady Gaga tribute, and a sweet Journey-inspired tune:

Article for your Baby Boomer members from Plan It

The credit union financial education site aimed at Boomers preparing for retirement has their own article covering International Credit Union Day. You can learn more about Plan It here. Be sure to check out the following example of a credit union using Plan It to share this positive message with their members:

The Disclosures music video: Building a Better World

Our friends Christopher Morris and Chad Helminak of The Disclosures pay tribute to International Credit Union Day with their song and music video Building a Better World. What’s really cool is that The Disclosures recruited credit union employees from across the nation to supply video clips of credit union people singing portions of the song!

The band is encouraging credit unions and friends of credit unions to share the song to raise awareness of the positive impact credit unions have around the world.

Article to share with your Gen Y members from MoneyMix

MoneyMix, the Gen Y personal finance site for credit unions, has an excellent article about International Credit Union Day. Subscribers have been sharing this article via Twitter. Check out the article here and don’t forget to learn more about MoneyMix here.

The International Credit Union Day Facebook page

Have you visited or “liked” the International Credit Union Day Facebook page? If not, you should! You’ll get updates about ICU Day from WOCCU, CUNA, and other credit union organizations you can share with your members through Facebook, Twitter, on your credit union website, or through email!

If you are a fan of science-fiction and a fellow thirty-something, then you will remember growing up with Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979).  For me it was a staple of TV viewing, along with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Kung-Fu, and WGN’s Family Classics.

Lorne Greene as Adama

What I didn’t know until recently is that Commandar Adama–the wise leader of a wayward band of people who lost their home world to war and search for the “lost” planet, Earth–had ties to credit unions.  Well, I guess Commander Adama may not have…I don’t have any evidence of that.

But Lorne Greene, the actor who played Commander Adama, did have ties to the credit union movement.  One might even say, the credit union movement helped launch the American career of Lorne Greene.

In 1954, Lorne Greene was tapped to record advertising for credit unions in Canada.  The special Credit Union Show—a 5-minute advertising program was broadcast across Canada and into the United States.

The February 1954 edition of the publication The Credit Union Bridge noted these advertisements as being Lorne Greene’s U.S. radio debut, as “many listeners in the United States are hearing Lorne Greene for the first time” (p. 15).

After debuting in the U.S., Lorne Greene would go on to play Ben Cartwright in the television western Bonanza, Commander Adama in the aforementioned series Battlestar Galactica, and would have a distinguished career in television and film.

Lorne Greene

The third Thursday every October has marked International Credit Union Day each year since 1948. On this day, credit unions around the world celebrate their impact locally and abroad as not-for-profit financial cooperatives.

Why do they do this? Because credit unions from Philadelphia to the Philippines participate in a global financial cooperative movement with a unique structure and shared principles. With these, credit unions have the power to change people’s lives and are set apart from all other financial institutions.

It’s important for credit unions to celebrate this credit union difference during International Credit Union Day, especially during the current economic climate. Doing so reaffirms the positive impact of people helping people and introduces why credit unions are different from other financial institutions to those unfamiliar.

Service 1st Federal Credit Union in Danville, PA planned a full week of community service projects to celebrate 2010’s International Credit Union Week.

CUNA is proud to promote International Credit Union Day and support credit union celebrations–both large and small–across the United States. There are many examples of how credit unions have shared this event with their members and their community and dozens of ideas for how to host your own celebration.

For example, a recent News Now article highlighted the 2011 plans for South Dakota’s East River FCU and Stage Employees FCU in Las Vegas.

Stage Employees FCU members service representative Colleen Hermann shared in the article how even a tight budget won’t stop her credit union from using signage and small giveaways to tie her credit union to the larger cooperative celebration.

Mechelle Johnson, President/CEO of East River FCU explained in the article how they plan to use International Credit Union Day as an opportunity to thank members with a shred-it day and an open house, communicate the credit union difference with activity books and t-shirt giveaways, and help their community through a canned food drive.

We want to know: how does your credit union plan to celebrate?

Share your celebration plans by September 30 by either commenting on this post, posting to the ICU Day Facebook page or send your plans to ICUDay@cuna.coop and you’ll be entered to win a free ICU Day Celebration kit, a $198 value! Remember to include copies of promotional materials and photos of decorations and staff in their ICU Day finest.

Celebration Kit Includes:

ICU Day 2011 promo materials

• Large posters (5) to decorate the branch
• Stuffer/brochures (500) to explain the credit union difference and introduce 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC)
• Skittles (1 case of 250 packets) to treat members on Oct. 20
• Tattoos (1 bundle of 200) to reward young ones making deposits during Oct. and the 2012 IYC

The winner will be announced Oct. 4 on Facebook and Oct. 5 in the free ICU Day Update e-newsletter (sign up today)

If you’ve already shared your plans…GREAT! Then you’re already entered.

Thank you for helping to show credit union members around the country how credit unions build a better world!

Social Media presence isn’t easy and building momentum for its use at a national conference can be a challenge, however it planked our expectation this year at CUNA’s ACUC (America’s Credit Union Conference). And one of the entertaining highlights? Random pictures of attendees laying face-down in peculiar locations, in San Antonio and across the US.

Twitter is a natural tool for a conference. It allows attendees to post great take-aways from sessions, network with peers, share bright ideas, suggest city hotspots, plus much more. We used the hashtag of #ACUC11 so attendees of the conference could search tweets to find what others were saying about the event.

Over the course of the 4-day conference (6/19-6/22), according to Topsy.com’s Analytics, there were 679 mentions of #ACUC11  (!!). Thanks to the influx of tweets, retweets, and @mentions CUNAverse managed to gain many new followers, and we can now stay connected to our new friends (in 140 characters or less).

Planking goes Big Time

I won’t go into the history of planking (you can find it here on Wikipedia)  but it took this years’ ACUC by storm! From State League presidents (see NC’s John Radebaugh planking on a riverboat) to speakers, and attendees.  Even CUNA Mutual and those holding down the CUNA fort in Madison  got in on the action(See a collection of CU planking pics here).

It was a great way to build a community of attendees outside the conference sessions also by tying in some tourist sights San Antonio has to offer. Has anyone ever planked the Alamo? If not, @PJLiving  is the first!

Twitter seemed to bring a new life to America’s Credit Union Conference. As a staff member that stayed in Madison as things were in full-swing, I felt like I was right alongside of attendees. Reading highlights from breakout sessions and quotes from our Keynote Speakers, it was a nice breath of fresh air to check in the #ACUC11 search to see what would pop-up next. It was a great tool of inclusion in an age where we may not all get to travel for training. Though the information is fleeting (twitter keeps a tweet’s search functionaly for about a month), it’s a great way of connecting “in the moment”.

Are you using twitter at your credit union?  If so, share your best practices and ‘wow’ moments with a comment below.  Oh, and don’t forget to follow @CUNAverse

Whether you’re an old pro at the Facebook game or still learning the difference between a Page and a Place, a new resource from the social-media giant can help you step up your credit union’s Facebook marketing efforts.

At the end of April, Facebook released a free Best Practice Guide for Marketing on Facebook. The 14-page guide packs a powerful punch, with step-by-step instructions for using the site’s many tools to reach specific objectives. The guide also highlights successful strategies used by real companies, as well as a comprehensive glossary of Facebook resources that’s practically tailor-made to hang up in your office–it’s a great cheat sheet!

Facebook bases the strategies contained in this resource on five guiding principles:

1. Build a strategy that is social by design. Integrate Facebook into broader marketing efforts.
2. Create an authentic brand voice. Provide straightforward information about your business.
3. Make it interactive. Always engage in two-way conversations.
4. Nurture your relationships. Understand that building relationships requires a long-term investment.
5. Keep learning. Take advantage of the ability to get feedback from people in real time.

That’s a solid foundation for any social-media strategy.

For more great advice on Facebook marketing, download the Best Practice Guide. And if you’re tweeting for your credit union, check out our recent post on Five Twitter Accounts Your Credit Union Should Follow.

Growing membership is critical to all credit unions; after all membership growth keeps credit unions in business. While traditional ad campaigns help credit unions build name recognition and establish their brand, sponsorship and participation in community events and charitable activities can go a long way towards membership growth.

One credit union that has caught our team’s attention in recent months is Summit Credit Union. Their innovative approach to Do More by delivering “Random acts of kindness in their communities through do-good “summits,” has inspired all of us.

Check out videos from two of their recent events: 

• Saturday Farmers Market
• Haunted Hustle Marathon

Pretty awesome, huh?  Recently, I had the pleasure of asking Rebecca Gerothanas, the Senior VP of Marketing at Summit, a number of questions about Do More.  

How did the Do More campaign originate?

RG – We are always looking for non-traditional, innovative ways to engage with members and the community. About 18 months ago one of our team members saw a video by a group called Improv Everywhere. It prompted a few of us to wonder: what if we did something like that but our purpose was to do good for the community, to get members and employees involved? We spent some time talking about what that would look like and that is how our Do More campaign came to life.

How did you solicit employee involvement?

RG – The idea and the development originally formed within the marketing department, however we wanted the whole credit union to be involved (not just marketing).  We asked employees who were interested in being involved to fill out a short, fun survey in the spirit of “doing good for others”. We got a few dozen responses, and from there we randomly chose eight employees to join the team. Sometimes the whole team is involved in planning and executing events and sometimes just a few.

How do you come up with ideas?

RG –We hold brainstorming sessions. People on the team share ideas that they think:

• Are unique and different;
• Have a “feel good” twist;
• Will get people talking; and
• Help the community understand Summit’s brand.

Although events are planned on our end, we want them to feel spontaneous to our audience. We want to surprise and excite people!

How do you measure success?

RG – We ask ourselves: How engaged are people at the events? What is the general feeling? What kinds of connections were made?  Is there member and marketplace buzz and chatter? Are we seeing our actions translate to member growth? Website traffic? Traffic on our Facebook page? Is the local press covering stories on our events? Recently the Wisconsin State Journal did a profile of non-traditional marketing tactics and we were featured in that. We hope to have more scientific data in the future, but for now we are considering the buzz factor.

What has the feedback from members/the community been so far?

RG – We have received thank you notes and cards in the mail, comments on the phone and in person. Our members tell us that they see what we are doing and they like being a part of it.

Do you have any advice for other credit unions seeking to make a difference in their community?

RG – These things don’t have to cost a lot of money. We are very cognizant of the expense and we try to do things that don’t cost a lot of money (less than $500 a month). Another critical element is that we are engaging people in a REAL and genuine way. We aren’t just telling them what we can do; we are showing them what we can do. We are using social media to help people experience the credit union difference, and encouraging them to want to be a part of that difference.