We study nearly every interaction community banks and credit unions make in the US. We watch as some make progress and others struggle to gain enough traction to be relevant. The truth is, many of these lessons my niece understands when she makes gingerbread houses. So what makes the community builders successful?
Community builders know when to get dirty.
Many in social media believe that it is all about getting dirty by following every interaction and friending and liking the world. That’s simply not true. You don’t have enough time to get dirty in every interaction, you must find community events and develop campaigns that allow you to get involved when it matters. Find the times when your community – whether geographically or otherwise – is most-engaged and build around it.
Foundations are important.
Often overlooked, but all the gumdrops in the world can’t cover-up good foundations which in social media involve process. The processes you implement must be replicate-able and sound to know how you will respond and what to do when the storms of negativity come. We give our clients a customizable workflow that involves daily, weekly and monthly goals to know whether things are on-track and the details are taken care-of.
It has to be good enough to eat.
Everything you make, needs to be appetizing. Don’t forget a beautiful cover photo, utilize images in your posts and keep it true to your brand image. Just a little time in Photoshop and clean fonts will help keep your vision cohesive. Utilize your tabs to take longer-form content off Facebook walls and maximize blog entries.
As you create your 2013 goals, keep in mind that the community you are building can pay huge dividends when you execute well.
For more information on how Social Assurance maximizes social reach for community banks and credit unions, drop us a note.
