Interview with Peter Hodges; TweetMaster for Bellco Credit Union

Peter Hodges’ position as Direct Marketing Specialist for industry innovator Bellco Credit Union has expanded to include managing Bellco’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. He is the point person for the credit union’s foray into the newest social mediums on the Web. Check most any credit union or CU consultant/supplier Twitter site and you'll find that they are following Bellco Credit Union. 

We're excited that Peter has accepted our offer to be the first contributor to CUTweetTrack blog. Peter was recently interviewed by Lemon Tree Marketing but we wanted to dig a little deeper.

RC: Many seem to be rushing to judge the success of Twitter (for CUs) by the number of followers one has.  Is that the only yardstick?

Twitter followers is a simple target to focus on because it’s easily measurable and it expands your ability to reach more people through the site. But knowing that followers are not necessarily active listeners, that number shouldn’t be the only goal.

Re-Tweeting is also a good measure of success, especially since it not only gives you expanded reach beyond your current followers, but it also validates you’re sending out content that people appreciate. A Re-Tweet happens when one of your followers likes a message you’ve sent enough to forward a copy of the information to their own network of followers. (You can identify a Re-Tweet because it usually has “RT” at the beginning of the message.

Bellco Credit Union is participating in the “Pay It Green” online bill payment program, and we’ve seen quite a few Re-Tweets when we Tweet facts about making green choices to support Pay It Green. This content quantifies the significant positive impact on the environment when members switch to online bill payments and statements.

And probably the biggest measurement tool is listening. Taking note of who is Tweeting about you, replying and in what tone, gives you direct feedback. This is especially important given the general rule of thumb that one active user represents a much larger number of users who think the same thing but don’t say it.

I make sure to say thanks for positive comments and address negatives right away because other users are taking note of how you deal with each topic.

RC: In your opinion, is there any reason for not promoting a CU Twitter site on the home page? (The majority of the 200 + CUs we're tracking, don't have links on their homepage.)

I think if a credit union has decided to try social media, it’s important to make sure members know their CU has jumped into the game and to invite them to join in the conversation.  One my first jobs out of college was selling insurance and our sales trainer liked to remind us that we should “talk to people in the way they like to listen.” I think credit unions will find that the members who like to listen through social media will be really excited to see their CU entering this new space. But the key is to be ready to listen and to interact.

Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites are exponentially more valuable with a larger audience, so I would recommend also adding links to outbound email signatures, newsletters, business cards, email blasts, etc.

RC: How would you describe the difference between Facebook and Twitter?

I always describe Twitter as the “headline,”  and Facebook as the resource where you can “write the content of the article.”  In a Tweet, you only have a few words to grab someone’s attention. I’ve actually become a better writer because Twitter forces you to get right to the point in less than 140 characters.

In contrast, the average Facebook user spends about 20 minutes online each time they log in, so this presents a great opportunity for credit unions to engage members in more in-depth interactions.


RC: What tools do you reach for most in your Twitter toolbox and why?

Search.twitter.com – If a credit union is not ready to start using Twitter to join the conversation, they can still use it as a listening tool. I would recommend any business (not just fellow CUs) visit search.twitter.com and run a query for their name to see what’s being said right now.

Then subscribe to the RSS feed for the query so you’ll be notified any time a new tweet goes out with their name in it. (click here to learn about RSS)

Tweetdeck – Managing all of the information coming across Twitter is one of the hardest parts of using the site. I’ve found Tweetdeck to be the easiest and most powerful of the programs available. It allows you to build targeted lists of other Twitter users and search terms so you can keep track of what’s important to you.

Tweetdeck is laid out in columns, so I have column for “Bellco” “@bellco_cu” and “credit union” so I see all of the activity for these terms.

Twittercounter.com – At this site you can enter your Twitter username and see a graph of followers over the last week, month or three months.

At Bellco Credit Union, we used this tool to document the bump in followers received after Bellco added a Twitter link to our homepage, www.Bellco.org.

Asking Twitter – An interesting way to user Twitter is to send out a Tweet with a question and see what you get back. I’ve used my Twitter network to brainstorm marketing ideas, find good new restaurants and get recommendations on which businesses accounts I should follow.

RC: What about using a person’s name as a reference like some of the big banks do? (again, most of the CUs don't use a name)

I think it makes sense to have a generic twitter user name so more than one staffer can work within the account. To make things more personal, I’ve seen the person who is managing the account for the day Tweet out a “sign in” message. Something like “Morning! Peter here and ready to help” to start things off. Whenever you are adding something to Twitter, or even Facebook, it is important to be transparent and authentic when posting information to your account.

RC:  A lot of new Twitter users aren’t sure what to tweet about once they’ve signed up. Any tips to help someone get started?

Here are the two rules of thumb I try and keep in mind on Twitter:

Add value to the conversation – Because someone has chosen to follow @bellco_cu, I always operate under the assumption they have a certain level of interest in what is going on at Bellco Credit Union.

We send out links to seminars, reminders about holiday closings for branches, feature highlights of www.Bellco.org, quick tips about finances, etc. -- stuff that adds value to a being a Bellco member.

Be authentic – It’s important to be real when you’re interacting online. Only sending out marketing messages is not going to win many fans. When the Denver Nuggets where competing in the NBA Playoffs, I threw in the occasional “GO Nuggets!” Tweet. I noticed a follower mention he was starting a new job, so I replied congratulating him and wishing him luck on his first day. 

RC:  What demographic/psychographic do you think is drawn to your site?

Our Twitter account, @bellco_CU, has a group of younger (35 and under) members who tend to participate in my Tweets for contests or when I Tweet asking for feedback. Our other Bellco Credit Union followers include other credit unions or credit union industry folks.

RC:  Are the bankers in your market Twittering?  If they are, expand on that, would you?

This is not something I’ve come across, but that is not to say it is not happening.

Comments

[James Robert Lay]

Great interview and awesome way to kick off CU Tweet Track!

[James Laws (@tvfcu)]

Enjoyed the post. Some great starting points. Looking forward to us digging into this further.

[Jeffry Pilcher]

Great interview.

Followers measure reach. Retweets measure how interesting you are (how valuable your tweets are). But both of these are tactical benchmarks gauging the tool only, not your objectives. You can have 10,000 followers who retweet you 100 times a day, but it won't tell you whether you're successfully achieving your goals.

Some of the kind of stats I'd be curious about as a financial marketer include:
* Outbound clicks from my main website's Twitter contact info to my Twitter page
* Inbound clicks to my website from Twitter
* Number of service issues originating in Twitter and how many were fully resolved within Twitter
* Number of entries received through Twitter-only promos (e.g., enter to win by following)
* Branch traffic generated by promo advertised exclusively on Twitter (e.g., mention the word "Twitter" when signing up and you'll get X)

[Sonya Mills]

This is a great interview Roger and Peter, thanks for getting the conversation started! I'm curious, Peter, to know how you know the demographic of your Twitter followers?

Also wondering, Jeffry, how would you track an inbound link from Twitter? Unless you build a custom url, which some people might be less inclined to click. A lot of people right click to open in a new tab which, as far as I know, looks like an organic hit to most analytics.

[Aloha FCU @AlohaFCU]

As the first credit union in Hawaii to tweet, we at @AlohaFCU find it fascinating to see the viewpoints of others engaging in Twitter full-blown. In our opinion, we drive the conversation to engage the human side of members not to carve a promotional niche out of Twitter.

[Jeffry Pilcher]

@Sonya - Google Analytics tracks all inbound traffic from Twitter. In the last month, Twitter has accounted for over 5% of The Financial Brand's inbound traffic. I can tell how many people come into my main website directly off of my Twitter profile (1.7% of all inbound traffic). I can even tell who my top referrers are in Twitter -- those whose re/tweets yielded the most inbound traffic. The average visitor from Twitter looks at 2.55 pages and spends just under 3 minutes browsing The Financial Brand each visit.

I regard Google's Analytics tool very highly. It give me more data than this one guy can handle.

[Tim McAlpine]

Excellent first post Roger. And congratulations on keeping CUTweetTrack off the ground. Your growing list of credit unions tweeting is awesome. Keep up the great work!

[Kelley]

Roger - Congratulations! Great to see CU TweetTrack have liftoff. Enjoyed the interview. Look forward to more of your updates on Twitter.

[USECredit_Union]

I really like this interview. The part about making sure to be ready to interact and placing the social media links in email blasts is a great idea.