The "Real" ROI of Credit Union Social Media

by Amy Neale, Content Marketing Manager

Let me introduce myself. Not only am I the main blogger here at CU Solutions Group, I also manage all of our social media platforms and consult with credit unions on their social media strategies. 

Why am I telling you this? Because a recurring comment I hear from credit unions when I’m talking to them about their social media is: “My boss doesn’t think it’s worth our time. He doesn’t think there’s enough ROI.” I’ve explained to my clients the real ROI of social media enough times to decide the topic needs its own article. So, here we go …

Defining ROI

If you check out Investopedia, they give this formula to calculate ROI:

When you’re talking about more concrete, black and white business investments this formula works. But when you’re talking about something more intangible like member loyalty and member service, it’s too gray for the formula to be relevant.

When your credit union hands out suckers its members’ children or pens to its members, does it use this formula? Or, if it takes part in a community event like a cancer walk or holiday fundraising, ROI is never a concern. That’s because all of these touch points fall under the public relations umbrella and are meant to boost goodwill and loyalty, not necessarily ROI.

If you haven’t guessed it, I tend to liken social media to public relations or sometimes member service if a member seeks out your social media platforms with a concern or issue. PR and goodwill can’t be measured concretely enough to be put into a formula. 

Measuring Social Media

All this is well and good, but you still need to appease your management with a measurement even if it doesn’t fit into the ROI formula. A great article in Forbes, Why ROI is Often Wrong for Measuring Marketing Impact includes this statement from Dominique Hanssens, a professor of marketing at UCLA Anderson School of Management and a co-founder of MarketShare:

“Marketers rarely mean ROI when they say ROI. ‘Plain’ ROI is certainly an important metric for managers. But it falls well short of helping us understand marketing’s contribution to business goals, or how those contributions can be improved. ROI is too limited.”

We usually recommend tracking member engagement, which doesn’t always mean Facebook likes or Twitter follows. It means following up with member comments or complaints in the social arena so other members or even potential members can see that you take member service seriously. It means interacting with members when they comment on your posts. It also means keeping track of what posts get the most engagement and going with what works. 

Final Thought

Not everything we do as marketers can translate into real ROI. A final thought you might want to share with your managers should they ask about social media ROI … Why wouldn’t you use social media? It’s where your members live, no matter what demographic you seek and it doesn’t take much time/money to implement. Millennials, soccer moms, high-paid execs – they’re all on social media somewhere. Let them know your credit union is current with the latest marketing channels by engaging with them on social media. And if you don’t, I’m sure your competition will be happy to.

If your credit union needs a little help with social media and is interested in having a channel audit or social media strategy done, please contact CU Solutions Group today.