What follows is part of an email conversation I’ve been having with the CEO of a credit union interested in launching a blog. Some great questions are brought up, and I’m going to do my best to answer them with this post. I’ve received permission to use this email to frame a conversation in which I’m hoping to get others involved.

We are in the process of redesigning our web site and I am looking for ways to bring more members to our web site.

The idea of creating a blog is one that interests me. We are seriously considering including a blog with our new site. I feel that a blog might enable us to reach and communicate with a demographic that we are very interested in.

As you know there are very few examples of how blogging has been used by credit unions to communicate with their members. How do you see this trend developing? What type of topics should be covered? What topics should be avoided? . . .

I have an idea of some of the content that seems to make sense but I really don’t know what’s acceptable within the “blogging community”. My vision for [our] blog would be one that is branded toward the credit union. It would be an outlet for me and possibly select other staff members to get the word out on issues/information that might be useful to our members. I feel like I need to learn more about what makes a blog successful before I commit to launching one.

Blogs vs. Brochure Websites

Take a look at most traditional websites and you’ll notice that the content is one-sided and promotional. It’s shaped to be marketable – to sell more products and generate more loans, for example, and it’s written from an insider’s perspective. Sure, feedback is encouraged through a “Contact Us” page, but those comments don’t often make their way into the public domain.

With a traditional website, visitors usually come already knowing what they’re looking for before they get there – they have a purpose in mind, which could be finding out more about what products and services you offer (HELOCs, IRAs, Share Savings Accounts, Online Banking), who you serve (SEGs, communities) and your history among a host of other info.

Because websites are ideal for presenting this type of content, in the short history of the Internet, most websites have functioned as a brochure rather than a conversation.

With a blog, the power to shape your message still exists. After all, you can post on whatever you feel is relevant. But the conversational aspect is what makes a blog so different from a traditional website. Comments, both good and bad, are out there for the whole world to search and see.

If you launch a successful blog, subscribers and regular visitors aren’t there to see a polished self-promotional message. They visit to hear your distinct voice and to see your personality shine through in your posts. Then, they’re given the opportunity to interact directly with you – to let their own voices be heard through comments.

How do you see this trend developing?

I’ll start by quoting from one of my favorite “techie” articles of all-time, Wired Magazine’s piece called We Are The Web.

No Web phenomenon is more confounding than blogging. Everything media experts knew about audiences – and they knew a lot – confirmed the focus group belief that audiences would never get off their butts and start making their own entertainment. Everyone knew writing and reading were dead; music was too much trouble to make when you could sit back and listen; video production was simply out of reach of amateurs. Blogs and other participant media would never happen, or if they happened they would not draw an audience, or if they drew an audience they would not matter. What a shock, then, to witness the near-instantaneous rise of 50 million blogs, with a new one appearing every two seconds. There – another new blog! One more person doing what AOL and ABC - and almost everyone else – expected only AOL and ABC to be doing. These user-created channels make no sense economically. Where are the time, energy, and resources coming from?

The audience.

I run a blog about cool tools. I write it for my own delight and for the benefit of friends. The Web extends my passion to a far wider group for no extra cost or effort. In this way, my site is part of a vast and growing gift economy, a visible underground of valuable creations – text, music, film, software, tools, and services – all given away for free. This gift economy fuels an abundance of choices. It spurs the grateful to reciprocate. It permits easy modification and reuse, and thus promotes consumers into producers.

For an even more current perspective on the growth of blogging, you can take a look at David Sifry’s State of the Blogosphere, October 2005. Some of the highlights from this piece include:

• The total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months.
• The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago – and there are no signs of letup in growth.

Today’s consumer holds the power once reserved for the biggest companies in the world – the power to shape the message themselves. Scary or not, I believe it’s here to stay, at least for a while.

Remember when email just hit the mainstream? The first time you set up Outlook and got a new message from a collegue … Or when you heard about online banking for the first time … Who would’ve guessed the Internet would come so far just ten years ago?

I see blogging, like the author of the Wired piece, as indicative of the Culture of Participation that’s forming right before our eyes. It’s a culture that’s beating traditional news outlets to breaking stories (forcing those outlets to blog themselves!). It’s also a culture that’s numb to traditional marketing – skipping through commercials with TiVo and rendering pop-up Internet ads and spam email powerless.

The culture of participation is even hitting the credit union/banking industry – not just in blogs, but in peer-to-peer lending. It started with a British company called Zopa, where people who are willing to invest become lenders and can choose to lend to riskier borrowers at higher rates or to more qualified borrowers at lower rates. Borrowers then browse available rates, and if there’s an agreement a loan is made.

A few days ago, I noticed a blog post about a Canadian credit union offering peer-to-peer lending. That post cites Vancity Credit Union’s FAQ page, which reads:

Group members approve each other’s loan requests and are collectively accountable for repaying the loans of all members within the group.

The group meets regularly, at least monthly, to support each other, to share each other’s success, to refer customers and to solve business problems. . . .

Initial loans, known as Level One, are for $1,000. Subsequent loan amounts increase to a maximum of $5,000. For Self-Employment Program graduates the first loan level is $2,000, subject to the completion of a business plan and support of self-employment benefits.

Terms range from 3 months to 24 months and interest rates are based on prime plus 3%.

I bring this up because without the Culture of Participation fueled by the Internet, this conversation couldn’t exist. To borrow from Malcolm Gladwell, the Culture of Participation (and blogging in general) has reached a tipping point.

Because the blogosphere is so open by its nature, it’s surprising to see which major companies have opened themselves up to it! General Motors, CBS News, the Dallas Cowboys through Roger Staubach’s blog, and even Wal-Mart, just to name a few.

To me, nothing better illustrates blogging’s staying power than Microsoft including RSS (Really Simple Syndication) capabilities into their upcoming Windows release. With RSS, people who are interested in your new posts don’t have to visit your blog to see your latest piece.

IMHO (blogspeak for “In My Humble Opinion”), the question with blogging isn’t, “Is this a fad?” Now the issue is “it’s time to catch up.”

What type of topics should be covered?

Since blogging hasn’t been used by many credit unions as of yet, I can only speak hypothetically about things I’d cover if I were in your shoes.

• Write about changes to product and service offerings, and cover them before those changes are made. If we were considering moving an ATM machine, I’d post. If we were thinking about offering business lending, I’d post. If we were about to go through a rebranding, I’d post. That sort of thing. If it’s any topic on which you’d be willing to accept feedback, posting about it can get the conversation started.
• Highlight extraordinary member service stories – examples of how your staff made a member’s day.
• Post on member security issues – phishing, for example.
• Start off by being open about why you’re launching a blog in the first place. That could mean saying, “We want to reach out in a different way to people who need our services but may not be aware of what makes credit unions so unique.”

Whatever you post on, be honest, and be honestly you. In fact, it’s a good idea to read it aloud before hitting submit to make sure you sound like you. As Laura Enock said in a recent CUES Management Magazine article on blogging, “You have to post in your own voice so it’s real,” she says. “You have to let it all out there, because people are sensitive to B.S. and they can pick through it pretty easily. From what I see on other blogs, I can tell when someone is just throwing out marketing lines.”

What topics should be avoided?

• Don’t target your competitors. Talking about what makes a credit union better than a bank is fine, but you don’t need to bash specific competitors, unless you’re ready for them to see that post and comment on it. One reason: they’ll find it when they search for their own name through any number of blog search sites, like Google Blogsearch or Icerocket.
• Avoid discussions about politics and religion.
• Just use common sense. If you’re about to make a post and you’re thinking, “I wonder if we could get in trouble over this,” either don’t post about it or run it by your lawyer first. It would probably be a good idea to have him/her draft a statement like: “The opinions expressed on this blog are …”, then include it at the bottom of each page.

In conclusion …

Blogging isn’t for everybody. You’ve got to start out with the commitment to keep it current. Expect to make a lot of posts first without getting many comments in return. The good news is if it doesn’t work out, you can always make a final post that says, “We’re through with our blog experiment. It didn’t work. You can’t blame us for trying!”

Before you start, subscribe to other blogs first – even leave some comments just to get the feel of it. Google now has a free RSS reader that you can try out at http://reader.google.com (it still has some little bugs, but hey it’s free).

Posting regularly is important. It doesn’t have to be everyday, but it’s a good idea to post at least weekly. Remember to link to other blogs in your posts. If you see a good idea on another blog, quote from it and discuss it. Just think of it in the same way you did a college paper – you’ve got to cite, cite, cite!

If you possess the patience to build up a reader base, you’ll find blogging is a great way to:

• Build customer (or in CU-speak, member) evangelists.
• Reach out to your target demographic and build credibility with them.
• Let people get to know the real you.