1 year, 10 months and 23 days. That’s how long it’s been since my last post on Open Source CU. I would say I’ve had a bad case of writer’s block, or that my latest project has kept me exceptionally busy, or that we focus on clients first, but really it goes beyond that. Let me explain.

Our early vision for OSCU was to help credit unions use the Internet to take advantage of their inherent cooperative nature, both among themselves and, more importantly, between themselves and their members. In fact, here’s a quote from our about page:

Created as an idea exchange, Open Source CU is an outlet and resource for credit union leaders toward the goals of opening communications between members and management, using technology that fits the movement’s inherent cooperative nature, and converting marketing sales-speak into legitimate conversation.

As an early participant and observer of social media among credit unions, I’ve enjoyed seeing the community of innovators and enthusiasts that have found new outlets for sharing their ideas and inspiring others, whether through Twitter, their blogs, podcasts, or commenting on the posts of others. Truly passionate people like Shari Storm, Tim McAlpine, Matt Davis, and others have demonstrated how to “open communication between members and management” and “convert marketing sales-speak into legitimate conversation”. They’ve done the industry a tremendous service by sharing what’s worked and – more importantly – what hasn’t.

The challenge, and the reason for my personal absence on this blog, is that social media doesn’t really need OSCU as a cheerleader anymore. I’m proud of the role we’ve played in helping encourage a community of collaborative innovation, but the community has quickly grown to the point where it doesn’t need a centralized soapbox.

So where do we go from here?

Of the original goals of OSCU, the one I’d really like to focus on is using (or in this case, envisioning) technology that fits the movement’s inherent cooperative nature. While I may write a few posts about technology that’s already available, my plan is to introduce one half-baked idea at a time and then gradually shape a prototype based on your input. I fully expect that we’ll have to trash a prototype or idea completely and either start over or call it a bust, but I think we’ll learn a lot from the process.

The ideas introduced will be open source – if anybody wants to build a real product based on the idea then they are free to do so, and if a credit union or group of credit unions wants help implementing the idea then I’ll try and connect them with someone who can make it happen (or determine whether it’s something Trabian would like to tackle). Also, if a credit union, league, or other group would like to have a more in-depth, on-site brainstorming session then I’ll travel to them, schedule permitting and at my discretion, as long as they’ll cover travel expenses. I’m also planning a weekly Campfire chat to discuss the current prototype.

I have a few of these ideas in mind, and those of you who were at last year’s symposium may know which one I’m planning to start with. However, I’m always open for suggestions. If you have an idea for a product you think would be a good candidate for an online prototype, let me know in the comments.

I’m really excited about this and look forward to collaborating with you! In my next post I’ll introduce the first idea I’d like to work through and give more details about how you can participate in the process.

That might not be the right reason to join the Filene Research Institute’s i3 group, but it sure doesn’t hurt. Since its launch in 2005, i3 has graduated 8 participants who went on to become credit union CEOs and 3 who went on to CEO fame elsewhere (at a state league and and two CUSOs). I’d be amazed if a few more didn’t make the same jump shortly. Wanna join?

Ambition aside, i3 tries to live the open source spirit. Everything the project puts out is available for any credit union to copy, er, use. It’s a lot of fun for us at Filene (road trip to Montreal anyone?), but because credit unions are collaborators at their core, and we just want a venue to turn talk into tasks and tasks into change.

Obviously we’d like you to apply, but I also want to make this a discussion board. I’ve invited past and present i3 ers to post their thoughts about the program here (that’s the shameless part). But we also want to hear from those of you who have been on the outside looking in: What’s working about the i3 program, and what could improve?

In the spirit of open source and cooperation, I thought it would be good to share a few tools and resources with readers that I have used or found recently on the web. All are free and easy to use with tremendous ROI.

Brand Monitoring and Research

“It’s about conversations, and the best communicators start as the best listeners.”
- Brian Solis, Social Media Manifesto

If you are going to embark on a social media campaign in the near future or even if you are not, you need to know what people are publicly saying about your credit union on the internet. Whether it’s news stories, blog postings (good and bad), tweets from Twitter, etc. – you need to listen…and take action if needed.

Why? Aside from being aware of press coverage, if a customer calls your call center and has a bad experience, they can blog about it for the whole world to see. And Google loves blogs. If someone Googles your credit union and related keywords, that information can very likely go to the top of the search results. Not good.

So how do you respond in cases like that? How do you even know when you need to respond? “With honesty. And if they put thought and effort into their post, it deserves a response,” says Vancity’s William Azaroff in a great blog post on the subject.

Google Alerts

Now you can Google (& Google Blog Search) your credit union name every day, but that takes time and a good memory. What you need are internet spies – meet Google Alerts. Google Alerts takes keywords that you give it and emails you any mentions of those as frequently as you want it to, searching the web, news, blogs, and even videos somehow. Many of you more savvy readers probably know about this tool already, but I was surprised recently at a recent social media presentation I was giving when only half the credit union marketers in the room raised their hands when I asked if they’ve heard of Google Alerts. And those of you that use the tool know that it’s worth repeating.

Some ideas for keywords:

• Your credit union name (in quotes so it doesn’t pick up every mention of every credit union in the world)
• Local competitors names
• Your credit union name + “sucks,” “awesome,” “customer service,” “complaints,” etc.

TweetBeep

What if someone talks about you on Twitter? You don’t have time to spend all your time typing your credit union name in Twitter Search. No worries – meet TweetBeep, which proclaims itself “like Google Alerts” for Twitter. It’s pretty neat – you can get email updates every hour and have a lot of control over what you want it to search for.

In addition to the keyword ideas above, you might also want to get a alert on TweetBeep for “credit union” + your city or surrounding area. Many people like to tweet, “Anyone know of a good credit union or bank in so and so?” What a great opportunity for you to tweet back “Check us out – we are a non-profit financial cooperative that is safe, sound & secure. Let me know if you need more info” or something similar in your own voice.

Yelp

How is your credit union being reviewed by others at yelp.com? I recommend checking the site out periodically or setting up an RSS feed to see what and how reviewers are rating your credit union. Use the feedback to amplify or retool your services.

Additional Tools

Local Business Center at Google Maps

Ever do a Google Maps search for a business and see that little pin pop up with more information? Did you know you can edit and add to that? Do it here for your credit union and any branches. Upload relevant photos and videos, web address, specify search categories, business hours, and much more. That way if someone searches Google Maps with “bank or credit union + your city,” you are ensuring accurate and relevant information is displayed.

Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (SEO)

Here is another Google tool because, well, Google knows a little something about the internet, people use Google a lot, and almost everything they release is free. Do you want people to find your credit union and your web content in search results? Help members and non-members find you by optimizing your website and content for search engines – search engine optimization. There is a wealth of information on the subject on the web, but recently Google put together a nice little introductory .pdf with the essentials for you to download here. Once you understand the basics of SEO, you are on the road to better visibility.

Others? Tips? Tricks?

I hope you find these useful. If you have any other good free tools or have tips or tricks on the ones here, please add your thoughts. Together we are better

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Christopher Morris is the Web Manager for the CUNA Councils, a national organization for credit union professionals. Previously, Christopher was Manager of Communications & Information for the National Credit Union Foundation. As part of his marketing and public relations duties at the Foundation, Christopher built cuaid.coop, the first national online disaster relief fundraising system for credit unions. Christopher is also a blogger at the YES CU Blog: Serving 18-to-30s and a member of Filene Research Institute’s 30 under 30 group.

While hanging around the GAC this year, I caught up with my friend Jamie Chase, Owner & Instigator of Goodness (yes, that’s her title) at CU Strategic Planning. During our talk, she brought me up to speed on her latest passion project, the American Debt Relief Challenge, built around this idea:

It’s not fancy. Just a simple truth. Not-for-profit credit unions have lower credit card rates than big, for-profit banks. When you transfer your debt to a credit union, more of your monthly payment is applied to reducing the debt and less to cover a high interest rate. It’s the easy and honest way to save a lot of money.

Here are some highlights from our conversation -

me: So what’s the backstory on this project?

JC: Over that coffee my friend Scott Butterfield described a balance transfer program which saved the average family $200 a month. Holy wow! That’s a car payment or station wagon full of groceries for most families. Credit unions across the U.S. are running balance transfer programs. What if we measured the national savings?

So we reached out to as many smart people as we knew at the time to help create the American Debt Relief Challenge.

me: How does it work?

JC: Credit unions have lower rates than for-profit banks. (The average mega-bank default rate is 26.8%. No credit union I know of has a default rate of 26.8%! ) The average consumer makes one late payment a year and average people with decent credit are punished by these default rates.

When the average consumer transfers their cc debt to your credit union, more of their payment is applied to reducing the debt and less to cover a high interest rate. The average total savings over the life of the card is $13,000. National media covers the millions saved, local papers cover local CU stories. The truth in the news shows consumers they can get help from credit unions.

Along the way, credit unions attract new members, help more consumers and grow net revenue.

Credit unions can join the ADR Challenge without changing anything. We’ve kept the reporting easy. Participating CUs just have their card processor send us their weekly or monthly balance transfer report.

me: I’ve noticed that most of the do-gooding by credit unions is woefully undercommunicated. How are you and they going to get the word out about this?

JC: The millions saved is an easy media pitch, and we’ve got credibility firepower. Filene Fellow, Robert Manning PhD. author of Credit Card Nation is taking the ADR Challenge to the national media during his regular interviews. Just yesterday he was on NPR talking about the ADR Challenge.

Speaking of, if you’re doing balance transfers already, but want to do it even better, you’ve got to check out Manning’s Responsible Debt Relief Algorithm. We encourage credit unions to use it as new means of underwriting.

We also have widgets for credit unions and leagues. We roped former NASA employee, now CU tech guru, Jason Green into making an interactive savings map and ticker widget that shows the millions credit unions are saving consumers nationally, by state and by credit union. Your widget shows the amount your CU is saving members.

me: You seem really jazzed up right now.

JC: I’m really passionate about this. It’s credit unions helping people to help themselves in a desperate time. It is our chance to do something to make a difference right now, to make life better for our neighbors and members. ADR is the credit union philosophy in action: service, social responsibility, financial education, cooperation. It clearly depicts credit union pure goodness. It strategically grows loyal credit union members and increases credit union revenue during this corporate stabilization debacle. It will save at least one credit union from PCA by increasing net revenue.

Do you think any member we save from the predatory default rates of the mega banks will forget what we’ve done for them? No, they will stay with us and better understand why we are different.

. . .

Amen. Thanks, Jamie!

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Jamie Chase, CUDE, is an owner and instigator of goodness of Credit Union Strategic Planning. She is a former PBS producer and was previously the communications director for the Washington Credit Union League, where she introduced the Biz Kid$ PBS program to the credit union movement. Jamie has done PR for the World Council of Credit Unions and is known for her advocacy of active credit union elections as a membership growth solution.

Earlier this week, Denise Wymore called me out. She said this:

A few months ago I asked a friend – a talented blogger, thinker, and doer – how he keeps a steady stream of inspired words coming while also getting stuff done and not going nuts. Among other things, he said this:

“If I don’t put something out there, I won’t exist.”

The best advice I’ve ever heard on blogging came from Merlin Mann. He said this:

“Find your obsession. Every day, explain it to one person you respect. Edit everything, skip shortcuts, and try not to be a dick. Get better.”

When we began this site, we said this:

Two heads are better than one, one thousand are better than two, one million even better, and on and on and on.

A collaborative effort, a union of resources, all for a greater good – sound familiar?

Credit Unions have been doing this stuff for a hundred years…Open Source CU represents a continuation of that group effort.

Get to the point, Brent.

Taking this month off from blogging has been good for me. But I also thought more about this site and community over that month than I probably ever have. Those of you who know me know that blogging sometimes gives me heartburn. But at the same time, I love it and I love y’all.

Starting now, I’m going to post to Open Source CU once a month, the third week of every month. I’ll usually write about design and creative direction, because when all’s said and done it’s what I think about the most.

We started this site as a collaboration. And I’ve always been a better asker and facilitator than writer. So the rest of the posts, the majority of the posts I hope, will come from other people with other passions in the credit union movement. From you.

If you’d like to contribute, drop me a line at hi [at] itsjustbrent [dot] com.

First, a disclaimer: The folks at Currency Marketing are my friends, and so is Trey from TDECU, so my opinion is not objective. But still…this is just ridiculous.

For those who haven’t heard, a month ago Resource One Credit Union, located in my town of Dallas, TX, launched a cartoonishly blatant ripoff of Currency’s Young & Free Program , called MyLifeMyMoney. Pilcher covered it well at The Financial Brand.

I’ve been quietly rolling my eyes, but yesterday represented the last straw when they posted their call-to-action video, “K.I.S.S.“

As Pilcher pointed out last month:

MyLifeMyMoney copies essentially every component of Young & Free, including the overall strategy, the spokester’s responsibilities, the media used, and the incentives offered to the spokester.

Even the title “Spokester” is a word made up by Y&F Alberta’s Larissa.

So when I watched the latest video, and saw that R1 had even tried to (poorly) hijack the style of Larissa’s “The Difference Between Credit Unions and Banks” series, I was so bewildered all I could do was shake my head and cuss a little.

Let’s be clear: The hands-on-paper styling of the “Difference” videos were not original to Larissa, who borrowed it from Common Craft. However, she owned it, used it to deliver a message in a unique way to a new audience and used that style to create something original within the same style. She also gives credit to Common Craft as her muse.

A friend compared this to the film Multiplicity, where Michael Keaton copies himself and each copy is a little closer to eating glue.

There’s a difference between influence, homage, and a slipshod ripoff.

And again: It’s not like Currency invented calling for corporate auditions, Donald Trump and his pet hairpiece had been doing it for seasons. But they took a good idea and created something new.

I’ve created a slightly modified edit of R1’s K.I.S.S. video:

Collaboration is great. Influence is fantastic. Be inspired by great work. Borrow away. We can pull a lot of morals from this story, I’ll go with the least common denominator:

“If you’re going to steal, try not to do a pisspoor job of it.”

From the first day of kindergarten we are taught to get along with others and work together. In the normal course of events, though, most kindergartners act more like Mike Myers in the famous Philip the Hyper Hypo Kid skit on SNL than Beaver Cleaver.

Of the many challenges and opportunities facing credit unions, none is more daunting than the topic of getting along with others and working together (a.k.a. “large-scale collaboration”). We’ve tried to break down these challenges in a recent research publication. I would be curious to hear people’s thoughts on a few things:

1. Are credit unions more like Philip (kinetically going out on their own) or the “Beav” (extremely cooperative) when it comes to collaboration? Which is more appropriate for today’s realities?
2. What do you see as the benefits and costs of large-scale collaboration?
3. Do you have good stories to share on credit union collaboration that aren’t widely known?

Filene is already conducting more research on the topic of large-scale credit union collaboration because we think it’s a pretty darn important topic for credit unions to consider in these changing and challenging times.

(Editor’s note from Brent: On a related – but completely unrelated – note: Eddie Haskell is speaking at an upcoming CUNA event. That’s all.)

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George Hofheimer is Chief Research Officer for the Filene Research Institute, a think tank that investigates vital issues affecting credit unions and consumer finance. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife Carrie and two boys Huck and Milo. He is a washed up marathoner and an over-ambitious soccer player.