Study Evaluates 230,000 Social Posts About Credit Unions

Social media monitoring is a business intelligence tool that uncovers public opinion by analyzing online conversations on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums, etc. As one advocate proclaims, "There's a real value in tapping into these millions or billions of conversations online, where people are talking openly and honestly about what's important to them."

Navy FCU recently commissioned a company called Crimson Hexagon to monitor social media in order to understand, among other things, why people join credit unions. I’d like to share the gist of the findings with you for a couple of reasons.

First, they illustrate what social media monitoring is capable of producing. Second, knowing what consumers find most appealing about credit unions might just help you to adjust your own product, service and positioning strategies. So, here they are, the main findings mined from approximately 230,000 relevant posts over an eleven-month period:

• Good service is the top reason for moving from traditional banks to credit unions
• Credit unions are more helpful in building credit and raising credit scores and are more flexible with credit limits
• Credit unions have lower loan rates and provide savings on fees
• Credit union membership feels more like a community

With respect to the last point, here are some sample posts: 

"Credit unions are about the community, NOT CEO paychecks." —Facebook

"I like credit unions…they like helping locals and local business more than the big banks" —Twitter

While social media monitoring is an exciting and valuable methodology, bear in mind that it is not a perfect methodology (input tends to be weighted toward somewhat younger consumers, for example). Still, the possibility of listening to unsolicited public opinion from a huge pool of people is something that, until recently, was only a researcher’s dream.

By Doug Foister, Director of Research, Cornerstone Credit Union League