Just found an interesting commentary from a former employee of Rogue FCU, unhappy with the way the credit union is being run. This commentary was made on a MySpace blog:
Debunking the Rogue Federal Credit Union continued…
Is this credit union successful? By most traditional measures, Rogue FCU appears to be successful. Loan to Share is 92% which means they are successfully making loans. Return on Assets is 1.0% which is right on par with national averages.
EverythingCU.com World 2.0 Adventure 
May 22, 2006 at 9:09 am |
When I come across examples of member blogging, I never find an answer from the credit union following the criticism. And that confounds me.
One solution: each credit union marketer should be encouraged to subscribe to a Google Blogsearch feed on their credit union’s name.
Ignoring this type of member communication is dangerous (a la Kryptonite). It’s a chance for a representative of the credit union to say, “We’re actually listening to you. We might not change this program immediately, but you’re making some valid points here that we’re willing to talk about.”
Not responding or just plain stonewalling just adds fuel to the fire. And when you do a search for that credit union on Google or Yahoo! in a few months time, how much you want to bet that MySpace post is sitting near the front page?
Thanks, Morriss, for the post!
May 22, 2006 at 6:08 pm |
I agree that ignoring this type of communication is dangerous – whether the communication is coming from a current/former employee or a current/former CU member. If an individual has a concern – let them voice it and be listened to!
We use technorati.com and icerocket.com to monitor blogs/feeds and even MySpace.com – for references to our main brand name (and variants).
May 23, 2006 at 1:11 am |
This points out a selfish reason for credit unions to create their own blogs…. people are going to communicate via blogging, email, cell phone, carrier pigeon and smoke signals no matter what. So a CUs only choice becomes between getting in front of it and leading it, or ignoring it and having it happen anyway, but not on their own terms. This gets back to the original tenants of the Cluetrain Manifesto (1999): “1. Markets are conversations” and “20. Companies need to realize that their markets are often laughing. At them.”
Also very relevant: “18. Companies that don’t realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.”