2 minutes
Develop your personality
Editor’s Note: This is Web-only bonus coverage from “Move Over Facebook?” in the February 2014 issue of CU Management magazine.
Meet Gabby, “a gal with the gift of gab who knows what she is worth and is sharing her savvy with women” through the social media sites of Fort Worth Community Credit Union, Bedford, Texas. Gabby serves as the “digital spokesperson” for the $821 million credit union with 73,400 members, a virtual creation designed to provide financial advice and tips, online deals and coupons, and information about both the credit union’s products and services and community happenings.
Gabby connects with members through Facebook, Twitter, her own website, and Pinterest.
“Pinterest made perfect sense for Gabby,” says Marketing Administrator Brandy Scarlett. “Women use Pinterest to share ideas and seek information, while engaging with other like-minded women. Pinterest is the perfect place for Gabby to engage and share ideas.”
In addition to providing financial tips and information, the Gabby sites also seek to engage members through contests like “Fast Cash Fridays,” in which the “spokesgal” encourages her followers to enter a weekly drawing by submitting photos and short posts about how they’d spend their winnings.
Fort Worth Community CU came up with the idea for a virtual spokesperson and worked with CUES Supplier member Third Degree Advertising in Oklahoma City “to help bring her to life,” Scarlett explains. “That meant not only figuring out what she would look like, but also what her personality was like, how she would talk, what kind of things would she be ‘in to.’
“The main goal for Gabby was to create and build relationships with members and potential members so that Fort Worth Community CU is seen as a trusted resource in the communities we serve. We want Gabby and Fort Worth Community CU to be top of mind when the need for a financial institution arises,” she says.
In the three years since Gabby’s launch, the credit union has had more than 30,000 visits to her website and blog, including 30 percent returning visitors. “We can show growth, but what we’re really interested in is quality engagement,” Scarlett adds.
Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.
