YES LIVE: Blogging is not for the faint-hearted or the half-hearted

Brent Dixon, creative director for Trabian, an Indianapolis-based Web development company. Session title: Do Credit Union Blogs Make Sense?

Blogging is Web 2.0.

Web 1.0 was characterized by the attitude: “Let’s put our brochures online.” But viewers could do nothing but look at copy. Many credit union web sites are still at this level, still static.

Web 1.0 links documents. Web 2.0 links people. The benefits:

• It’s great for putting a human face on your credit union. For example, Verity CU (Seattle, see link to the right), for example, allows any employee to post to its blog. (16 now do; some require editing.) Makes the credit union feel more like a group of people.

• A blog can help you positioning your brand with idealistic values. For example, Commonwealth CU (Alberta, Canada, see link) looking for an under-25 employee to serve as spokesperson and help design products. Video and blog application.

• Blogging can help with product development. “A blog is a ramped up suggestion box.” Bank of America invites online reviews of all products. This can be scary. You won’t get that kind of feedback from calling people or putting them in a focus group.

• Your blog can be a vital channel for crisis management by reassuring members. Verity used its blog to keep members informed about a problem that forced it to take down its web site.

Dixon’s advice:

Be open, be real, be transparent. But also beware: Because a blog is an open community it can be “hijacked.” Be sure to moderate comments. Don’t allow a free-for-all. The dangers of not moderating are not only off-color but also identity theft.

By creating an interactive blog, you’re opening yourself up, and are vulnerable. Wal-Mart—travelers cross U.S. and stay in Wal-Mart parking lots. Turned out to be PR firm employees, and once exposed, they hurt the company’s image.

Concentrate of on a specific topic of interest to your target audience. Most successful blogs are niche-focused. For example, Fiskars’ (best known, perhaps for its scissors and scrapbooking lines) addresses it blog to crafts people. Wells Fargo has a student resource site, which covers topics of interest to college students, including “Ask the Expert” Q&A feature.

Is blogging a cultural fit for your credit union? You have to be OK with responding to negative feedback.

Will blogging add value to members? 1% of Verity’s new members cite the blog as a reason for joining—this group has an average of $11,500 in loans outstanding, excluding mortgages.