March 2018

6 Towns
Credit Union
A credit union in the West Midlands, which last year
moved the bulk of its marketing to social media to
match consumers’ switch to digital, says a heavy
online presence brings huge benefits, ranging from
greater awareness to improved communication
within the sector.
6Towns Credit Union in West Bromwich
developed its digital marketing campaign in
response to the trend for online loan. Over the past
12-18 months, it has moved almost all its marketing
onto Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
This has seen its loan book grow 46% in 12 months.
A 2015 consumer survey for the Competition
Commission found that only 2% of consumers using
payday products in the past 12 months had also
used a credit union, although 15% of consumers
reported that they could have used a credit union
product instead of taking out a payday loan.
6Towns is trying to address the lack of consumer
awareness regarding credit unions by using social
media. For example, they created a YouTube
channel where they upload videos explaining the
benefits of joining a credit union, and giving tips
on how to avoid a payday loan, budget better and
avoid debt.
The organisation doesn’t just communicate with
members on social media – it also speaks with
other credit unions.
“You have to understand your own core
demographic before you start entering into any
marketing strategy,” says Malcolm Keyte, business
development manager at 6Towns.
“You also need to understand what new
demographic you are attracting and where they
are coming from. You have to look at your business
plan – if you want to survive you need more young
people coming in. You need to start attracting
young savers and borrowers.”
Mr Keyte believes his credit union had a younger
market, offering it an easier progression from
traditional printed material to electronic.
6Towns is now working on new videos and
digital materials around the idea of debt.
“One of the issues we need to address as credit
unions is that, yes, we are here to help, but we
would not put people into debt,” says Mr Keyte.
“Credit unions have the responsibility to ensure we
don’t put people into debt so sometimes we have
to say ‘no’ to individuals and there is a backlash to
that. So we’re now working on a video on two key
questions: ‘Why have you rejected my loan?’ and
‘Are credit unions here to help us?’”
Mr Keyte believes the key to developing a
successful marketing campaign is building a
corporate personality across the different social
media channels.
“It may be that you are focusing purely on saving
and loans,” he adds, “so you need to develop an
online personality based on that and it has to be
consistent. If you are using one logo on one social
media platform, it must be the same on any other
social media platform.
“Furthermore, once you start on a social media
campaign it’s not something you can pick up
and put down. It has to become a core part of
your marketing.
“The benefit of that is that you don’t rely as
much on partner agencies to get your message out,
you become far more independent and are able to
contact new and existing members without having
to rely on agencies to promote share, or hand out
leaflets. You are doing it yourself and it is more cost
effective than producing hard literature.”
Social media can also help to promote the
services of other credit unions and agencies,
he says. “These organisations need to be nurtured
and helped along the way – it is a co-operative way
of working. Too many organisations think posting
a picture of a table with leaflets and banners in
a church hall is getting across a message of what
they do as a credit union. It doesn’t actually say
anything, apart from the fact you were there.”
Building up followers can be a slow
process, warns Mr Keyte, but credit unions
should be patient.
“Don’t expect huge followers to like and share
immediately; it’s better to have 100 good followers
than 500 that you have bought,” he says.
He says feedback may also be difficult to obtain ,
although a strong performance for the credit union
can indicate that the marketing strategy is working.
MARCH 2018 | 37