The Worst Feedback is Often the Best
Oct 10, 2007 
Open Source CU Blog | By Trey Reeme
Brent and I gave our “Building your relationship with Gen Y Members” presentation in Wisconsin a few weeks back.
One of the slices of feedback we got:
I was a little disappointed in the Gen Y presentation. They kept talking about social media, but saying not to do it.
That makes me feel good. Too many marketers are looking for a silver bullet, and social media isn’t it. I’ve never said, "Don’t do it." But I have said, "Don’t do it without a strategy." And I’ve said, "It’s not a fit for every business."
During my co-presentation with Shari at Symposium, I showed the following slide:
My next point was:
I then called Tim McAlpine up to chat about Young & Free Alberta, which had just launched.
It’s immediately up there with Change Everything on my best FI social media campaign list. BTW, this outtake video from their CEO cracks me up:
... So, back to the comment our WI presentation drew. I’d say that the keys to using social media successfully in your business are:
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You’ve got to have something compelling to talk about in the first place.
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It’s got to fit your culture. Thick skin is required.
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You’ve got to treat it as part of a larger marketing strategy.
Sure you can launch a blog or build a MySpace page or get that Jumbalooster account for your CU. But unless you know what you’re trying to accomplish, as Brent likes to say, all you’ll hear will be crickets chirping—or worse yet, criticism for not having it worked out in the first place.
