I said to myself after replying to her request: “Self… CUNAverse readers might find this information useful!” I agreed with myself, as I often do.

So, here is a small list of online resources I track with periodically or have found to be useful. It is by no means an exhaustive list—nor an endorsement—but rather a small sampling of what I use to stay current with the credit union space and better understand how financial institutions use social media. Perhaps you will find these helpful as well.

What resources and examples would you suggest? Please share them in the comments!

Examples of credit unions using social media:

• CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council’s 2011 Diamond Award winners for Social Media
• List of credit unions using Twitter (not an exhaustive list, but gives you an idea of who and how)
• Verity Credit Union’s blog
  
• Consumers Credit Union’s blog
• Hopewell Federal Credit Union’s blog
• Southern Illinois University Credit Union’s blog
• Hughes Federal Credit Union’s Facebook page
• Truliant Federal Credit Union’s Facebook page
• CommonWealth One Credit Union’s Facebook page
• Linn Area Credit Union’s Facebook page

Resources from the credit union industry:

• Credit Union Magazine
• CUinsight
• Coopera Consulting’s Hispanic Outreach Insights
• Filene Research Institute
• The Financial Brand
• CU Grow
• CU Water Cooler
• Crash Network
• CUES Skybox
• Credit Union Exchange (Credit Union Times opinion blog)

Articles on social media and financial institutions:

• The Top 35 Banks on Facebook
• Social Media Enhances Collections
• The State of Social Media for Credit Unions
• Presentation on how credit unions should use social media from TheFinancialBrand.com
• Does Credit Unions’ Gen Y Campaign Have Lessons for Banks?
• Most Credit Unions Behind Social Media Curve
• 5 Ways Banks are Using Social Media (a little old, but still relevant)
• Social media’s Role in Crisis Management

Stay tuned for future advocacy posts from Ryan Donovan

In November, I had the opportunity to speak with a small group of credit union executives about what CUNA has been doing in terms of legislative advocacy and political activity.  They asked me to speak with them for about an hour and they wanted me to focus on issues other than member business lending, supplemental capital and interchange.  I relished this opportunity:  The truth of the matter is that, while these issues along with preservation of the tax status are top legislative priorities for CUNA, there are dozens of issues that we work on daily which get much less attention but are no less important.

We talked about our comprehensive efforts on reducing regulatory burden for credit unions, including the work we have done on legislation to make changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; our efforts to protect credit unions from lawsuits filed by patent trolls and ATM vandals; our efforts to encourage Congress to enact a long term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program; the work we are doing on cyber security legislation; and, of course, the coordinate effort to engage the now-defunct Super Committee in defense of the credit union tax status.

Right before I took questions from the group, I uttered a sentence that immediately lit a light bulb above my head: “Now, if this is the first time you’re hearing about our work on these issues, then we’re not doing a good enough job getting the word out, and that will improve.”  Publishing an advocacy blog on a regular basis is one of the ways that I am committed to improving this.

When I speak to credit union groups, I often tell them that part of my job is explaining credit unions to Congress, but another very important part of my job is explaining Congress to credit unions.  The former is often much easier than the latter, and that’s why I’m starting this blog—to try to explain how what is happening in Washington is relevant to credit unions.

CUNA has a number of communication mechanisms that help those who are interested know what is going on and what we’re working on.  My contributions to CUNAverse will not be a substitute for any of them.  NewsNow is a must-read resource for all sorts of credit union and CUNA news, including a section focused specifically on what is going on in Washington.  The Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Departments both publish weekly updates for CUNA members that discuss the issues percolating in Washington.  If you want to know what is going on and what is CUNA doing about it, these are terrific resources.  For those who want to dig a little deeper on the legislative side, I hope you will find my contributions here valuable.

Take a moment to view our slideshow for our top 10 New Years Resolutions for CUNAverse. We hope this level of transparency reinforces the genuine nature of this blog, our commitment to providing you with valuable insight on all things credit union, and sets the tone in your mind for what is already shaping up to be a fantastic year.

As always, we want to hear your feedback. What do you think? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

This Q&A piece deserves a quick read. It covers Michael’s thoughts on  i³ and the secret to being innovative.

Below is only a snippet from the article, so be sure to read the full article here.

Michael Spink, communications manager for Local Government FCU.

CU Mag: What’s one innovative effort taking place at Local Government Federal?

Spink: At Local Government Federal, we’re changing the way we think. We want to handle all our endeavors in innovative ways—from how we market products and go about operations to how we look at compliance and regulation.

It’s time to actually poke our heads out of the trench and really look at the bigger landscape. It’s a different world since we jumped into our foxholes a few years ago.

CU Mag: How will this benefit your CU and members?

Spink: It will make our credit union healthier and more efficient, and will increase the value to our members. We’ll also have a greater ability to respond to member needs more quickly.

On a grand scale, the benefit is a stronger credit union movement overall. The more we each honestly look at the new landscape, the more we’ll all learn about navigating within it.

What do you think… are credit unions too slow in implementing innovation and change? What’s your secret for being innovative?

Plan it, a retirement planning tool, won the gold medal for Best Consumer Website for Non-Profit Associations. MoneyMix, a financial education and planning assistant for young adults, won the bronze medal for Best Online Column or Blog.

Plan It
Plan It, an online retirement planning tool, is being recognized at the 2011 Eddie Awards for its quality content. Plan It helps pre-retirees focus attention on their financial and personal goals by allowing them to keep track of retirement funds through interactive calculators, short courses, informative articles, FAQs, quick tips and other progress tracking tools.

“We’re honored to help credit union pre-retirees plan for retirement, and to be recognized for the quality of Plan It’s content,” says Rena Crispin, managing editor for Plan It. “We are happy to see financial publications getting to share the media spotlight with such prestigious company.”

MoneyMix
MoneyMix’s spending blog particularly drew the attention of the Eddie Awards panel for its originality and accessibility. The spending blog, one of the many blogs featured on MoneyMix, is filled with useful spending advice written by young adults, for young adults.

“We are honored that MoneyMix has been recognized in the category of Best Online Column or Blog, one of the most competitive and inclusive categories at the Eddie Awards,” says Michelle Dosher, managing editor for MoneyMix. “To be mentioned alongside such publishing giants as Sports Illustrated and SELF Magazine is a special treat that not only speaks to the talent of our writers but to the importance of the financial advice we give young adults.”

Both Plan It and MoneyMix have won awards for editorial excellence before. As part of onlineEDGE, CUNA’s suite of member-focused financial education tools, both programs won the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education’s (AFCPE) Outstanding Consumer Financial Information Award in 2008.

Spanning across print and online magazine disciplines, the Eddie Awards are the largest magazine awards program in the United States that celebrates outstanding editorial achievement in magazine publishing. This year over 2,000 applications were submitted and only 400 winners were selected by panelists at Folio: Magazine.

Click here for more information about CUNA’s onlineEDGE products, including Plan It andMoneyMix.