Businesses need to do more than “friend” and ask people to “like” them

The Hunter led the way for financial institutions from around the world in social media, when Cas Scott, Direct Marketing Manager from Community CPS Australia, presented at the World Credit Union Conference in Glasgow.

Ms Scott, was born and bred in Cessnock, attended Newcastle University and was the winner of the 2010 Young Person Award at the World Credit Union Conference in Las Vegas.

This year Ms Scott was asked to share her expertise in social media with credit unions from around the world, at the World Credit Union Conference in Glasgow.

According to Ms Scott, Australia already has a strong track record in social media and is paving the way for other financial institutions from around the world.

“We saw our members changing their habits, more and more of them were heading online and we realised we needed to be on social media if we wanted to move with their demands,” Ms Scott said.

“We have approximately 180,000 members and we had approximately 700,000 visitors to our website each month and 50,000 of those members were accessing the website via smart phones,” she said.

“But it is critical that business’ have all of their online presence up to speed; you can’t deliver well on social media and then let members down with a poor web presence or no online products, you have to deliver the whole experience,” said Cas Scott.

Ms Scott explains many business’ are struggling with the how they can use social media to grow their business. “The finance sector can do more in the social media space to improve what they offer, there is more to social media than “friend-ing” your members or asking them to “like” you,” Ms Scott said.

“This is more than a fad, social media is an increasingly popular communication forum and it is critical for businesses bottom line that they understand and use these new business tools,” she said.

“The advertising on these platforms is fantastic, I’d say to marketers it is easy and affordable and I’d say to accountants it is highly measureable. Issuing a media release on Twitter should now be part of any PR strategy; news comes from much more than traditional print, radio or television; if you want to be newsworthy,you need to be where people source their news."

“I really encourage business’ to embrace social media, the benefits far outweigh the perceived risks and it was a great opportunity to present to financial institutions from around the world to show them how Australian organisations are taking advantage of the new mediums, “ Cas Scott said.

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY CPS AUSTRALIA GROUP