Does it Make Cents for Banks and Credit Unions to Twitter? 

Many financials are asking this question right now.

The hottest social network on the internet, at this moment in time, is Twitter.  Twitter is a social network that allows anyone to connect to friends, family, celebrities, fan clubs, social clubs, and businesses through the internet or using a cell.  The interesting aspect of Twitter is that we can blog our thoughts, ideas, events, interesting facts, questions & answers, and product information; all in 140 characters or less.

I noticed that the more aggressive credit unions and banks have been setting up social networking sites in an effort to reach out to a greater audience of prospective customers, in particular Millennial, and offer them more convenient services.  Whether this effort has succeeded or not, depends on the effort, and the financial.  However what is obvious is that social networks are taking over where the TV was many years ago.  Marketing to the younger generations, and now to some extend, the older generations, requires going to where they all "hang out"; and right now many are hanging out in MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter.

Twitter communications requires using short-hand word, brief phrases, or using various tiny urls for domain addresses.  However, with a savvy marketing person, many announcements and marketing messages can be shorten to 140 characters or less to reach that unreachable audience.  Plus consider that Twitter is still a free service, the costs of marketing through Twitter is extremely low.

Marketing through Twitter requires regular updates, called "tweets", that convey some interesting information which entices others to "follow you".  The more tweets that are added, the increased attention the Twitter user gets.  Offering Twitter to your existing members / customers can also increase their loyalty to the financial and increase their word of mouth marketing for the financial.

The results: a very dynamic blog, a bigger audience, and increased search engine optimization for the financial's marketing efforts.  

Can Twitter be used for internet banking?  Stay tuned for more information on that.

I will add more about Twitter in future posts.  Or check my Twitter account at www.Twitter.com/SolutionOS .