Ask Sam: So how important is social media involvement anyway? Do people your age really care whether your CU/bank tweets regularly?

This is a complicated question. I don’t have to tell anyone that advertising through social media is both new and ambiguous. You can spend more time than you can imagine trying to find the balance between posting too much and not posting enough in an effort to reach your desired audience. Even then you’re eventually going to ask yourself, “is it worth it?”

On one hand, I think an Internet and social media presence is really important for any company that wants to reach the younger demographic. If it’s not on the web, a lot of young people don’t care. So yes, it is necessary.

But on the other hand I would definitely be annoyed if every time I logged in to Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr I had to sort through a number of posts that were nothing more than advertising. If companies started flooding their “fans” with posts it wouldn’t be long before we’d be clamoring for a spam filter, just like with email. Some celebrities and sports teams on Facebook have figured this out and only post occasionally. I follow a couple of FC Barcelona players as well as the team, and I usually only see a couple of posts each week. These posts usually advertise some accomplishment or ask a quick question so that they can connect to their fans without overstaying their welcome.

So really, provided a credit union has no other plan for websites like Facebook, following the celebrity model wouldn’t be a bad idea. That, paired with a blog, could be a useful tool. It requires a bit of upkeep but it’s a pretty safe way to reach younger people. Just try not to overdo it.

If there’s anything you’d like to ask Sam, or if you have ideas for blog topics you’d like to see Sam take on, just post a comment or email sam@idizinc.com .