Many of your blogging peers view their blogs with marketing glasses because blogs are usually driven by, moderated by or defaulted to those in the marketing dept. You know this. Enough said.

I whole-heartedly agree with Morriss’ comments – marketing has been painted in a negative light. When I joined twitter, I asked social media pioneer/guru, Chris Brogan, his thoughts on social media and the appropriate channels to use as marketing tool. His response, “I’m not a marketer. I don’t like being marketed to, but I love conversations.”

The blogs that I frequent the most are not CU- or even marketing-related. They are run by people that I consider authentic. The blog post topics span a broad spectrum. They invite conversation.

So having said all that, I come back to CUs. What’s up with Currency’s “blogging for money”? (I hope this doesn’t come across as a marketing plug). Enter Common Wealth Credit Union – a CU that has a genuine interest in understanding and communicating with YGeners. What were the appropriate channels to communicate? Social Media channels with blogging as its hub. Was it marketing product? Yes. Was it successful and will CWCU get a return on its investment. Yes.

Now Larissa has taken the helm of the Y&F blog. Here is someone who is SO engaging. Being a spokesperson fits her to a tee. She uses her gifts as a visual artist. She blogs about things that interest her AS WELL AS indirect product plugs.

What we are seeing is that throwing product mentions in the mix does not necessarily compromise authenticity. I am rambling. Bottom line – I agree with you. CUs need to dig a little deeper to ask the “why” questions and see how it fits before they start a blog. It really comes down to intent.

Bad marketing is hype, false promises, and half-truths. Good marketing is education.