St. Petersburg, FL, July 27, 2010 – Social media has gone mainstream—and it’s time for credit unions to use these vital communications tools to gain awareness for their products and services. PSCU Financial Services has launched the first in a series of social media tutorials to help credit unions tap into the vast promotional potential offered by social media formats on its Facebook page. The current video is called “Social Media 101.”

“Social media outlets—including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and blogs—are now being used by many corporations to create brand awareness and consumer loyalty. Research shows that more than 69% of consumers have read a corporate blog¹ and 40% of consumers have ‘liked’ a brand on Facebook or MySpace,” said Mike Yatros, Interim CEO, PSCU Financial Services. “Credit unions that use social media can create broad consumer awareness about our unique industry and ultimately influence prospects to consider making a local credit union their primary financial services provider.”

The new “social media” tab on the CUSO’s Facebook page presents information that credit unions can use to learn how to leverage current and emerging social media tools to engage with their existing and prospective members. The first lesson sets the foundation by presenting facts and figures about consumers’ online and social media habits. Future postings will provide lessons for using popular social media sites as well as downloadable best practices and resource guides.

¹ Razorfish 2009

PSCU Financial Services

Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, PSCU Financial Services is the nation's largest credit union service organization (CUSO) and serves more than 1,500 financial institutions nationwide. As a non-profit cooperative, the company is owned by more than 640 member credit unions representing over 14 million accounts and 1 million online bill payment subscribers. Its Contact Centers handle more than 17.4 million inquiries a year.

PSCU Financial Services offers 24/7 member support through four Contact Centers: its Eastern operations center in St. Petersburg, Fla.; a Western operations center based in

Phoenix, Ariz.; and two call centers in Detroit, Mich. These Contact Centers perform member servicing and new member acquisition, cross-selling and automated lending solutions as well as support for debit/credit/prepaid cardholders and online bill payment subscribers.

Established in 1977, the company provides a broad array of cost-effective, high quality financial services that include credit, debit, ATM, prepaid, bill payment and contact center solutions. PSCU Financial Services uniquely offers its members a full range of processing options, any combination from full service to in-house pass through processing for credit, debit and ATM transactions. As a leader in the credit union movement, the company offers gateway access to national and regional networks. It also provides full function ATM terminal driving services. For more information, visit PSCU Financial Services’ website at www.pscufs.com