Given the growing importance of digital marketing, FileneResearch Institute expert panelists agreed that credit unions needto do more than just pay lip service to the digital revolution bysimply turning traditional collateral and messaging into digitalcontent.

In addition, experts said while credit unions may have anadvantage on the social media playing field as being authentic andhaving members' best interests at heart, big banks have learned thevaluable lesson of emotion-based advertising, and that emotionalappeal translates well to digital and social channels.

Taking a page from its own research, for the Digital Brandingreport Filene hasreplaced its traditional text-based PDF with a link to a web-basedpresentation, which includes a combination of video of thespeakers and their slides.

“More importantly, you can share the presentation beyond yourown screen in staff training or perhaps a board meeting; you canalso do it in broader ways with your social and professionalnetworks on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn,” said Ben Rogers,research director at Filene.

The latest report has drawn from Filene's November 2011 CreditUnion Digital Branding Colloquium in San Francisco, where a panelof social media practitioners and researchers along withstrategists from Google and Facebook shared what tools currentlyexist and are being developed while discussing how credit unionsshould rethink their branding and digital presence via digitalmessages and channels that resonate with consumers.