If a word of mouth message looks good at the top of a press release, it's probably not going to work, social media expert Andy Sernovitz said during his session at CUNA Mutual Group's Online Discovery Conference on Tuesday.

That's because real people don't repeat marketing slogans, he said. Instead, word of mouth topics should be portable, repeatable and emotional. And, he added, products, services and features alone aren't good enough, either.

• ALSO READ Focus on Existing Members to Grow Loans
• ALSO READ Examiners Eyeing Loan to Net Worth Ratio
• ALSO READ CFPB Compliance to Dominate in 2013

Sernovitz used Apple as an example. Back in 1996, Apple was in danger of going out of business and the company brought back Steve Jobs to attempt to rebuild the brand. Rather than focus on Apple's technology advantages, Jobs instead came up with iMacs with brightly colored blue, pink and orange exteriors, something no other computer manufacturer was doing at the time.

Customers who were excited to see the “cute computer” flocked to Apple's website, Sernovitz said, where they learned about products and features on their own.