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A prior post, How to Better Measure and Promote Member Engagement, stated that one way to increase member engagement was to use digital channels to build community:
“Credit unions can add a favorable digital channel by hosting their own online communities. Using the member database to provide content and interaction opportunities tailored to member interests and preferences, the credit union can create a platform to promote its products and services in the mode of “selling without selling.” Members feel further engaged when they feel the credit union “gets them” when they see relevant content customized for them. The success of such initiatives provides insight into the current level of engagement and is designed to improve members' feelings of connection with the credit union.”
A key assumption underlying the effective use of digital channels is that content must be compelling.
Required: Compelling Content
“Compelling” is defined here as content that grabs the audience’s attention, energizes an emotional connection, and ultimately motivates action like sharing, commenting, or buying.
Characteristics of compelling content are:
Relevant
People gravitate to content that reflects their interests, values, and aspirations. It sparks an emotional bond because the material speaks directly to topics of importance to them. If the content doesn’t connect in this way, members will tend to gloss over it.
Useful
Content that recognizes members’ problems and proposes practical solutions supports engagement. It fosters connection in two ways. First, acknowledging the problems that members perceive in their lives makes them feel the credit union understands them as people. Second, by putting forth workable alternatives to solve those problems, members feel hopeful that they might find relief from their issues. These dual positives engender a deeper affinity between the member and the credit union content provider.
Authentic
A sense of trust grows if members perceive the content as authentic and reflecting real-world experiences. In an era of increasing AI-generated content, members feel a deeper emotional connection with material they perceive as human-sourced.
Aspirational
Content that inspires members to be the best version of themselves is naturally compelling and likely to increase engagement with the credit union. One way to do this is to have members share their success stories. Such testimonial material not only comes across as authentic and inspirational but also provides hope in the members consuming the content that they, too, can reach their goals.
Educational
Members value content that increases their knowledge. They are interested in practical information that will make their lives easier and help them reach their goals.
Tells a Story
Humans more readily consume information that is couched in the form of a story. Research shows that stories engage multiple parts of the brain, which leads to increased retention and more profound emotional connection. The narrative structure of a story also makes information easier to follow, making it more relatable and impactful, leading to emotional connections that create a deeper identification with the credit union.
Supports Interaction
A major goal of credit union online content is to encourage interaction. This means members move beyond the passive absorption of information and into an interchange mindset. Members evolve from simply being viewers into active participants. Methods to get members more involved online can include surveys, polls, and quizzes, all of which cause members to interact with content rather than just by reading.
Builds Community
An extension of the interaction concept is building an online member community. Often, this can start by providing a comments section for each piece of content where members will naturally start interacting with one another. This can grow to include “user-generated content” (UGC), where members create their own content. Examples are social media posts, videos, reviews, and testimonials. Members who become active in creating UGC become de facto brand ambassadors.
Tips For Deploying Compelling Content
While credit union content creators should strive to mold their material to meet the above characteristics, other practical steps exist for delivering compelling content.
Understand the Audiences
Credit union members are not a monolithic bloc. One-size-fits-all content squanders multiple opportunities to connect effectively across the membership. Analyze the member base to identify segments and sub-segments that can be targeted with tailored messaging. The more a member feels content is personally relevant, the greater the opportunity to deepen engagement.
Make it Visually/Aurally Appealing
Straight text can be a turn-off, so spice up the content presentation with visual and aural elements to create a multi-sensory effect. Eye-catching visuals such as images, videos, and infographics help create a more immersive experience. Adding music or other interesting audio helps, too. For example, text-only educational material risks being boring, but adding visuals, sound, and simple-to-understand language makes learning fun and inspiring.
Publish Frequently/Consistently
Members will be more attracted to the credit union’s digital channels if they know fresh information is consistently available. While frequent publication can be challenging, it's worth it because member activity in digital channels will increase in proportion to publication cadence.
Promote on Multiple Channels
The credit union’s digital presence must be promoted across multiple channels to attract the most members. This includes promoting the content via email marketing, social media, physical mail campaigns, in-branch signage, and coaching staff to mention the digital material in interactions with members.
Measure Results
How does a credit union know if content is actually making a difference? The first step is to establish metrics that address the question, ”What does “success” look like?” At the outset, credit union staff must agree on measures to represent member engagement. These can include:
- Online metrics like time-on-page or email click-through rate.
- Analysis of content comments – volume, positive/negative reactions, and number of shares
- Response to product or service online calls to action – did digital members buy more than those not participating in those channels?
A good example of engagement metrics comes from a case study of the Nook deployment at Dort Financial Credit Union.
In the study, Dort CEO Brian Waldron commented, "The major selling point for us is, it worked. Dort Financial began seeing an uplift in products in the 50-plus category."
"We have seen high engagement from the weekly emails that go to our members about the content on the Living 50-plus site," he continued. "We are seeing, on average, 1,000 visitors to the site each month. They are spending time on the site and are clicking through for more information.”
The numbers bear out Waldron’s positive assessment. In an analysis of the Nook Niche Experience Platform in Q2/2024, the average time-on-page was 234 seconds compared to the industry average of 54 seconds. A similar positive result was evident in the email click-through rate for a campaign to promote the Nook deployment. Members clicked for more information at a 6.2% rate compared to an industry average of 2.4%.
Credit unions have a tremendous opportunity to build member engagement through digital channels. However, this requires an intensive effort to create compelling content that is delivered methodically to fully optimize the many benefits of a closer relationship with the member base.
