2021 Marketing Trends: Digital, Digital, Digital
The race to boost engagement on digital and social channels is on. Has your marketing strategy kept pace?
How do you prospect or deepen relationships with in-person events minimized or cancelled? Even if your branch lobbies are open and seeing good traffic, the pandemic has resulted in more members of all ages interacting with your credit union online. As a result, the race to create more engagement via digital and social channels has reached breakneck speeds. Has your marketing strategy kept pace?
Start by Doing Your Homework
It can be very tempting to skip this step and jump directly into trying something new, but firmly identifying goals and then doing research can help you decide the who, where and how at the heart of your efforts.
After you understand what you’re trying to achieve, it becomes much easier to narrow your focus and then map out a strategy to achieve your goals. New trends like animated video elements and user-generated content are on the rise, but taking the time to create a strategy behind the videos and other digital assets you develop is also vital to ensure your efforts increase brand engagement and tie back to your goals and conversion metrics.
Finally, identify the best channels to execute the campaign. This may be your own mobile app, targeted emails, digital ads, Instagram Reels, Facebook Live events or – most likely – a combination of channels.
Make Sure Your Message Connects
We’ve heard a lot about authenticity in recent years, but empathy may be the key word to keep in mind for 2021. The realities of COVID-19 have been tough on all of us, and we’re not out of the woods yet. Credit unions are uniquely positioned to connect with their audience, especially as many have been there for members with pandemic assistance, such as loan forbearance. Continue to be the voice they can trust by providing relevant content and tools that are simple to use. Focus on what matters to your field of membership right now and keep expanding your network through others in your community that have strong followings and align with your “people helping people” values.
Consider Short-Form Videos & User-Generated Content
Videos used to be cost-prohibitive for many smaller institutions. However, society’s fast adoption and acceptance of events moving from in-person to Zoom and the like have made it easier to produce simpler, in-house videos. The rise of user-generated content, with some brands even using them in lieu of traditional video commercials, has also leveled the playing field.
Consumers are more comfortable being on camera themselves, too. Now may be the perfect time to ask for video submissions from members or invite them to share their stories with you via a one-on-one video interview. And you might be surprised at the eyeballs and engagement a simple, low-tech (smartphone-recorded), short member testimonial will deliver on your social media channels.
Don’t Forget to Analyze & Adjust
Measuring your digital campaigns can help you further refine your message, target audience and channels. Not every impression on a paid digital ad is going to result in a click to learn more or a closed loan, but lower reach or lower engagement could be signs that it’s time to try something new.
If your number of Facebook followers has flat-lined, that may be a sign that it’s time to boost certain posts to reach a broader segment of the community or look into ways to cross-pollinate and grow followers by partnering with local schools, SEGs, charities or others you have a good working relationship with already.
Elisa Kee Rode is the President of Kearley & Company, a Fort Worth, Texas-based strategic marketing and branding firm serving credit unions and credit union service providers.