Effective social media advocacy: Show up and stop being nice

I recently attended the 2017 State Government Affairs Conference in Wisconsin, where CUNA’s Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan addressed the audience about the new administration, credit union advocacy and lobbying for credit unions in Washington. He told us that, regardless of who’s sitting in office, politics is won by those who show up. He also mentioned that on Capitol Hill, credit union people are known as the “nice guys.”

That got me thinking about two things when it comes to credit union advocacy. For one, who’s showing up on behalf of credit unions? And for two, are we “finishing last” when we show up as the nice guys?

I don’t want credit unions to finish last. If you don’t either, fortunately there is something we all can do about it. And we don’t need to be lobbyists or lawmakers to make a difference. It’s a grassroots world we live in today.

Show Up

If you believe that credit unions are a valuable contribution to society and that we’d be worse off without them, that means it’s your job to show up for credit unions. It’s as simple as that. Too often we look around thinking “if only someone would do something…” Whenever I think that, I force myself to recognize that someone is me. That someone is all of us.

Here’s how to tell if you’re the “someone” that should show up for credit unions:

• Do you believe in the cause?
• Do you know people that could benefit from using a credit union?
• Do you have a Facebook account?

If you’ve answered yes to all 3 questions, congratulations, you’ve made the cut! You can be an advocate for credit unions!

If you’ve ever heard the saying “credit unions are the best kept secret” and wondered why they they’re such a secret—or if you’re baffled why not every person in the world isn’t already a credit union member, take a moment to reflect on your thoughts, gather your best credit union stories and take it to Facebook. Pour out your true, genuine, real and vulnerable stories about why credit unions matter to you.

Why social media for grassroots advocacy? Advocate any way you feel comfortable, but know that social media gives individuals the power of reach far beyond anything we’ve seen in the past decade.

A few quick stats on the scope of social media from Pew Research:

• The average social media user today has 850 unique connections across their networks.
• 79% of American adults who use the Internet are regular users of social media.
• Content shared by an individual on Facebook receives on average 8 times the engagement that the same content shared by a brand page receives.
• Facebook, with 1.8 billion active users worldwide, has recently pivoted away from prioritizing branded content in favor of content shared by individuals to their personal networks.
• 2.1 billion people worldwide are active users of social media.

I challenge you if you’re reading this now–go post one story on social media about why credit unions matter to you. Watch what response you get. Engage with your networks. This is how you show up for credit unions. Stop looking for someone else to do this work.

Stop Being Nice

What does it mean to stop being the nice guy when it comes to credit union advocacy? In this case, the opposite isn’t to be mean. It’s about being fierce. Being passionate. Being skilled and knowledgeable. Being confident. Having a plan and being relentlessly loud about why credit unions matter.

We had a “book club” meeting over lunch one day at Filene where we talked about the digital think tank, evolving to be digital-first and distributing information in more effective ways. One key take-away for us was to use our professional development allowances and opportunities to build our own digital communication and content marketing skills.

Regardless of job title, every aspect of any organization improves when individuals learn basic competency in digital communication and content marketing skills. Take a lesson from “new school” journalism where the most successful reporters today are also novice designers, editors, photographers, videographers, marketers and social media strategists. These people can see the full picture of how to find, create, produce, package and deliver a compelling and effective story.

This is how you should be thinking as a credit union advocate; about improving your competency at knowing what message will work, with what audience, delivered in what way. This is how you move from being the “nice guy” about credit union advocacy, to being the strategic thinker that gets your message through the clutter, on top of the pile, and noticed!

Final thought:

It’s only through a combination of showing up with a message to tell and gaining skills at getting that message heard that advocacy efforts become effective.

None of this is rocket science, or even a new concept for that matter, but it’s effective and it needs to be happening now more than ever. With the uncertainty of a new administration and changing economic times, we need credit unions to be a strong foundation for our communities. It’s a symbiotic community eco-system; while we count on credit unions to serve us, they count on us to advocate for them.