A Direct Line Blog

A guest blog by Michelle Skinner, MCU Director of Communications

Social media gets a bad rap. And it deserves the lousy reputation if people only focus on the misinformative, disingenuous, and unkind posts that pepper each social media channel. And guess what? Just like making friends in kindergarten, like attracts like, so the social media algorithms show you more and more of the posts similar to the ones to which you’ve watched or reacted. Your social media feed is literally what you make it — for better or worse.

Here’s where you can swoop in to save someone’s day and their social media feed. For Montana CU Forward Day on October 9, take to social media and share all the amazing things you do all year long for your members and your community. Think back on 2023 so far and be proud of what you’ve done — in a pubic way this time. How many pints of blood have you donated? How many hours have you volunteered your leadership on a credit union board? How much have you donated to a local nonprofit? How many … you get the idea. Whatever it is, and however you have done it, October 9 is the day to share it on social media, even if you’ve shared it before.

I know you, though. I know how humble you are, and I can hear many of you saying under your breath with a single shoulder shrug, “That’s just what we do; that’s who we are. Unlike Lady Gaga we don’t live for the applause.” That’s great. Seriously, being humble is cool. But let’s look at it this way. You’re going to make someone just a little happier when they see you out in the community making things better for people – their neighbors, their friends and family, and themselves. Isn’t that also what you do: make things better for people? By taking one day to showcase your community action, you’re going to help someone see a little a little more good in the world — a little break in the monotony of negativity that their social feeds may have become. What a noble cause!

Are you excited yet? Here’s what to do:

1. Visit our CU Forward page to register your credit union and check out a toolkit of cover pics and frames for your social posts.
2. On October 9, post all day long about your community action activities. Bonus points for video content, testimonials from benefiting organizations, and actual metrics like the number of volunteer hours and dollars raised.
3. Use #MTCUForward on all your posts so I can find them.
4. After October 9, send me the number of posts you published and the engagement.

I can’t imagine you’re still hesitant to participate, but if you are, send me an email and we’ll talk about ways to put a little #MTCUForward into your credit union.  I love hearing about what you are doing in your communities!