A director of the $1.7 billion Chartway Federal Credit Union, Lou Gull, is trying what the CU says is a tech-savvy and modern-day way to get votes for a seat on the NAFCU Board: use the full gamut of social media.

The Virginia Beach volunteer is running for one of the two director-at-large seats on the NAFCU Board with balloting to begin Monday. Voting ends May 2.

“While direct mail has been the traditional form of campaign literature for most candidates, Mr. Gull has built his campaign efforts around more progressive media such as YouTube, Facebook and a custom campaign website,” said a Chartway press release.

The use of electronic media, said Chartway, “is an essential element in marketing today.” 

 “Certainly, I plan to utilize direct mail to reach potential voters, but I wanted to expand the reach and scope of my message to those individuals who prefer a more visual and electronic channel,” said Gull, a former chairman of Chartway.

“This approach is unique,” he continued, “in that it reflects a new communications strategy that goes far beyond traditional campaigning. For example, YouTube receives more than 2 billion views per day worldwide, while Facebook has more than 600 million active users. 

To access Gull's web-related sites, a viewer can visit www.votelougull.com, search “Vote Lou Gull” on YouTube, or search “Vote Lou Gull” on Facebook. “To make access even more convenient, Mr. Gull has embedded links within his campaign website to automatically load his YouTube and Facebook pages,” said Chartway.