WASHINGTON — The breakout session theme was plain: Social mediamatter – and you can do them.

Three panelists topped the bill entitled, “Using Social Media AsAn Advocacy Tool.”

There was Kristen Christian, the founder of Bank Transfer Day, who told the audience that a key to gettingread on Facebook, Twitter and the rest is to “stayinteresting.” Bad tweets, bad Facebook updates do not getread.

Amy McGraw, a vice president at Tropical Financial CU, a $562million institution headquartered in Miramar, Fla., stressed theneed to post regularly – but don't overdo it. Her ballparknumbers were three to five Facebook posts per week, and perhapsfive to eight Tweets daily.

McGraw also said that a well-managed social media program canhappen with less staff time than many credit union executivesfear.

Jill Stevenson, a CUNA executive on the Tuesday panel, offeredthe advice that “hashtags are your friends. They help people findyou on Twitter.” Her point was that, yes, there aremountains of content in social media but users have created toolsto help them sort and smart posters use the tools to flag theircontent for more readers.

Throughout the session, panelist Christian was seen checking hersmartphone – “That's what we do,” she said of a young generationthat documents its life on social media. “And that's why this is soimportant.” Many audience members were doing likewise, atleast some posting to the Twitter hashtag #CUNAGAC12.

Moderator Pat Keefe, a CUNA vice president, predicted that theday will come “when the big banks make another mistake and ourlesson is that we need to be ready for it when it happens.” Socialmedia, he suggested, will be large weapons in the credit unionarsenal in maximizing gains.