Membership Hack: “Humans of New York” for Members

How to hack it? Jessica Salerno, content manager for the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants (OSCPA), is a big fan of Brandon Stanton  (opens in a new tab) and his blog, Humans of New York  (opens in a new tab), which features often emotional photo essays about ordinary New Yorkers going about their daily lives. The stories reach millions of people through Facebook and Instagram.

Salerno is using the same style and format for storytelling in a weekly feature called CPAs of Ohio  (opens in a new tab). “I thought this would be a cool way to highlight members on a regular basis and do it in a way that wasn’t necessarily always about accounting,” Salerno says. “It was more about the individual story, just like Humans of New York.”

Why does it work? The project is a way to highlight personal member stories on Facebook  (opens in a new tab) and in a member newsletter. So far, more than 100 accountants have been featured, and Salerno says it’s a great way to engage members. “Firms and companies reach out to us now, or our staff will recommend members too,” she says.

What’s the bonus? This weekly feature has helped OSCPA to increase its Facebook page traffic too. “It’s usually our most popular post,” Salerno says. “And it’s also worked out really well for new content ideas. We’ll talk to our members and get more story ideas to run with.”

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