Membership Hack: Ask the CEO Anything

How to hack it? If a member has a burning question, does the CEO answer? At the National Association of the Deaf, he does. CEO Howard Rosenblum takes questions directly from members each month using YouTube  (opens in a new tab), an accessible way to communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

The questions come from curious NAD members, and Rosenblum’s answers range from practical advice (like how to avoid consumer scams  (opens in a new tab)) to education (such as explaining the difference between closed and open captioning  (opens in a new tab)).

Why does it work? It works because it’s easy. Members can pose questions via Twitter, using the hashtag #AskHoward  (opens in a new tab), or by email. And since social platforms make it easy to share video content, Rosenblum’s videos have become a key part of NAD’s social media strategy. (Here’s an example on Facebook  (opens in a new tab).)

What’s the bonus? Depending on the weight of the topic discussed, many of Rosenblum’s videos go viral on social media. Last fall, a question about how to file a complaint in a case of discrimination against a deaf or hard-of-hearing person was shared and liked dozens of times on Twitter:

Federal agencies often tell the NAD that no one from the deaf/hard of hearing community complains, “Everything is fine.” We know this is not true. We’ve experienced problems & discrimination, we need to file complaints. #AskHoward  (opens in a new tab)

How To File A Complaint: https://t.co/DoALWvS2CO  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/8xNkZJarxK  (opens in a new tab)

— nad1880 (@NAD1880) October 28, 2019  (opens in a new tab)

(akinbostanci/DigitalVision Vectors)