Just over two months ago, the company made algorithm changes – deciding what content appears in one's news feed – stating their top priority is to keep users connected to what they most want to be connected to, and promising that, "if it's from your friends, it's in your feed, period."

The average American has 350 Facebook connections (650 for the 18 to 24 segment). Forget those three million other advertisers, your content's competition is now everyone else's friends and family.

Unless you make the power of those connections work for you. In the collaborative spirit of cooperation, especially for credit unions, it makes utmost sense to tap into the currency of connection.

There is a kinetic energy hidden within our ability to share, recommend and inform our connections of our experiences. Ninety percent of consumers trust peer recommendations from friends and family made on social media and 70% claim such recommendations have led directly to a purchasing decision, according to a Business 2 Community article.

By empowering your credit union's biggest fans (starting with employees) to share your brand's messages on social media with their personal connections, you've just reversed the tide of personal content before all others and harnessed its power for you. And not only are you getting your content effectively distributed, but also presented by someone's trusted friend, which we know has much stronger influential power.

So what tactics can your credit union use to increase the likelihood that your brand content will be shared by individuals? Start with these:

• Focus on content strength: People are drawn to content that provides value to their lives through education, entertainment or inspiration. Ask if the content you're putting out does that for anyone, and if not, rework it until it does.

• Tag and include others: Some of the most engaging posts I've ever crafted involved tagging multiple brands and organizations that my company has engaged with, through a community event, celebration, program or just in the course of doing business. Tagging them gives your post exposure to a bigger audience, thus increasing the chance that more will see and choose to also share the content.

• Ask your fans to share: Building a brand ambassador strategy is smart business. You've got a trusted, talented pool of people you've already selected to represent your brand in the flesh. Now you can have them do the same online with all their connections. Implementing strategies like this that maximize benefit and mitigate risk is what makes smart businesses smart.

I've got a number of additional ideas for your credit union to become wealthy in the currency of connection on social media. Drop me a line or find me on Twitter at @FearingHolly. I hope we will connect soon, friend.

Holly Fearing is social media advisor at Filene Research Institute. She can be reached at 608-213-5194 or [email protected].