Meet your Membership Council President & Vice President

The newly elected president & vice president officially took their roles on the Government Social Media professional association Membership Council. Congratulations to Council President Andrew Belanger and Council Vice President Frances La Rue!

The Membership Council is a body of elected volunteers who support the strategic direction of the Government Social Media professional association, representing each of the six regions of the United States. Each council member takes on various roles to best support association members like you, including leadership positions of Membership Council President and Vice President.

Andrew Belanger, Membership Council President and Statewide Social Media Director and Digital Content Administrator for the State of Michigan, says he’s looking forward to giving back to the association and elevating the overall profession.

"I am honored to support the government social media community and GSM professional association members across the U.S. and Canada over the next year as president of the GSM Membership Council,” stated Andrew. “As a long-time member of GSM, I’m excited to give back to an organization that has given me so much over the years. From our strategic planning, events and training, and our growing member services, I’m looking forward to working with GSM, the Council, our committees, members, and community at large, to scale socialgov best practices and continue the elevation of the profession." Working in a niche field like government social media isn’t easy, but what helps is having resources and a community of professionals to share ideas with and overcome challenges together. Frances La Rue, newly elected Council Vice President and Communications Manager for the City of Anna, TX, explains how special this tight-knit community truly is.

"I’m honored to serve my fellow socialgovs as Vice President of the Membership Council,” Frances says. “Over the years, this community has provided me with invaluable support, insight and inspiration as I’ve grown in my career. I look forward to giving back."

All of us at Team GSM are excited and looking forward to all that the Membership Council President and Vice President will accomplish in their leadership roles, and want to thank the entirety of the GSM Membership Council for their hard work in getting socialgovs involved, supported and heard:

• Northwest region: Marie Tweedy
• Midwest region: Katie Grant
• Northeast region: Andrew Belanger
• Southeast region: Mikayla Moskov
• Southwest region: Frances La Rue
• West region: Zack Seipert

Professional association committees

The GSM professional association Membership Council also supports the community through special committees, including Awards, Membership and Training. Each committee has a direct impact on the government social media community to recognize and celebrate the work of fellow socialgovs while further elevating the profession: 

Awards Committee
Provides direction to maintain and grow an exceptional recognition program that empowers and celebrates work by individuals and agencies to elevate the socialgov profession. The annual Golden Post Awards program honors outstanding use of social media by government agencies in the United States. Co-Chairs: Katie Grant & Frances La Rue

Membership Committee
Supports the professional association membership experience by providing insight to recruit and retain members, identify their needs, help them connect with one another and their regional representatives, while also elevating the profession and member accomplishments. Co-Chairs: Andrew Belanger & Zack Seipert

Awards Committee
As the social media landscape continues to evolve, it is essential that government social media managers evolve with it. The Training Committee identifies best practices and develops tools that ensure members gain the skills to confidently and effectively communicate their organization's messages. Co-Chairs: Marie Tweedy & Mikayla Moskov

Looking to get even more involved in the GSM professional association? Committee recruitment for current association members will be announced soon! Stay tuned in the association for updates.

Join the association today!

If you’re not one of the over 500 GSM professional association members, we encourage you to join today! Please review the eligibility criteria, then complete the new member application form to start viewing member-only content today.

Members enjoy benefits including:

Professional Development
GSM works to establish and promote best practice standards for government social media to support professional development in this field. We monitor and communicate issues of relevance to members and assist in facilitating discussion with social networks. We communicate new platform features and products to member agencies. 

Educational Webinars
We organize monthly member-only webinars taught by social media experts and fellow socialgov professionals. Members can also view archived recordings of previous webinars.  

Regional Virtual Meetups
We host quarterly meetups for each region held via Zoom and facilitated by council and Team GSM. The meetups are a great opportunity to collaborate on regional topics and network with nearby public communicators.

Community Network
Members have access to a membership directory to search, message and connect with social media peers in their area. A gated online community allows members to communicate with each other and share challenges and lessons learned with social media professionals dealing with the same issues across the country. 

GSMCON Extras
Members registered for the Government Social Media Conference can participate in our annual membership meeting, get complimentary professional headshots and be identified with a member ribbon. Virtual participants can also join in on the membership meeting.

We’re proud to be the most economical professional association you’ll find specific to this unique field. If you’re not already one of the 500+ members, it’s a place to genuinely connect with other socialgovs actively employed full/part-time by a local, state, regional or federal agency, academics or as an elected or appointed official. Join the association today!

Best communicate with the public you serve and get connected with fellow socialgovs by registering for the 2023 Government Social Media Conference happening in Reno-Tahoe, Nevada! Join our free network for bi-weekly Government Social Media Chats or professional association for member-only webinars. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on training, events and more.

We support the largest network of government social media professionals in the U.S. by guiding government agencies through complex social media issues. Government Social Media helps you successfully communicate with the public you serve, protect your agency and keep public trust while finding your support community.