4 Steps To Effectively Use Social Media For Summer Recruitment

Written By Alex Atkinson, Leadership Consultant

The chapter is ready for summer recruitment, but is the chapter’s social media ready? If you are an 18-year-old freshman who wants to learn about the fraternities on campus, then one of the first places you are going to look is social media. When this new student pulls up your chapter’s Instagram, what will make him interested in learning more about your chapter? Does your Twitter account have a link for him to notify you that he is interested? Do you have a social media campaign unique to your chapter? What specific goals do you have for your social media that align with your goals as a chapter?

These are a few of the questions to ask when auditing the chapter’s social media presence. The members in charge of the accounts are responsible for so much more than posting the occasional posed group photo and the recruitment schedule. The Public Relations position in the chapter plays a crucial role in building a positive reputation, engaging the community, and, of course, recruitment. We have all heard, “People don’t join organizations, people join people.” While this is true, your social media should be the place where you tell the story of the people in the organization.

Here are my 4 Steps to Social Media in regards to preparing for summer recruitment.

1. Have Consistent Branding. If the Instagram username is @PhiDeltaThetaABC and has the crest for a profile picture, do not go to Twitter and use @ABCPhiDelt with a group photo of the guys. Branding should be consistent and easily recognizable across all platforms. The ‘Brand Assets’ page on phideltatheta.org is perfect for this. The bio on chapter profiles is crucial. The first 140 characters of your bio will appear in search engine results so use the most important information first. The bio portion is great for telling your chapter’s story, but will also help drive traffic to your chapter’s profile through optimization.

1. Develop Specific Social Media Goals. Our social media platforms have the ability to drive results once we figure out what results we want. SMART goals are ideal for this scenario. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound) For example, we want 20 potential new members to fill out our online interest form before summer recruitment starts. From there, we can start developing a strategy and content to achieve that goal.

1. Create a Chapter Campaign Strategy. Once the goals for a campaign are set, the next step is to create a campaign that is authentic and unique to the chapter. What is something that our organization offers that they cannot get elsewhere? What is a main priority for our organization that we want to share with all potential new members? For example, one campaign could be Phi Delt Family. This could be illustrated through member testimonials, endorsements from family members, and stories of what makes the ‘Phi Delt Family at XYZ University.’ This campaign should ultimately push people to indicate their interest in your organization with a simple call to action such as an “I’m Interested” or “Learn More” button. FuturePhiDelt.org is a great landing page for potential new members.

1. Post Content Consistently. Nobody wants to follow an account that has 3 posts since 2012. Content should be posted on a weekly, if not daily basis. Some social media marketing experts go as far as to suggest 6-8 unique posts per day. While this may seem like a lot to handle, it drives results. It is hard to engage potential new members without creating any traffic. The 5 key content types are Entertain, Inspire, Converse, Educate, and Convince. Make sure the content is well-balanced and focused on the audience. Keep posts short and sweet, use videos and images whenever you can, and prepare content ahead of time to make posting regularly an easier process.

There is so much power in social media marketing, but it is often underutilized. Now is the time to take an in-depth look into what our story is on social media and if it’s a story that makes people interested in joining. Create a social media campaign, deliver well-balanced content on a regular basis, and you will see results come bid day.