5 Quick Fixes for Your Recruitment Marketing

This summer, the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) has been working with more than 200 College Panhellenic Associations to boost their recruitment marketing efforts. As we’ve worked with them, we’ve identified some things that are holding back their recruitment marketing efforts–and that could be holding back yours, too. Here’s part of what we’ve learned and five quick fixes for your recruitment marketing for every Panhellenic:

1. Put your Recruitment registration link and deadline EVERYWHERE.

If potential members wanted to join a Panhellenic sorority on your campus, could they find information on how to do that? If you google “sorority recruitment at [name of your campus]?” what comes up? Your recruitment registration link and the deadline to register should be everywhere online and on campus (where permissible). 

Check and update:

• Your college/university’s Fraternity & Sorority Life (FSL) website. Coordinate with your fraternity/sorority advisor if your Panhellenic officers do not have access.
• Your Panhellenic’s social media accounts. If you’ve already posted once about the links and deadlines, keep posting. You need to share this information repeatedly to ensure it stays at the top of your feed.
• Your Panhellenic webpage. If your Panhellenic maintains a separate website from the FSL site, make sure your recruitment registration link and deadline are listed here, too.
• Chapter websites and social media. The sorority chapters on your campus also play a role in promoting the sorority experience. They should be able to post about when Panhellenic recruitment will be held, what the registration deadline is, and how to register. Encourage chapter members to share individually, too!

2. Share recruitment event dates.

If potential members can find your recruitment registration link, can they identify when recruitment registration ends? When recruitment orientation is? When each round, preference and Bid Day will be held? Provide as much information as possible so potential members can plan ahead and mark their calendars so they don’t miss out on any part of the recruitment process!

3. Be clear about PNM expectations.

Do you offer multiple orientation sessions and do potential new members (PNMs) need only attend one? Do they need to register for recruitment before they attend orientation or after? Is orientation required? If you host a partially structured recruitment, have you explained to PNMs what events they are expected to attend prior to when invitational rounds begin? Be sure to spell out PNM expectations on your website and social media so they don’t miss a critical part of the process and, therefore, miss out on joining a sorority.

4. Explain how to meet sororities/members prior to recruitment.

How are you providing ways for potential members to meet the sororities or sorority members prior to recruitment? It might be that some members participate in summer programs with new students, that Fraternity & Sorority Life members are allowed to present during orientation or that sororities/sorority members play an important role in new student move-in. Your campus might also have an all-student organization fair once classes start or there might be special events to meet all fraternities & sororities on your campus. Whatever opportunities your campus or Panhellenic offers, promoting those opportunities can go a long way to making connections with new and transfer students and helping them become interested in sorority recruitment and membership.

5. Be open to questions. 

Even if you’ve fixed items 1-4 above and you’ve provided a ton of other information about the benefits of joining a sorority, potential members may still have questions about recruitment or joining a sorority. Be sure to share how PNMs can contact your Panhellenic to ask questions. And, be sure someone is monitoring those accounts so questions can be answered quickly.

If you’ve gotten through this list and you know your Panhellenic is doing all of these things, give yourself a huge pat on the back! If not, there’s no time like the present to get started making these changes, whether your recruitment is this month or not for several months.

We’ll be sharing more of what we’ve learned during this project in the coming months. In the meantime, if you have a question for how to improve your recruitment marketing or you want to share an idea that works great for your campus that you think others can benefit from, please feel free to reach out to me by email.

Panhellenically,

Loretta Good
Chief Marketing Officer
National Panhellenic Conference

From the NPC Chair: A time to grow sorority membership

Dear friends,

Summer is still in full swing with heat waves across the country, but fall is in the air as colleges and universities are starting back-to-school activities, and we will soon have college football every Saturday! Hooray! This also means that fall sorority recruitment has begun across many of our campuses. It is the time of year that many of our chapters welcome new members and bring them into their sorority families, whether that is through the primary recruitment process or continuous open bidding (COB).

This time of year may bring back fond memories for those of us who joined a sorority during primary recruitment or who participated as sorority members and had conversations with many potential new members. However each of us remembers our recruitment experience, we all realize that recruitment is the lifeblood of our organizations and that we all have the opportunity to encourage relatives, young women in our hometown and community, and others we know about the benefits of sorority life. 

As I wrote about last month in the chair's message, championing the sorority experience is a priority in our strategic framework. NPC's responsibility is to promote the life-changing impact that sorority life can have on our young women today. Research I have previously mentioned shows that our members have strong positive emotions, robust relationships, life meaning, and accomplishment due to their sorority membership. The role of sorority is to foster a community where our members thrive and feel empowered to lead and champion their causes by equipping them with skills and confidence. Now is the time for us to identify and encourage young women to sign up for recruitment and join a sorority so they can become tomorrow's trailblazing women.

Everyone has their story about how their sorority membership has provided sisterhood, a home away from home, leadership opportunities, confidence, and the ability to provide care and support to others. I invite you to think about your life and how your sorority membership has changed you for the better, equipped you with exceptional skills, and provided remarkable lifelong sisters and other Panhellenic friends. I, for one, have been forever impacted by my sorority membership. I value my sorority sisters, and I treasure my many Panhellenic relationships. I hope you share similar sentiments.

This fall, let us remember how sorority has shaped our lives and strive to engage as many women as possible in the recruitment process so they may enjoy the benefits of sorority membership and our Panhellenic communities can grow and prosper now and for generations to come.​​​​​​

Interfraternally,

Cheri M. De Jong
2021-23 NPC Chair