Every single semester I was asked to provide names of potential new members that could be invited to our COB events. The older I got, the harder it was for me to find names to give! I knew that I had to start being creative. Being on my phone every single day, I soon started using social media to find names to put on the names list.
Having a strong foundation when starting continuous open bidding is so important. One of the greatest tools that everyone can contribute to is the names list. Being prepared and having a list full of potential new members’ names allows recruitment to start right away. You are continuously putting new names on the list which helps recruitment continue to cycle through in the semester.
We often ask our chapter members to help build up the names list, however; members feel like they have run out of names to provide. It’s important to continue to build momentum to the number of names that we have. Social media can be used to our advantage and help us discover new pages to collect names from.
Here are some ways you can use social media to build up your names list:
“Class of” Pages
Each year incoming freshmen make a “class of” pages on social media to help them connect with each other. Most of the time they are looking for new friends or roommates, but we can use this page to get in contact with potential new members. The best thing about these pages is that they often post introductions about new students. This is such an easy way to get to know the basics about someone and it’s a quick way to get in contact. You can look at other “class of” pages for other academic years to find upperclassmen, potential new members.
Bonus tip: Reach out to the owner of the page by direct messaging them and ask if they can post about a few recruitment events or a link for potential new members to get connected to the chapter!
Parents’ Groups
Finding a way into a parents’ group on social media, usually, Facebook can allow you to get names from parents directly. As a chapter leader, I have personally reached out to parents who make posts about their daughter being completely alone and having no way to make friends. You can also make posts about recruitment events that your chapter is putting on. If you cannot make your way into the group because you are a student, ask your advisors! There are plenty of parents that want to help their student’s experience without being overbearing, so help them with that part and add their student to your names list.
Admission/Student Life Pages
Does your school have a separate admissions page or a page that highlights student life? This is also a great way to get connected to the community to add to your names list. Looking through the comments on the page can help you get connected to potential new members. You can and should reach out to the admissions/student life page to see if you can highlight the chapter with a post or story. If they do Instagram story takeovers, ask how someone in the chapter can get involved.
Instagram Takeovers
We all know that members of Alpha Sigma Alpha are involved in tons of organizations on campus, so let’s use that to our advantage! Having our chapter members do Instagram takeovers for other organizations can help us bring in potential new members. While a member is showing their day throughout their takeover, it is always a great idea to include how they are involved in the chapter and how potential new members can get connected to the chapter. Having a ChapterBuilder form that collects potential new members’ information should be accessible on your social media pages.
Overall, it is important to reach out to new spaces on social media that your chapter is not involved in already. These new spaces on social media allow us to get new names for our names list to build upon. The entire chapter can help grow the names list by using the resources that are easily accessible to us!
Alex Horton, IH