Recruitment tactics
 

What recruitment tactics do you guys use to get your name out to new freshman? Do you do anything online? Facebook? Your websites - some form to fill out? What about on campus? Anything in particular work really well?

Big campus, or small campus?

around 1,000 incoming freshman

Let me start by saying I think facebook rush groups are awful.

IFC has a meeting for rushees at the beginning of rush week and we table outside that, then some barbecues over the summer for summer starters (hang a banner advertising for it or something). And our website has how to contact our rush chair on it.

We really just ride our reputation for the most part, but if you're not one of the strongest houses on campus (top-tier, despite the fact everyone here hates tiers for some reason), the tactics would have to be very different.

Facebook groups are actually pretty useful in my experience, granted that it isn't the only tool that you use. Creating a group for potential rushees, brothers, and girls who are around for the summer to join in order to keep them posted as to all of the events (band parties, etc.). One button can send a message to everyone who's interested!

Fraternities at smaller schools do dorm move ins. They help the incoming freshman move into their dorms and provide them with refreshments and such just to throw their name out there and such.

Go to freshman orientations if your university allows it and just kinda talk to some of the guys to try to create interest.

And, as this amazing girl in another thread posted, if your funds are low, just buy a bunch of natty.

I agree their useful, but at our campus it's more the lower-tier houses doing it to get their names out and the same mid to low tier sorority girls joining every one, so the better houses just kind of stay out of that fray. As I said, if everyone on campus already knows you're a good house and you don't do a lot of gimmicky events for rush, it just seems kind of desperate.

Wow. You're helpful. Any ideas on the tactics for chapters who don't have this "luxury" since you think any form of PR is "desperate"? I personally think a lack of PR looks indifferent.

Question for the OP-- when does recruitment begin/when can you start giving bids (ie. before school starts, when school starts, a couple weeks after school starts, second semester)?

Have a BBQ over the summer. Put up a banner on campus or something, the kids that come, you can go ahead and tell the awful ones to go somewhere else in the fall that your house wouldn't be a good fit for them, tell the ok ones who may get bids thanks for coming and see you in the fall, then have a party at a lake house or something and invite the absolute best kids from the BBQ.

I mean how much PR do you really need, the school tells them when rush is and if your campus has a fraternity row it's pretty obvious where your house is. Whether people on here want to admit it or not, there are tiers, most rushees know them, and most know where in those tiers they should be rushing. Excessive PR is just trying to lure clueless kids to houses that they could probably do better than.

Are the fratties just creating sockpuppets to avoid papers/projects/studying for exams?

School year's over.

And what exactly is the problem with the strategy I just posted? Or do you just object to the obviously true assertion that their are tiers in greek life (Elite, Great, Good, Bad, Might as well not be Greek)?

Not all schools are like this. My school doesn't tell the PNMs/rushes anything about Greek life. We don't know what kind of Greek system the OP comes from. For all you know, he could be part of the only national fraternity on campus and Greek life could just be tiny there. Or he could be at a school with a super competitive rush. Your high and mighty comments don't help either way.

Rush team of several members (with help from in town actives of course). We had a rush house or apartment in town every summer.

Call every incoming and see if they'd be interested in lunch to discuss greek life.

Invite them to parties during the summer.

Facebook groups are good for keeping everyone upto date on whats going on. Other fraternities on campus invite girls into theirs or keep it open for anyone to join, for us its brothers and rushes and we keep it invite only.

Also, try to have parties before rush even starts, we do most of our cuts before rush week begins and pick up very few kids during rush itself.

Its 91% easier to just have everyone in a group so that you can shoot a message out to everyone. I'm not talking about the groups that brag about how cool *insert shitty chapter here* is and how everyone should rush them, just something to keep rush organized and make sure that everyone knows when the next bbq/ band party is.