Sororities. That one simple word brings so many different thoughts to people’s mind, some negative, some positive. For many people, when they think of sororities they think of cheering girls, glitter being thrown, and the exclusivity of being in that organization. Sorority stereotypes have always existed, but since social media came on the rise, these stereotypes have increased tremendously. Social media is especially used when trying to recruit potential new members (PNMs) through the use of creating recruitment videos.

Recruitment videos are one of the biggest ways to attract new members to the Sorority and get the Sorority known across the nation. These videos can be made with a low-budget using an I-phone and a laptop or they can be made on a high-budget using $200,000 equipment. Individual chapters, which are a specific Sorority at a specific school, decide on how they would like to portray their chapter through these videos. Some Sororities decide to make them more value-based and focus on the unique qualities of their chapter, while other Sororities decide to make the recruitment videos extravagant and luxurious.

Sororities use recruitment videos in an attempt to persuade people to want to join their organization. There are many different ways to use recruitment videos to influence PNMs. In order to effectively use these videos as a recruitment tool, you should follow these 3 strategies.

1. Impression Management
Impression management is the strategy people use for projecting their interests to those with whom they come in contact with. Basically impression management is when people try to influence the perceptions of things onto other people. This is one of the biggest factors that are considered when making Sorority recruitment videos. Sororities are trying to get a specific message across to girls who are interested in their organization. Some of the mindsets the sororities are trying to influence unto others is that they are values-based, unique, or live a perfect lifestyle.

Sororities make videos in hopes of creating the message that their sorority is full of excitement and fun, but sometimes it turns and backfires on them. Sororities also use videos from philanthropic events, PanHellenic events, and socials in hopes of showing that their sorority values certain things and participates in enticing events.

2. Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic interactionism is based from social interaction with others and how that influences and creates who we are and the society we live in. How people interact with society is created from our past experience and influences from society. In regards to recruitment videos, how Sorority sisters interact with each other in the video is how they want to society to portray them as. They don’t want people to see the negative side of the Sorority, they want the to see how their sisterhood, friendship, and love influences them to be the way they are.

3. Logos and Pathos
Some of the big factors that are involved in effective persuasion for recruitment are Logic (logos) and emotional content (pathos). Logos is finding a good and viable reason for making a decision. Pathos is how deeply someone feels about the claims they are making.  Logos is basically giving logical reasons as to why someone should this decision, while pathos relies on creating an emotional connection with people.

Recruitment videos show logos by literally stating the reasons to join their organization during their recruitment video. They say things that explain what their sisterhood is, what their philanthropies are, and what their values are. Other recruitment videos use pathos by showing what sisterhood means to them. Whether they are talking about how they met their best friend or talking about how they made friendships that will last a lifetime.

There are many misconceptions when it comes to Greek life, especially Sorority recruitment. Recruitment videos play a vital role in how Sororities grow and expand. Persuasion comes into play when constructing recruitment videos. There are so many different things that have to be considered when creating these videos and how you want to portray yourself as. As much as you try and portray yourself in one way, someone could see it as something completely different.

Persuading someone to think in a specific way is difficult, messages can be misconstrued and feedback can be negative. But, by focusing on the different elements of persuasion, encouraging PNMs to join a specific sorority will become easier!

Music. One of the few things that binds various cultures together. Music represents the passion and emotion people have, but do not know how to express. It is an outlet for anger, for sadness, for loneliness. From the very formations of civilizations, music has been an integral part of the culture. It is what has brought people together during hard times and given them hope during their darkest hour. In today’s society, one of the biggest ways music has brought people together is through concerts and music festivals. Music festivals allow for public opinions to be voiced.

Public opinion can be formed by exposure to various sides of debate. The first Woodstock, in 1969, was a place where public opinion was formed and promoted. During Woodstock, free speech was used in order to form the public’s opinion. Free speech is basically being able to express one’s opinions without retaliation. Woodstock is a perfect example of how free speech allows for the public’s opinion to be expressed, especially through song lyrics.

“One generation got old/One generation got soul/This generation got no destination to hold,” “Volunteers” by Jefferson Airplane. This is one of the more iconic songs that was played during Woodstock. Jefferson Airplane had an exhausting set, but when this song was played the entire audience came back to life. The song discusses that because of the Vietnam War, there is no future that awaits their generation. The public’s opinion about how they felt about the Vietnam War is clearly expressed in this song.

Another song that helped shaped the public’s opinion was “The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die” by Country Joe and the Fish. This song was one of the defining moments for the festival and helped start the antiwar campaign against the Vietnam War. “And it’s one, two, three what are we fighting for?/Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam/And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates/Well there ain’t no time to wonder why/Whoopee! We’re all gonna die,” these iconic lyrics helped initiated the anti-Vietnam campaign.

Reinforcement is consistently encouraging an idea or belief. Many of the performances during Woodstock focused on reinforcing the idea that war is not good and that society is going downhill. Country Joe and the Fish and Jefferson Airplane are two of music groups that helped reinforce the idea of an antiwar movement against the Vietnam War.

Woodstock was one of the biggest and most known music festivals, with “close to half a million people” in attendance, was created in order to promote peace in the country. It is guarded as one of the most impressive music festivals and had brought so many different people together with little to no violence. Woodstock was a place for people to peacefully protest the Vietnam War. Since the first Woodstock, music festivals have been popping up across the country. All these various festivals focus on so many different genres, such as blue, rock, EDM, country, and more. Some of the biggest music festivals today are Electric Forest, Electric Zoo, Electric Daisy Carnival, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. Each of these music festivals are starting to bring out their own form of persuasion.