The Importance of Public Relations in Greek Life

Public relations is the strategic communication from an organization to the public to maintain or cultivate public image and/or respond to public discourse. With a major like Public Relations, the need for effective messaging is paramount, and it presents you with unlimited options and ways to apply what you have learned in class to your life daily. 

This past year, I had the honor to serve as the Vice President of Memberhsip for my sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. With this position I was in charge of the Fall 2023 Primary Recruitment for our chapter. You are probably wondering what this has to do with public relations and here’s why. 

As I stated earlier, public relations is strategic communication from an organization to the public to maintain or cultivate a public image, meaning PR is essential for Greek life organizations to communicate with the incoming freshman class during the summer and even the spring semester. These Greek life orgnization post images and videos, displaying what it would be like to be a member of said organization, or better yet an inside look. It also gives you an opportunity to introduce the organization’s leaders and their chapter’s values. Attached below are a few examples:

As VPM, I worked closely with our Public Relations director to create posts, captions, and vidoes, to be posted over the summer for possible new members (PNMs) to see. We wanted to highlight our chapter in a positive light because we feel that our chapter is full of positive and genuine girls. With posts celebrating accomplishments, like FYE, and things like National Best Friends Day, we are able to create a public image that shows we love and support the members of our chapter. 

Another way PR is essential is it always you to introduce your Greek life’s philanthropy and sisterhood as those are the second and third round of primary recruitment. Auburn Panhellenic took time over the summer to highlight all 18 chapters' philanthropies to give PNMs a chance to learn more about what each organization is passionate about. 

Social Media plays a big role in PR, since usually customers or in this case PNMs frequently utilize the platforms like Instagram or TikTok,  to look up information about a business or organization, and purchase its goods or services. Having members of your organization also post things on their own pages also helps spread awareness surrounding your organization or events that your organization is hosting, like a benefit night or a continuous open bidding event.  At the end of the way, we are really just hoping for brand awareness. 

Good public relations builds relationships with your consumers, therefore having a strong social media presence where you communicate what your organization stands for or share important dates, gives your consumers all the appropriate knowledge to know if they want to build a relationship with you or not. Your organization or brand will be more profitable (in money or just in joy) through strong communicaion and relationships with consumers.