Sorority recruitment has reworked from a secretive course of to massive social media enterprise.
Within the fall of 2021, sorority rush on the College of Alabama took TikTok by storm, successfully changing into RushTok. Throughout that recruitment season, sorority hopefuls posted day by day TikTok vlogs sharing all the things from their outfits of the day, to what they’re carrying of their baggage, documenting your entire course of till the sororities made their ultimate choices.
Audiences worldwide shortly turned captivated by the method, selecting their favourite recruits to comply with and root for. Thus far, the hashtags #BamaRush and #RushTok have 4B and 2B views, respectively.
Potential new members (PNMs) curated their social media feeds months upfront, hoping to make a superb impression. Some PNMs who documented the method by way of TikTok used the week of occasions to jumpstart careers as influencers, persevering with to ship (generally branded) content material to the audiences amassed throughout recruitment.
It’s not simply the potential recruits utilizing social media to make an impression — the chapters additionally use social media as a recruitment device. Loads of RushTok movies additionally showcase extremely choreographed dance routines and friendship-based content material to woo potential new members.
How RushTok Turned A Advertising Engine
What began as participating content material in 2021 has advanced into a robust advertising engine that manufacturers need in on. As potential new members shared their experiences and gained recognition, in addition they caught the eye of manufacturers.
Scrolling by way of the feedback of RushTok movies, the accounts of main manufacturers are amongst these rooting for sure individuals. It’s a easy social listening play to garner visibility within the remark part of well-liked posts throughout a key social media occasion.
Past social listening, main manufacturers reminiscent of Lease the Runway and Amazon, together with native Alabama manufacturers just like the Pants Retailer took issues a step additional by working with RushTok creators on sponsored content material offers.
Final 12 months, cosmetics model Tarte despatched free merchandise to 90 sororities and 100 sorority hopefuls who acquired excessive engagement whereas utilizing the hashtag #RushTok. The transfer generated invaluable social impressions for Tarte.
Although faculty college students might not be each firm’s goal demographic, the RushTok viewers spans wider. Customers of assorted age teams and backgrounds have been locked into recruitment content material for the previous three years and are actively taking part within the feedback part of RushTok posts alongside varied manufacturers.
As RushTok continues to develop, entrepreneurs will discover extra inventive methods to get in on the motion, and the method will seemingly proceed to introduce audiences to the following technology of creators.
