Silver Series: Chapter PR
Hello Tumblr world! My name is Abby Humphries, and I am the current Historian-Reporter for Lambda Kappa Chapter at Appalachian State University. We were so incredibly humbled, honored and excited to receive the Silver Award for Collegiate Public Relations at Convention this year.
Since Lambda Kappa is fairly new, this award meant a great deal to our chapter and was an inspiring testament to how much we can accomplish together in three short years. While I am the Historian for this current term and was able to attend Convention and accept the award, this by no means constitutes that our public relations success was achieved by my work alone. I stepped into this role and logged into the social media accounts knowing I had great responsibility to my chapter and the Fraternity at large. I knew I was going to have to work hard to represent my chapter and continue our strong social media presence that was already established through the dedication of the previous Historians.
I was so excited to take on my role as Historian because I truly believe in the power of social media. It has the ability to make or break a person’s reputation, trust in a relationship, or even the status of an established company or organization. Because of this understanding and my love for this organization, I felt an obligation to my Zeta Tau Alpha sisters both internally and nationally to represent our work as a fraternity in a positive and steadfast manor. I felt a responsibility to educate my sisters on the power of social media and how something as small as a single Snapchat post or Facebook photo can have a profound impact on your own life and the lives of your sisters, either positively or negatively. I believe this has been the foundation of Lambda Kappa’s social media presence since our installation. Suzanna Reid, our previous Historian, had this to say about it: “Social media is often someone's first impression of you these days. I wanted to make sure our image online reflected our image on campus.”
Making sure the message you’re sending online reveals the true characteristics of your chapter is key to an authentic and genuine social media presence.
Abby and Suzanna pose for a photo in the most Historian setting possible.
All of this is so important and one of the main reasons I love my position, however the concept of “public relations” isn’t all about social media.
Our Program Council does a great job producing a monthly newsletter to send to our alumnae and parents. This newsletter keeps them in the loop on what our chapter is doing on campus and around the community, highlights the accomplishments of collegians and alumnae, features our social media accounts, and gives a preview of what the next month will hold. We have found that this is a really awesome way to keep a positive and fun flow of information between our chapter and our parents and alumnae.
Another really awesome way to use PR to make your chapter successful is through the use of tabling and on-campus advertising for events. For every philanthropy or campus/community outreach event we have, we make sure to have a table in the student union with knowledgeable sisters there to promote the event as best as possible.
Public relations is Zeta Tau Alpha’s presentation of our sisterhood to the public, and this is a huge undertaking. Along with our monthly newsletter and use of tabling, Lambda Kappa has found that a few other things can really impact the way the public views our chapter and Zeta Tau Alpha as a whole.
Suzanna highlighted these as “creating a consistency throughout our chapter’s brand. It's helpful when all your profile pictures and writing style are the same. It's also important to not over-share. All platforms are useful in their own different way.” Getting a feel for how each social media platform operates and works best for your chapter specifically is the key to smooth-running PR. For example, Instagram may be best for cute sisterhood pictures, while Facebook is better for advertising events.
Follow @appstatezta on Instagram
At the end of the day, the most important thing is to make sure that all aspects and members of your chapter are represented in a positive, meaningful and authentic way, ultimately reflecting the values of Zeta Tau Alpha. I feel so honored to be able to represent my chapter and Zeta Tau Alpha as a whole through the influential outlet of public relations.
Each day, I accept the responsibility given to me by my chapter to show the world what Lambda Kappa is all about and how we empower each other and build up our fraternity/sorority community here at Appalachian State. This is a great undertaking, but one that I’ll have a hard time giving up in the spring when my term as Historian is over. I strongly believe in the powerful influence of social media and hope my words have given you inspiration and ideas to bring to your chapter.
P.S. follow us on social media if you don’t already ;) @appstatezta
Lambda Kappa Chapter collegians and advisors pose with the Chapter PR Award at Convention 2016
In this blog series, members from Silver-Award-winning chapters share insights, tips and personal experiences to help inspire you to strive even further in the 2016–2018 biennium. Today’s blog comes to us from @appstatezta, which received the Public Relations Award at Convention for “the most outstanding contributions in the area of public relations.”
Check out the other Silver Series blog posts:
Anne Winnes Redmond Service Award (Medium Campus) | Delta Iota Chapter
Alumnae Chapter Programming | Greater New Orleans Alumnae Chapter
Alumnae Collegiate Relations | Research Triangle, NC Alumnae Chapter
