Sorority Recruitment Social Media Guide

If you're going through sorority recruitment, it's a safe bet that sororities will be checking out your social media feeds. We're here to answer all your questions about social media and recruitment. Take a look at your Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, and Snapchat accounts and make sure they’re recruitment-ready.

Why Are They Looking?

Sororities are checking out your feed to get a sense of who you are and to catch any red flags. Just before formal recruitment starts, they receive a list of potential new members (PNMs) along with some of the info PNMs provided at registration, like headshots, majors, essay answers, hometowns, etc. Social feeds bring all that to life. Some sorority chapters form a committee to review social feeds, while others are less structured about it. They're looking to get a vibe, think about who to match you with for recruitment conversations, find activities and interests that align with specific members, and check for mutual connections. (It’s not an accident when you go through recruitment and are paired with someone from your hometown who also rides horses and went to Greece over the summer.)

Think of your social media accounts the same way you thought about your registration video, info forms, and recommendations: an advertisement for you and why you’d be a great addition to any sorority. You don’t have to add new content to your feed if you’re not very active, but you should remove questionable content and optimize your profile for recruitment.

Top Questions from Potential New Members (PNMs)

I don’t have an IG or TikTok account; will that hurt me in recruitment?

It won’t hurt you if you’re not active on social, but it doesn’t help either. You should leverage every tool you can to maximize your options in recruitment. If you have a values-based reason for not using social media, don’t compromise yourself. If, however, you haven’t maintained a feed because it’s too much work or you never got around to it, it’s a good idea to start with an Instagram account and populate it with at least nine posts that give a sense of you and what you like to do and care about. (We suggest IG because it’s lower effort than TikTok, but you could do the same there.) The idea is to give members reasons to want to meet you before recruitment, help them learn more about you after a too-brief chat during recruitment, and help members who didn’t get to meet you learn a little bit. The most important shots are photos of you and your friends having a good time. These show that you’re fun and the kind of person people want to be around. You can round those posts out with pet pictures, sunsets, your team, favorite activities, or even quotes or memes. It’s a good idea to include at least one close-up selfie or headshot so members can connect a face to the account. This could be your profile pic, too.

My profile is private; should I make it public for recruitment?

Yes. Sorority members will be looking for your account, and it doesn’t do you any good if it’s private. You’ll also want to clean up your feed to hide any posts that don’t represent you well for recruitment.

I hardly ever post on social media, do I need to start posting over the summer?

You don’t need to go overboard, but it’s a good idea to add a few posts over the summer following the same guidelines for including content that captures your personality and hiding content that might give a sorority a reason to cut you.

What if I don’t have a lot of followers on social?

Don’t worry; no one expects you to be a viral sensation. Unless you have a huge following, it won’t affect how a chapter perceives you.

My profile name isn’t my real name, do I need to change it?

We recommend including your full name in your bio or as your account name so it’s searchable. Borrow a friend’s phone and search for the name you registered for recruitment with—you want to be first or near first in the search results.

Should I follow the sorority accounts? Should I follow members?

Absolutely. Everything you’re doing to present yourself as well as you can, sorority chapter accounts are doing too! They’re posting recruitment videos and other content designed for PNMs, and following them demonstrates your interest, which is a scoring category during membership selection. We recommend you follow your school’s Panhellenic account, every chapter on your campus, and member accounts you see featured on the chapter account. You want to show interest, but you don’t want to follow every member of a sorority—too thirsty. You should follow accounts for every chapter on campus, even if you’re not interested because you never know where you’re going to feel most comfortable until you’re actually in the process. Also, chapters may look to see who you’re following, and you don’t want to give them any insights into your preferences in case it impacts their perception of your interest. You can like and comment on their content too; just keep it friendly and natural. Comments like “I can’t wait for recruitment!” or general flattering stuff like “stunning!” and emojis are fine, but anything too direct or that indicates interest in a particular sorority like “I can’t wait to meet you” or “I’m a ChiO legacy” is too much.

What does it mean if a sorority account or a member follows me?

Bingo! It shows they searched for you and want to see what else you post, so they’re interested. If you’re not already following that account, follow back and like a few posts so they know you’re paying attention.

What does it mean if no sorority accounts follow me?

Don’t worry. Some schools, sororities, and chapters consider following a PNM’s account to be dirty rushing and don’t do it at all. In that case, they might be looking but not following.

What about my finsta?

This is tricky. If your finsta includes any red flag content, we recommend deleting it. Even when it’s private, you never really know who’s looking and/or screenshotting. It’s not worth the risk.

Red Flags

A few sorority members we spoke to said they’re looking for red flags like drinking and too much partying more than they’re looking at the good stuff. As noted above, you don't want to give recruiters any reason to believe you’d be a bad representative of the sorority you join, so you should scrub your feed of any content that might turn them off. You don’t necessarily need to delete the content; you can hide or archive it for now.

Remember the 4B’s to avoid during recruitment conversations? You can use those as rough guidelines for what to eliminate from your feeds:

Boys - PG pics of you and your romantic partner are fine UNLESS they attend the same school where you’re going through recruitment. You want to go through recruitment on your own merits and not have your image impacted by a significant other. If your girlfriend is in a sorority or your boyfriend is in a fraternity, that sends a signal to recruiters about how that might impact which sorority you ultimately pref. And while we’re sure your love interest is a doll, there’s always a chance they offended a sorority member or a member has a crush on them which gets sticky.
Booze - Use this B as an umbrella for alcohol and drugs. Even the sororities with a party rep have strict rules about members drinking and a complete ban on underage drinking. No shots of you drinking, in a bar, or surrounded by solo cups. This also means no drunk rants or falls and don’t overdo the party pics. You want to look fun but not out-of-control.
Bucks - Your vacation and fashion posts are totally ok, but hide haul and unboxing videos. Be aware of appearing overly materialistic or unrelatable and don’t brag.
Beliefs - Please consider this area carefully. We would never want anyone to feel silenced or to devalue your beliefs. When it comes to religion, a bible verse in your bio or on an inspirational post is totally ok. Non-inclusive statements around lifestyle choices will limit your options and liberal viewpoints may do the same. Similarly, expressing political leanings and candidate support in either direction may impact your recruitment outcomes. While we’d like to believe that all sorority members are open-minded and agree that there’s room for all sides in a sorority, that’s not an accurate representation of the real world. And while every sorority may actually include a variety of political positions within their ranks, you will only meet a few people during recruitment, and they might not be the ones who you’re aligned with. We’re NOT telling you to delete anything. We are advising you that a politically neutral feed is the safest way to keep your options open.

Beyond the B’s, Other Things to Think About:

Tagged photos: After you clean up your own account, check to make sure you’re not tagged in any content you don’t want recruiters to see. If you are, untag.
Be Yourself: The you in your feed should match the you IRL. We met a champion golfer, pageant-winning PNM whose IG only included photos of her pets, and she later learned that recruiters had been less excited about her because it looked like she never left the house! The flip side, of course, would be a PNM with a feed full of luxury lifestyle shots who doesn’t really live like that.
Sexy Shots: It’s a fine line, but you may want to ease off on sexy shots. One guideline would be to make sure your grandma would approve of your posts, but we know there are a lot of different kinds of grandmas out there! We suggest you check out a few sorority presidents’ feeds and take a cue from them. Oh, and we hope we don’t have to tell you: no nudes or OF.
Illegal Activities: In addition to underage drinking and any drug use, posting any illegal activities can get you cut. We know of a number of sorority members who were also suspended from their sororities when they were suspended from school for illegal campus protests in 2023 and 2024 (most sororities require collegiate members to be actively enrolled in school). Sororities don’t want to risk extending a bid to a potential liability.
Who You Follow: Even if you don’t post anything but your cat, if you’re following accounts that post hate, it sends a message.

Cringe Content

Content you probably should hide for recruitment and maybe really forever:

Rants about being fired or something your parents did: Complaining about personal issues in a dramatic way can make you seem immature or label you as a drama queen.
Lip syncs or dance challenges with songs with derogatory or offensive lyrics: Even if it's just for fun, it can come off as insensitive or inappropriate.
Excessive filter use: You want to look like yourself, not a filtered version of yourself.
Public arguments, even in the comments: Engaging in online drama is a huge red flag.
Embarrassing confessions: Sharing too much personal or humiliating information can make you seem unguarded and reckless.
Overly dramatic breakup posts: These can make you look unstable and overly emotional.
Fake anything: Authenticity is key. Don’t post things that aren’t true or exaggerated.
Mean girl statements: Posts that are rude or bullying in nature are definite red flags.
Lots of foul language: Keep it clean; excessive swearing can come off as aggressive or unrefined.

Remember, sorority recruitment is all about putting your best foot forward and showing sororities the amazing person you are.Take a little time to polish your social media presence so you make sure you're putting out the right vibes and giving yourself the best chance to find your perfect sorority home. You've got this!

The Ultimate Guide to Recruitment-Ready Social Media