Staying Social: Being Present In A Distant World
Ah yes, rush season! The best time of the year. Nervous freshmen flood college campuses, eager to meet new people and make the most of their college experience. For some, college is a fresh start and a new opportunity to become the person they want to be. As Greeks, this is our chance to make the best impression, and reel in potential members.
Unfortunately for us, this year will not be the same as years prior. In lieu of COVID-19, many college campuses have shifted their programs to distance learning for the Fall, and in some instances even Spring, semester. The threat of losing an entire semester to replace graduating members puts many chapters in an uncomfortable position, while others are at risk of falling below school standards in terms of membership.
So how do we make up for the lost time? Thankfully, there are solutions that, although not immediate, will help set organizations up for success upon returning to campus.
Online Reputation
Consider this: you plan to take someone out to dinner and you want to make a good impression. You’re hoping to find a restaurant that is reasonably priced, but has good quality food and a nice atmosphere. If you don’t know of a place off the top of your head, what are you to do? Probably jump online and google “restaurants near me” and look at the reviews, right? According to SEOTribunal.com, there are more than 3 million google searches per minute done across the globe.
As the digital age has made this even more impactful than ever before. Having an online presence allows organizations to “meet” their audience long before any face-to-face interaction occurs. Ever heard the saying “you only have one chance to make a good first impression”?
Social Media
Social media is by far the most influential strategy every Greek member and organization has at their disposal. Even prior to the epidemic, 8 out of 10 Americans are on social media, and have an average of 8 different accounts according to the Omnicore Social Media Report. People utilize platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to gain information on a daily basis. These platforms can dictate the success, or failure, of an organization's image.
Let’s go back to that restaurant you want to go out to: your criteria in the example are a reasonable price range, quality food, and a nice atmosphere. It is a fair assumption you will most like use the online menu as a judgement of price and reviews to determine the quality of food and atmosphere. Just like you, Rushees also have criteria they will judge your organization on, and they will use social media and information online to draw conclusions about who your organization is. For example, is this organization highly involved and engaged? Do they seem like a group of people I could see myself being part of? Does the organization have a purpose they are working toward?
Think back to when you were rushing your organization: what made you join your chapter? That is the image you want online. At the end of the day, people join because of the people, not for the t-shirt. So that sharp new Rushee that is ambitious and wants to be involved will be looking for an organization that is already doing the things they are looking for.
Quick Social Media Tips
Be intentional with what you post: this should go without saying, but make sure your image is clean. No booze, no drugs, and nothing you would not want your grandmother to find. Focus on the selling points of the organization: values and what makes you unique.
Post frequently: Social Media Marketer, Entrepreneur, and millionaire Gary V posts more than 100 posts across 8 different social media platforms on a daily basis! Now, I am not saying you should go and spam your friends everyday, but there is value in posting on a regular basis with high quality content.
Unique Content: Pictures, voting polls, videos, and testimonials are all great examples of content to get your target audience to engage with your page. Utilize multiple platforms to target different audiences. Unique content always drives higher activity, and a better reputation.
Don’t forget your audience: not everyone on your page will join, but that's not to say they are not important! Family members, alumni, campus leadership, and even other student run organizations all use social media too, so be sure to include them and post content they will engage with as well.
Be authentic: don’t try to be anything online that you aren’t. People want the truth and will do everything to find the truth. Have fun, be you, and the posts will find the right audience.
Justin Audoin
Marketing Consultant
Chi Chapter Fall ‘13
Membership Spotlight: Lambda Chapter President Brady Halacy
Hey there my name is Brady Halacy. I’m the son of a Sergeant First Class born in Jacksonville, North Carolina right off Camp Lejeune and raised here in Maine. I enrolled in the audio engineering program at Husson University in 2018 and joined during the spring semester of my freshman year. I am expecting to graduate in 2022. I sought out the brothers of Kappa Delta Phi originally for a quick and easy paper. What I found was a connection between a group of like minded people ready to put in hard work to help those in need.
Membership Spotlight: Nu Chapter President Caleb Gorey
Caleb J. Gorey, Nu Chapter President
Thomas College, Waterville, ME
Major: Entrepreneurship
Expected Graduation: 2021
My name is Caleb Gorey, and I am the current president of Kappa Delta Phi, Nu Chapter. My background at Thomas College includes having managed the Men’s Lacrosse Team my freshmen year, playing lacrosse my sophomore year, and playing for the Men’s Soccer Team in my upcoming junior year. I study business, marketing, and management, and spend much of my time writing books. I am also a part of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and being the president of Nu Chapter.
Upon entering Thomas College, having a close friend group has always been a personal necessity, and discovering the strong brotherhood of Kappa Delta Phi was what really drew me in. The fraternity brothers and I became great friends and in time I decided to join the organization. Beyond all of the events we held and great people I met through the fraternity, I mostly enjoyed the philanthropy aspect and raising money for Homes For Our Troops. With the time I have left at Thomas College, I plan to spend it with my fraternity brothers, playing sports, and writing.
Membership Spotlight: Alpha Chapter President Tommy Duell
My name is Tommy Duell and I am the current president for Alpha chapter at Bridgewater State University. I am senior and I also play on the varsity football team. I am a physical education major and hope to pursue a career coaching college football. I joined Alpha chapter along with six others to re-invigorate the chapter in Spring 2019.
Membership Spotlight: Alpha Theta Chapter President Benjamin Sheibley
My name is Ben Sheibley, and I am an upcoming senior with a major in Integrated Marketing Communications at York College of Pennsylvania. I joined Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Theta Chapter during my sophomore year after getting close with all the brothers and seeing how involved they were around campus. I immediately sought a leadership position within the organization so I could try to contribute towards the betterment of the fraternity that so many people could call their home. It has been an amazing experience, and I am excited to be a part of this brotherhood for the rest of my life.
May the Spirit Never Die!
A message from the Chairman
I hope this message finds you all well. Recent months have been incredibly challenging for us all. Personally, and professionally many of us have been forced to adapt in many ways we likely never imagined. It has been no different for our Chapters, or the Kappa men who make up our Headquarters staff, and Board of Directors.
Since April, we've been faced with a National Convention which needed to be cancelled, and then campuses closing. The fall out of which left many Chapters with lost new member classes, events which could not be held; and uncertain futures both as students, and as brothers. Seniors missed out on not only their school commencements in many cases, but ours as well. A special moment to be recognized at convention, recieve their coin, and be escorted to their reception. Events of late have been unfortunate, but miniscule when compared to the grand scale. We all persevere and continue on to do the work of this Fraternity, and maintain its ideals.
In that vein, it is my pleasure to update you on the current workings of The Fraternity. In lieu of convention, and to uphold our constitutional duty. The Board of Representatives, comprised of the voting representatives of each Chapter in good standing, and the sitting Board of Directors, was convened on Saturday, April 18, by virtual conference. This meeting discussed many items of business to wrap up the 2019-2020 year. Including numerous housekeeping amendments to the constitution, and some changes to the stated timelines for voting items prior to convention. If you are interested in a complete review of the changes to the constitution, or to receive the complete minutes, and recording for the 2020 general business meeting. Please send an email to chairman@kappadeltaphi.org, and I’ll be glad to provide these for you.
All in all, given this being an unprecedented occurrence of needing to hold the Board of Representatives meeting virtually. I’m pleased to say everything went off without a hitch. I am grateful to the Chapter Presidents, as well as my fellow members of the Board of Directors, for their cooperation in making the meeting a success.
Finally, to business operations, and some necessary news to keep you apprised of. Jon Kadel, former Executive Director of Kappa Delta Phi, has resigned, effective as of informing Chapter Presidents during the Board of Representatives meeting (April 18th.) Jon spoke to Chapter Presidents during the meeting, who shared their own thanks for his efforts over the years. The board wishes to thank Jon for all he’s done in continuing the mission of this fraternity, and ensuring it’s spirit never dies.
After serving as such on an interim basis, the board officially appointed brother James Tormey, of Alpha Chapter, to the role of Executive Director. This occurred during the Summer meeting, which was held on Saturday, June 27th, again by virtual conference. James will serve a two-year term as Executive Director, at which point the Board will revisit the position and decide on new appointment.
We are excited for the new direction James will be leading our Chapters into. Work is already underway in changing our operations in new and exciting ways. I have been apart of the National organization for about 10 years now, and I can confidently say; this current period of time is one with the most drastic change we have ever seen. Fresh ideas and opinions are being infused into our organization, and being embraced by those who wish to break from the status quo and move us in a new direction. To illustrate what I mean, here’s a quick synopsis on some of the exciting changes in the horizon:
A new and completely revamped website. Currently live at www.kdphi.org
Note: the existing domain (kappadeltaphi.org) is still owned, and will be migrated over soon. It currently points to the new domain.
Certain sections are still a work in progress.
Contracts signed and initial build implementation complete with GreekTrack
GreekTrack is a Chapter management system that will allow us to connect our undergraduate members activities with Headquarters in ways never before possible.
In addition, it will serve to house the entirety of our membership database, including alumni. Alumni will be able to (optionally) create accounts within the system to update their profiles, and stay up to date on Chapter activities in real time.
GreekTrack will live under the domain mykdphi.org
A complete rebuild of our Gsuite domain back end
Currently underway, we are building out organizational units for each Chapter, this means all undergrads, and alumni will have access to their own email in kappadeltaphi.org, to do so with as they please.
Unlike student’s .edu accounts, this email will never be lost, only transitioned to an alumni subdomain when a brother graduates, In example (subject to change, domain names have not been settled yet):
Undergraduate: Joe.Schmoe@alpha.kappadeltaphi.org
Alumni: Joe.Schmoe@alphaalumni.kappadeltaphi.org
We envision these Gsuite accounts to be the primary means brothers will sign up, and login to GreekTrack. This ties together both sides of our “virtual” infrastructure. A domain email, and a login to GreekTrack.
Much, much more information on GreekTrack, as well as plans for all of our internal infrastructure will be coming in the months ahead
This is just a few of the items we are hard at work on. Those who know me, know that from the minute I agreed to take on the role of Chairman. I endeavored to accomplish one thing: build the structure of an organization who is prepared and ready to move from an operational business model, to a scalable and sustainable model. Only by doing so, can we ever hope to reach a place this organization has never seen.
This is just the start, brothers. You will hear more from me soon, there will be more information to come. You will share in our journey and our vision for the future. I hope you’ll be ready to help us reach new heights, in whatever way you can.
Until we speak again, May The Spirit Never Die.
Fraternally,
Jason Pettine, Alpha ‘04
Chairman of the Board
Membership Spotlight: Sigma Chapter President Cody Roberts
My Name is Cody Roberts, President of Sigma Chapter at Plymouth State University. I am studying Sociology and will graduate as a member of the Class of 2022. I joined kappa to become a part of something bigger than myself, and to make a change in my community. I have now made my best friends that will be here a lifetime, and I’ll forever be happy for that.
Membership Spotlight: Alpha Delta Chapter President Brandon Smith
My name is Brandon Smith and I am the president of the Manchester-based Alpha Delta Chapter. I am currently a senior biology major at Saint Anselm College with aspirations of pursuing genetic or immunology research at a university someday. Aside from biological science, I am also passionate about martial arts, lacrosse, music production, and hiking; kind of an outdoors guy when I'm not "nerding" out in the laboratory. The idea of joining a fraternity has always interested me and there are a number of reasons why I chose Kappa Delta Phi. For one, the brothers of our chapter made me feel at home right away; they took the terms family and brotherhood quite literally and I quickly felt accepted. Their passion for doing good for the community and their ideas for social activities also drew me in. It is an honor to not only be among such a great group of men but also an absolute honor to lead and push us towards success. My decision to join is one that I certainly do not regret. MTSND.
Membership Spotlight: Alpha Iota Chapter President Tirrell George
Tirrell George
President, Alpha Iota Chapter
My name is Tirrell George, President of Alpha Iota Chapter. I am studying Psychology with a minor in Disability studies at Shippensburg University. I will be graduating in 2022. I joined Kappa Delta Phi to build meaningful relationships with like-minded individuals and to improve my leadership skills throughout my college career.
Membership Spotlight: Epsilon Chapter President Michael Mollicone
I am Michael Mollicone, President of Epsilon chapter at Rhode Island College. In school, I study in the art program to achieve my goal of becoming a production designer in the film industry. Kappa Delta Phi has been a second home to me since my freshman year, and I expect to continue with the organization until my graduation in 2022. I joined the brotherhood in hopes of meeting people I could call lifelong friends, and I’ve truly accomplished that. I also find pleasure in finding new and creative ways to raise money for Homes For Our Troops, along with the other brothers. May The Spirit Never Die!
Membership Spotlight: Alpha Gamma Chapter President Benjamin Latorre
Benjamin Latorre
President, Alpha Gamma Chapter
My name is Benjamin Latorre, President of Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Gamma Chapter. I am studying business at SUNY New Paltz with majors in management and marketing and will be graduating in the spring of 2021. I joined Kappa Delta Phi in search of a group of people that would give me the same experience that I got while playing sports my whole life. What I found was that and more. So far I have gained valuable leadership experience, helped raise money for Homes for Our Troops, received multiple job opportunities from alumni, made lifelong friends, and so much more. Joining Kappa Delta Phi was one of the best decisions I have made.
