As a business, you want to reach out to the decision makers and trend leaders on campus. All of these people are out in force during Greek Rush, and they will be crucial to spreading the word and accepting your brand on campus. Even if you are a new business on a campus that has well established traditions and hotspots, you want to appeal to the students who have the cred to make your brand seem cool to the rest of the student body.
For one, the sheer enormity of students that participate in Greek life should inspire you to get your brand involved. To have 20-30% of student body involved in Greek life is a pretty moderate percentage for most colleges and universities, while 50% and above represents high student involvement. If you take into account the total size of the student body, that will tell you exactly how influential the Greek system is on campus.
Numbers and quantities aside, you should also consider what Greek life is all about. At the heart of Greek life on any given campus is a social culture. People join fraternities and sororities because they want to have an immediate network of people at their university or college. These are some of the most involved and engaged students on campus. Not only do these individuals socialize with people within their chosen chapter, they attend organized events with other fraternities and sororities. If your brand can be present at one of these events, it could mean great things for your business!
During Greek Rush, incoming freshman, transfer students, etc. will all be looking to engage in ways on campus that they otherwise wouldn’t consider. It’s all part of finding their community. If you don’t present your business as part of the community from the start, students might not think of you later in their college careers.
To someone new on campus, getting to know the school and its environment has a lot to do with Greek life. On some campuses, Greek life is so ingrained in the campus culture that it’s really crucial to determining the essential restaurants, stores, bars, etc. around town for students. The making of these popular local hangouts are often the making of school traditions and legacies that are passed on from class to class, and stick with students when they return as alumni.
