Thoughts on improving recruitment

[Greg_Di 950]

Lately in the VHL there has been a big discussion on recruitment and efforts put into recruitment. There were many valid points on to what may not be going right such as targeting the wrong people or creating IG posts that users outside of the league would not understand. The question is now how do help the recruitment team improve.

 

Below are just random thoughts.

 

Targeting:

 

For recruitment to be effective we need to target the right type of demographic to pull in new players. With VHL though there is a wide demographic on who actually participates. Members here have all different types of varying interests but one thing that everyone here shares is the love of hockey. This is where the ads should be targeted. Target sites/forums/youtube channels/ig channels .etc that are created especially for those that enjoy and follow hockey. Whether its casual fans or the hardcore fans that look over every stat. If we target groups that enjoy hockey we should see an uptick in our recruitment and then it will come down to retaining those individuals by showing them how great of a league this is

 

Podcasts:

The recruitment team could work on getting on hockey podcasts to discuss VHL and what the VHL is. There are many hockey podcasts out there who have small to huge followings that the recruitment team could target and work on getting on the air, even if its only for a 2-3 minute spot. This could help spread the awareness to more hockey fans to the VHL. We have quite a few talented users who make their own podcasts and they can be utilized to help with this.

Google search:

Say for example I am not a VHL member and I hear someone talking about the VHL. I become interested and decide to look it up. If I type in VHL into google we are no where to be found in the top 30 list. I have to specifically type in victory hockey league. The problem with this is that most members reference this league as VHL. The recruitment team should look at the potential of ensuring that when VHL is typed into google that our league shows up in the top 5. This would help users that just hear the name VHL be able to locate the forum better and potentially join.

 

Splash page:

 

For a brand new user to the site, when they click on the link and being thrown into a forum with so many different threads, it might deter them. What if a VHL splash page was created to help guide new users where they need to go. Have a button that takes them to the create a new player thread, have a button that takes them to the rules thread, have a button that takes them to the how to earn TPE page. This will help with new users being able to understand quicker what they must do to get started; instead of being bombarded with tons of sections and posts which could lead to potentially being overwhelmed and leaving before creating a new player.

 

 

Those are just some of my thoughts on how to improve recruitment.

[Prof. Zach Enron 81]

I think people need to start asking their parents to join, or extended family. Even if we don't gain mass numbers we will have a deeper sense of community if Grandma's and Grandpa's are playing and getting involved with the youngs.

Edited November 24, 2023 by Prof. Zach Enron

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Love the splash page idea