Hi Christian,

Great question and I am glad you are engaging the candidates. You hit the nail on the head when you said "effectively" use social media. I asked about paid/boosted ads when I started as Publicity last year and was told we didn't have a budget for marketing. From what I've been hearing over the past few weeks/months from the members as well as the candidates running for the Executive there seems to be an acknowledgment that marketing/publicity should have a budget to effectively brand and promote OREIO. I do think the Executive needs a clear mandate/vote from the members when it comes to spending our funds with accountability and transparency paramount.

 There are certain types of campaigns where you may want a broad audience (branding, name recognition) and  for recruitment/engagement you would want something more targeted (quality over quantity).  I don't see paid social media blasts and having tons of followers as beneficial for recruitment but by having the right followers and targeting certain demographics for maximum results you can get a better bang for your buck. Return on investment for your marketing dollars. I see this all the time in the real estate industry as well. The real estate investing community isn't very big, especially in a city the size of Ottawa. Word of mouth and referral is a very important factor for us to attract visitors and recruit new members who will actually sign up and show up. Retention of  members should also be part of the overall plan.

I see Publicity as a cog in the wheel of the whole OREIO management machine and all the parts have to work together for it to be successful. (Ex: target marketing to the next upcoming speaker or topic etc) and utilizing the skills and contacts of the Executive, volunteers, and members alike for the organic growth side of things. The Executive as a whole needs to sit down and work on a plan moving forward and to review the plan as we evolve.

Remember.....we're all invested in OREIO and we owe it to each other to work together and do our part, however small,  for the good of our club!

My posts always seem to run on so I will stop here even though I have many more ideas for marketing/branding/promoting/recruiting etc.

I might owe a few more people coffees now? lol

Christian Szpilfogel wrote:

Do you have a view on how we could more effectively use social media? To be honest I'm less interested in the specific tools within any specific platform and more interested in how we would use the right platform based on our target demographics and how we would translate that into lead generation for membership. And ultimately how we can close new members based on the great value that the organization brings. 

We really don't have a marketing strategy that I am aware of so I think this is carte blanche. 

I think it would be good for Rob to outline is views on the topic as well.

Dear Oreio Members and Executive,

I've been investing in real estate for over 10 yrs now and have been an Oreio member for almost as long. After joining the club I was inspired to take some chances and take action to steer my life towards where I wanted it to be. Some examples of inspired action are starting a small property management company (which I have since handed off to another Oreio member) and getting my real estate license so I could leave my Federal Government job and be self-employed in the field of real estate full-time. I can say it hasn't been easy at times but it is very rewarding. who doesn't love buying and selling multi-family and commercial investment properties! During some of those difficult stretches coming to our monthly meetings gave me energy and encouragement. Not just the great guest speakers but all of you with your smiles and excitement about investing and personal growth in general helped keep me focused on my goals and gave me strength to push forward.....thank you!

I am grateful to have spent the last year volunteering on the Executive as your Publicity Coordinator and have learned a lot about how we function and what it takes to manage an organization of this size that is run solely by volunteers. I had some ideas that I wanted to implement as part of the Publicity role but didn't get to see them all through. The uncertainty we had with the "Future of Oreio" as well as the Covid pandemic sort of left us in a holding pattern. We did however see more engagement on the Facebook group and also started and are growing an Instagram page as well. I have been sharing Oreio with my own network as well as others on social media with success and have recruited many new members this year, easy to be a cheerleader when you're "selling" something you love! The Executive worked hard to grow our membership and I am happy I was able to be a small part of that.

Moving forward I am excited to see the potential we have to grow and strengthen Oreio and in seeing how engaged our membership is. I believe most of us want the club to become even better without compromising what made it so great to begin with. As Publicity Coordinator I would like to see a small budget for advertising (with support of members and Exec) as we don't currently have one. I would like to see some targeted promotions not just for Ottawa residents but Gatineau as well as. There are also members and guests coming in from the outskirts and also cities like Montreal and Kingston. I would like to further develop relationships with groups in other cities to collaborate for the benefit of our members as this could attract possible investors and JV partners who are looking to invest in Ottawa due to our strong real estate market. I think we should also grow our stature in the community, not just the investor community but in general to local governments, charities etc, as well as to become more known as an authority on the subject of real estate investing and housing in Ottawa. We have a great amount of diversity and talent already in our membership and it would be great to attract more successful people and be more of a destination for high end guest speakers if that were to be the case. I think attending related trade shows to promote Oreio would be another positive step. I was in talks with a contact at Canadian Real Estate Wealth (CREW) Magazine about writing an article on the club or having members submit content but things at the magazine have been put on ice and although my contact is no longer there it is something to look at again in the future.

I have many more ideas and of course these all depend on what you the membership wants and what direction we go in but just know I am positive, excited, and like to THINK BIG! My loyalty lies with the club and it's members and I am dedicated 100% to my duties as Publicity Coordinator and also being part of a strong, cohesive Executive Team.

P.S - Feel free to contact me directly or connect with me on social media if you have any questions or comments for me.

P.P.S - (If you read this all the way to the bottom I owe you a coffee:)

Regards,

Rob Lachapelle

OREIO Publicity Coordinator

Sales Representative

Coldwell Banker First Ottawa Realty

(Cell) 613-277-1414

(Email) rob@roblachapelle.com

Buy/Sell/Invest

Residential and Commercial

www.roblachapelle.com