On March 7, 2018, the Board of Directors met to discuss ongoing strategic directives. The Board spent time reviewing the Association’s governance structure, on-going refinement of communication and marketing protocols, and forum proposals for the upcoming civic election. These are just a few of the files that your directors, committee members, and staff are diligently working on.
Executive Committee
In accordance with the 2018 Strategic Plan, the Executive Committee, along with senior management of the Association, have commenced a thorough review of WinnipegREALTORS® current constitution and by-laws. A detailed “Governance Review Project Charter” has been drafted, which provides the framework by which this strategic directive will be advanced. A task force comprised of the current Executive Committee, alongside three Past Presidents, will be assembled to provide oversight. This significant undertaking will be communicated to the Board of Directors on a regular basis.
Commercial Division
A Commercial Listing Task Force, comprised of members of the Commercial Division Executive Council and the MLS® Committee, has been created to review current MLS® policies regarding commercial listings and where they can be marketed. There will be discussion regarding whether or not commercial listings should be exclusively displayed on the Commercial Properties Information Exchange (CPIX). More information on this file will be available in the coming weeks.
Member Services
Currently, the Association recognized the dedication of its committee volunteers and directors with Board Builder awards with levels of Bronze, Silver and Gold. Additional levels have been created to further acknowledge members with a long history of serving the Association. Platinum level will include all members who have served on over 25 committees. The Diamond level Board Builder award acknowledges members who have served on over 30 committees. These new distinctions will be officially unveiled and awarded at the 2019 President’s Gala.
With another winter slowly becoming a memory, thoughts to a strong spring market and warm weather activities race to the fore, with planning of the 2018 WRA Golf Tourney heading into the straight stages. Watch for more information, with a save-the-date via the e-bulletins and Message of the Day.
Technology
The two new Association websites are heading into the development stages, with website development company Visual Lizard (https://www.visuallizard.com) chosen to create and implement a world-class, online platform for our members and your customers.
The Technology Committee were invited for a tour of the Bell MTS Data Centre, where they heard a presentation about the services and features offered by the data centre, including issues of security and backups.
Government Relations
Government Relations continues to engage the City of Winnipeg regarding residential infill, and met with the City’s lead infill planner. They discussed how the Association can assist the City to overcome issues regarding Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) opposition to new infill development as well as a prescreening application process to create more certainty among infill proponents and developers to proceed with more infill projects. Discussions will be held to help document how infill development adds to property values, not bring them down.
Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Point Douglas, Mike Pagtakhan, spoke to the Government Relations Committee where he touched on the record $160 million spent on road construction both for major arterial routes and local roads. Councillor Pagtakhan also shared planning information on Arlington Bridge and how moving the CP Yards is not realistic at this time. Winnipeg’s Downtown and how stakeholders need to sustain its on-going momentum was also discussed.
REN/PR
On March 9, the WinnipegREALTORS® Publications department unveiled a dynamic new look for the Winnipeg Real Estate News. New features include a new front cover layout with a more visual focus, inside page graphic design changes such as the revamped Luxury Living section, a new editorial direction that emphasizes more local content, increased coverage of the business aspects of organized real estate, plus more articles promoting the benefits of utilizing a Realtor.
The current volume discount incentive program for the Winnipeg Real Estate News will undergo a thorough review by the Committee this fall.
The 2018 radio campaign focuses on both home and condo ownership with a target market of ages 25-64, people who are looking to enter the home purchase market, expand their homestead or those looking to downsize. Two commercials were developed, both bolstering the use of a Realtor by the consumer and the promotion of the Winnipeg Real Estate News be it online or at a high-traffic location.
The radio campaign will run mid-March to mid-June and again in mid-August through to mid-October. The commercials will air on a demographically appropriate group of stations including 92 CITI FM, BOB 99.9 FM, CJOB, Virgin 103.1 and QX104.1.
WinnipegREALTORS®’s first social media strategy has been created, which identifies the platforms that WinnipegREALTORS® and the Winnipeg Real Estate News are currently utilizing; Facebook (personal in nature, story telling), Twitter (short bursts of information with links), Instagram (personal, graphic), YouTube (video content) and LinkedIn (business in nature). Engagement with both the consumer, as well as the membership, within each of the platforms will be required.
The strategy recognizes a three-part framework is needed for social media.
The discovery stage identifies the target market, budgetary goals and ascertaining the capabilities of WinnipegREALTORS® staff in performing social media duties as well as the budget involved in promoting the content.
The second part involves the strategy component behind social media efforts. Reviewing the engagement results of our content and developing new content around those conversations. Developing relevant, useful, current social content that is adaptable across multi-channels is a necessity.
The third part entails the management of all efforts, including collecting the data/results from multiple channels and comparing the data against identified benchmarks. The goal is to show increases and positive gains across those benchmarks on a multitude of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Where goals are not being met or results are at a plateau, refinement of the media and efforts will be required.
Membership Engagement Committee
The Membership Engagement Committee is considering the establishment of an inclusive networking group, for the purposes of building member-to-member relationships with both new members and experienced agents. A survey was sent out to the general membership on March 22, 2018, regarding the creation of future networking events.