Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers A Report on its Social Media Presence
Purpose:
Negativity surrounding the Master Sommelier Americas certification exam which resulted in the stripping of twenty-three member’s titles has required associations everywhere to conduct reviews on their practices and branding. The Board Members of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers have mandated this report to determine the strengths and gaps in their social media presence from which improvements can be proposed. Twenty-three members losing the highest accreditation in the world of wines is a devastating loss to the industry. Enhancements to the CAPS social media presence will assist in restoring trust in the accreditation process and recruiting new members to the profession.
Strengths:
Upon the initial visit to the Professional Sommeliers of Canada’s website, it was clear that provincial representation of members was recognized, by outlining (via homepage) contributions made by highlighted chapters in their respective provinces. This recognition is key when capitalizing on extending the social media reaches of this association.
The legitimacy of this association is shown by adding a section on the homepage entitled “News and Activities”. The News and Activities section does a great service to the association by allowing them to showcase their accolades.
The mention of National Sponsors on the homepage ensures future members and visitors to the website, that the Professional Sommeliers of Canada are recognized by other organizations as a reputable organization. Confirmation of an association’s legitimacy by other groups is one of the highest forms of acclaim.
The Listing of Board Members includes detailed accounts of most of the members’ professional accomplishments; allowing visitors to view the board members credentials adds credibility to the association.
Weaknesses:
When searching on Google for the keywords “Canadian Associations," The Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers was found on the sixth search results page. According to Paul in his YouTube video on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a company’s presence is most impactful when they are found in the top results, preferably in the first three or four results. Backlinks to and from other sites is one of the most important factors in SEO, which may have helped this association appear higher up in the search pages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqg3F-8jBec
The name of the association is The Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers of Canada (CAPS). The website for the association is actually sommelierscanada.com. The discrepancy between the names of the association and the web address increases difficulty in the search quality and creates confusion as to whether the website and organization are one and the same.
The CAPS social media pages (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) are seriously lacking in their ability to showcase the classy and professional image CAPS wishes to portray. The images are often formulated using an app instead of photographed, and do not present a cohesive image for the organization. See example below:
Some images from the CAPS Instagram page, showing the unprofessional editing and lack of social media ingenuity. https://www.instagram.com/caps.ontario/
The News and Activities section on the homepage informs the reader of the association’s accomplishments. This section however, provides no links within the body of the paragraphs allowing the reader to obtain more information about the award-winning businesses, sommeliers or wines. In a couple instances, there were links that were not in a http format which would have allowed for “clicking” and activation.
The use of multi-media with the website is lacking. Other than the initial slideshow that introduces the affiliated provinces, there are no videos, interactive content, or audio.
The webpages are too text-heavy. Even in the presence of many bulleted points, there is still too much read-only content for the reader.
Obvious educational links such as “How to become a sommelier” are also lacking. Being a profession that requires accreditation, one would expect questions which would lead to a potential increase in their membership numbers. See example below:
Example of the webpage showing certified wine sommelier program offerings. https://www.canadianfoodandwineinstitute.ca/cfwiprograms/caps-wine-sommelier/
Proposed Improvements:
The addition of past recordings of webinars or events on the home page would inform non-members of what events are offered by CAPS and invite them to become a member in order to participate in future events.
CAPS list its many sponsors and provides links to their websites; however, none of these sponsors provide a reference or link to CAPS from their websites. Sponsorship should be revisited to ensure that wine consumers can become aware of CAPS and all that the association has to offer. Offering an additional perk for sponsors such as a “Winery of the Month” would be an equally beneficial way to build quality backlinks.
CAPS has over 60 listed members on its website. Only eight of those members are following the association on LinkedIn. LinkedIn should be on of the main social media sites the association should target to reach its key audience of professional sommeliers and students. LinkedIn allows the ability for discussion groups amongst peers, self-promotion for the association and creation of online courses for professional and amateur sommeliers.
LinkedIn has become the top social media site for professionals with 500+ million users globally. Companies and Associations create discussion forums to learn what topics are trending in their industry as well as create online learning opportunities to build their brand as a leader in their industry.
Occasionally, members of the CAPS association appear as guests on well-known wine podcasts. CAPS should consider developing its own podcast or advertising these podcast appearances on their social media sites more heavily. Podcasts would provide an additional platform to which all questions from the public and any updated activity by the association could be addressed.
The Podcast is a new and exciting platform. Born out of radio, a podcast allows creativity and ability to reach a specific audience. The content created can be listened to anywhere at any time many times over.
CAPS should seek to enhance and clean up its presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, potentially through hiring a marketing director who could help revamp CAPS’ image.
Given their prevalence on the modern social media scene, it is imperative that CAPS improve its presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. As it is now, their pages on all these sites lack the professionalism that CAPS wishes to portray. Improving this presence would not only help CAPS’ image in the eyes of the general population, but may also help attract a bigger audience.
Bibliography:
1. 'Devastating' scandal rocks wine world as 23 master sommeliers stripped of their titles | CBC Radio. (2018, October 11). Retrieved March 25, 2019, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-thursday- edition-1.4858606/devastating-scandal-rocks-wine-world-as-23-master- sommeliers-stripped-of-their-titles-1.4858608.
2. Five Ways to Build Your Nonprofit Brand's Buzzability. (2014, March 17). Retrieved March 31, 2019, from https://nonprofithub.org/nonprofit-branding/five-ways-build-nonprofit-brands-buzzability/.
3. MacLean, N. (2019, March 13). What to Ask the Sommelier with Lesley Brown, Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers. Retrieved March 31, 2019, from https://www.nataliemaclean.com/blog/podcast/what-to-ask-the-sommelier- with-lesley-brown-canadian-association-of-professional-sommeliers/.
4. Shulman, R. (2017, September 11). This Is How Entrepreneurs, Students And Teachers Can Benefit From LinkedIn Learning. Retrieved March 31, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robynshulman/2017/09/11/this-is-how- entrepreneurs-students-and-teachers-can-benefit-from-linkedin-learning/ #813499c2ec98.
5. CAPS Certified Wine Sommelier | Program. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2019, from https://www.canadianfoodandwineinstitute.ca/cfwiprograms/caps-wine-sommelier/