Thinking about how to get your members more engaged? Check out Guild of Sommeliers for tips to boost your social strategy.

The Guild of Sommeliers is a non-profit, member-run organization, committed to educating and fostering networking among wine service professionals and wine enthusiasts across the U.S.

Its strategy? It created a comprehensive social strategy layering a members-only online community with direct engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo. They created the community to foster knowledge sharing of all topics related to wine – laws, regions, varieties and more. Plus, members network with one another to find jobs, discuss upcoming events and encourage active development of the profession

Check out this video to learn more about how its online community operates.

And be sure to download the case study to learn how exactly Guild grew its dues-paying membership base seven times over within four years, operating almost exclusively with online social engagement and community.  

You’ll pick up some tips on how they’re accomplishing their objectives with a private member networking online community. Learn how Guild is engaging members with one another in a social community for in-depth conversations and resources that entice members to stay active and engaged:

  • Discussion Forums and Study Groups: Members can join or create a discussion thread in forums
  • Read Feature Articles and Interviews: In depth Feature articles on wine regions and interviews with industry leaders
  • Get Current Wine Industry News: Read news feeds from leading industry publications. Members also get wine region maps and other multi-media content.
  • Connect with Sommeliers: Extensive social networking functionality including profiles, discussions and more
  • Online Study Guide: An online study guide of the world's wine regions with review questions
  • Search Compendium Knowledge Base: Find the answers to questions and keep up to date on wine laws, wine regions or varietals. This also includes audio pronunciations of wine regions and terms.
  • Test Wine Knowledge: Each day when members log in, they see a new set of wine education questions and a tasting quiz.  There are three daily questions which are rated easy, medium and hard
  • Find a Tasting Group: Post a local tasting group, or search for groups by area