Synner Platform Building

Strategy Outline

For Better Success

We applied our formalized community model and methodology, letting these guidelines lead our strategy process to derive recommendations for a stronger community future. This model includes:

• Foundation: diagram of data flow and server architecture with recommendations.
• Experience: brand style guide and perfecting the interface.
• Wellness: quarterly webinars and on-hand community manager.
• Onboarding: site tutorial and complete your profile guide.
• Gamification: achievement system with custom badges, leaderboard, and earning experience points.
• Engagement: newsletter, social integration, and curated feeds.
• Monetization: membership and donation model and advertisements.
• Optimization: performance audit with page-level and server-level improvements.

Tailored Feeds

Better Content Discovery

Part of the new design was improving content discovery beyond typical forum lists. With our new Feeds system, we offer members a variety of content feeds to choose from. Items that receive replies get bumped back to the top of the list, and users can interact with content directly within the feed, personalizing the experience and saving an extra click.

Boosting the Experience

For an Intuitive Platform

Synner already had a unique aesthetic, so we made it a goal to further optimize the platform by:

• Simplifying the forum list.
• Making adjustments to the site based on community feedback.
• Developing a brand style guide to ensure consistency across the platform.
• Routinely auditing the site for performance.
• Keeping an open dialog with the community through threads and surveys.

Sharing Stories

Of Student Progress

The media gallery, or 'Riffs' section, is crucial for improving guitar skills as users regularly upload videos for feedback. We made sure the user experience was as streamlined as possible by developing a lightbox experience to quickly move between videos, improving content preview, and adding quick engagement actions.

Building the Model

To Increase Revenue

Before building the monetization model for Synner, we first needed to ask the community how they would be willing to support. We sent out a survey asking if they’d be willing to contribute, how often, and what dollar amount they’d be comfortable with. The results of this survey helped to guide the model and make sure we were introducing a monetization system that fit the capabilities of community members.

Subscriptions

for recurring value

The subscription pricing we introduced was informed by the user feedback and also offered monthly or annual options depending on how often the user wanted to pay on a recurring basis. We also introduced gift upgrades, allowing users to send subscriptions to other members of the community. Each of these memberships also came with perks, like a unique status and exclusive achievements in order to provide value back to members.

Donations

for one-time support

The user feedback also told us that many users would prefer to support the site as they can and not on a recurring basis, so we introduced a donations system for one-time payments. As we monitored the success of the monetization model, we realized that not as many users utilized the donation system like we anticipated, so we decided to forgo donations and instead focus on increasing subscriptions.

Care packages

to annual members

To provide value to those who’ve purchased subscriptions, we’ve introduced care packages and send them annually. For the past two years of sending these packages, we’ve:

• Planned for the care package by determining items to be included in the package and pricing.
• Produced unique designs for each item and purchased upon design approval.
• Packaged and shipped by hand.

Looking at the Results

From Start of Project

We introduced a leaderboard and achievements system to reward community members for positive actions and encourage friendly competition. This provides a sense of accomplishment and encourages further contributions.

SynTV Live Streaming

For Real Time Engagement

Learning guitar and sharing progress with others is at the heart of the Synner community and a streaming platform was needed to bolster that mission, but industry standards like Twitch and YouTube weren’t suitable solutions. What was needed instead was a personalized streaming space that felt exclusive — branded to Synner and without third-party logos — freedom to customize functionality, and more control over monetization. By building upon our streaming solution, we could give back that control to our client.

• Stream training for all members with a SynTV channel.
• Creating SynTV guidelines for stream-specific community rules.
• Producing graphics to be used for stream scenes.
• Event coordination through agenda development, scheduling, promotion, and dry runs.
• Developing terms and conditions for the platform.

Supporting the Community

With Multiple Streamers

Since the launch of SynTV, community streamers have run several successful streams covering musical and personal interests (gaming, music theory, 3D imaging). We've given users the space to showcase their progress and make a more personal connection to the community.

Incentivizing Activity

For Channel Growth

We chose to give streamers a share of the revenue from their streams to incentivize content creation and support members with unique skills. In the first month of SynTV, we saw positive growth:

Event Production

Planning and Coordination

As a soft launch to premium subscribers, we hosted the first streaming event on SynTV to introduce users to the platform. With an incredibly supportive client and community, the event went extremely smoothly and has everyone excited for the future of SynTV. To make sure this event was a success, we:

• Configured the platform
• Developed a SynTV sub-brand
• Designed graphics to be used during SynTV streams
• Developed an agenda with topics and timing
• Sent out eblasts to inform subscribers about the event
• Completed stream training for all planning to broadcast to SynTV