What is SOCIY?

A Case Study

Overview

SOCIY is a website platform built specifically for YMCA associations, who share a common mission. Many of their obstacles and online issues are the same, and it is their goal to work together to ensure their communities have the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive. It is SOCIY’s mission to provide a solution that allows them to more easily achieve this goal.

Problem

YMCA associations are on their own when it comes to creating an online experience for their users, both members and non-members. The vast majority of these YMCA’s do not have the staff capacity to build their websites in-house, leaving them to find their own website developer who may or may not have experience working with YMCA’s.

The Challenges

- Know the YMCA and what is important to them
- Build a user-friendly website template that conforms to YMCA brand guidelines
- Because all YMCA’s are slightly different, allow for multiple integrations to work seamlessly with the platform in the following areas:

Online Membership, Program Registration, Schedules, Donations

- Give content control to the YMCA staff, allowing them to manage the following on the fly:

All pages, menu items, events, news, and content (images, text, etc.) on all pages

- Make onboarding easy, and train the YMCA staff on how to manage their website
- As the platform grows, it needs to be scalable and repeatable to allow more YMCA’s to come aboard while continuing to bring value to our current YMCA partners
- The internet is a living, breathing thing so continued site maintenance is key to every YMCA’s online experience
- Continue to develop new features and make those available to all YMCA’s on the platform
- Create a sense of community within the platform that allows for open thoughts and ideas to travel freely, helping move the platform and each YMCA’s online presence forward
- Make all of this possible for any YMCA association, regardless of size

Solutions
- In 2011, we spotted the problem and utilized our resources and experience gained from developing websites and applications over a wide spectrum of businesses and causes, and we started working to help YMCA’s...and only YMCA’s. We wanted to truly understand what is important to each YMCA and what they wanted in a website...and living and breathing only “YMCA” was the best way for us to accomplish this.
- Knowing the YMCA means understanding their brand guidelines. Most of the design was born from these standards. Other factors include gaining feedback on what the YMCA wants to make accessible to the user and the analytics of those users’ behavior once on their website.
- Working with multiple YMCA’s has given us the opportunity to organically gain development experience in integrating third-party software. In addition to this, we communicate and work directly with the third-party integrations our YMCA community utilizes. With all three parties involved, we are able to effectively address our Partners’ needs.
- The platform is built using Drupal, an open-source content management system that allows those using it to manage all content on their website. Additionally, we built a user-friendly dashboard for YMCA staff to make quick and easy edits to their live sites whenever they’d like.
- Our on-boarding process is the same for every YMCA, and being so makes it repeatable and easy for the YMCA staff to pick things up quickly. The same goes for direct YMCA staff training. Each YMCA is trained and given an executable plan that makes for an easy transition from old to new.
- The more YMCA’s in the SOCIY community, the greater impact it has on all involved. So, we crafted a process that allows for a new YMCA to have access to their staging environment the day they join. This gives the YMCA the freedom to get up and running at their own pace, and it keeps our SOCIY team focused on developing cool new features for the entire platform and all Partners to enjoy in the future.
- Maybe the most essential part of the platform, our Maintenance Team’s sole goal is to ensure every YMCA Partner’s site continues to stay top-notch as time moves on. We do not say “Goodbye” once a site is launched. The journey has just begun.
With a quick, repeatable launch process, our team is allowed more time to develop cool new features to implement and make available to all on the platform. Once developed, the feature is pushed throughout the platform, and all YMCA’s immediately have it available to add to their site. How do we select which feature to develop? Item 9 has the answer.
- We greatly value our YMCA Partners’ feedback, which is the main driving factor in deciding the lineup and order of features that are developed and inserted into the platform.
- Many years of development, research, face-to-face discussions, etc. have gone into what is now SOCIY. All of this has come together to allow us to cater to every YMCA, regardless of size or capabilities. Don’t have an IT staff? No problem - we’ve made the platform easy for all to utilize. Not sure of current hosting? No problem - we can make the necessary changes or host for you. No clue where to begin? No problem - we have an easy approach to getting started and we can lean on our launched Partners for knowledge. Don’t want to spend an arm and a leg...just to do it again in a few years? No problem - we have lowered the barrier to having a great online experience. All YMCA’s should win together, and that is what we have created.

Results
- An easy-to-use platform that is built specifically for YMCA’s, and allows them to update their site at their convenience.
- A community of happy YMCA partners:

“Thank you for all your help! We're excited for our members to have a better experience on the web, and we couldn't have done it without you!” - Alexa

“I started off not being a super technology savvy person, but after using Sociy and having their great support team walk me through different situations I feel confident that we have created a fun and easy website for our members to use! If you are not using Sociy then you should switch!” - Corinne

“Still loving our new website thanks to SOCIY! Check them out if you're shopping for one & be sure to visit ours!” - Goldsboro Family YMCA

- Also, a growing community:

We started 2017 with 12 YMCA’s. Our community currently includes 27 YMCA’s across the country.

- Each YMCA has access to their staging environment within one week of signing a contract, and this window is only getting smaller. Less time waiting on development means more time is afforded to content transfer and management..and eventually to a quicker, more efficient launch.
- Length of time between Onboarding and Launch is flexible to the individual YMCA’s comfort - we go at your pace, not ours. And, we’re always here when you need help.
- New Features are regularly developed and added to the platform, becoming available to all YMCA’s within the SOCIY community. Our most recent developments are:

- 3rd-party integrations that keep the user within the YMCA website
- Display Components - the YMCA constantly pushes out great marketing material...and you should be able to display it in a ways that bring the highest impact to your YMCA and community
- Upgraded look and flow that accounts for the YMCA’s new Swim Lesson Curriculum

- All Partners have the freedom to communicate with our team and each other, and are asked for feedback as it pertains to their experience with the platform. Open communication is then used to advance and make the platform better for all involved.
- Streamlined Maintenance process - our YMCA’s know how and for what reasons to submit maintenance requests, and those requests are addressed in a timely fashion. This entire process ensures all Partners’ sites stay up-to-date and functioning properly at all times. No website is left behind.
- Analytics show these areas to improve following a website launch:

Pageviews, Sessions, Users, Bounce Rate

SOCIY is a growing YMCA website platform that is open to all associations that are looking for or need assistance in the online world. We have lowered the barrier to entry and make it easy for any YMCA to improve their community’s online experience.

FORWARD TOGETHER