As an NPR-affiliated, member-supported public radio station, WXPN relies heavily on the generosity of their tight-knit community of supporters.

The vision: Create a lively multi-platform media hub that connects new and established artists in rock, blues, roots, and folk genres with the active music-loving community in the tri-state area and beyond.

wxpn.org

Discovery

To understand how WXPN engaged audiences, we conducted a comprehensive, research-focused digital assessment of current offerings, audiences, and opportunities. In addition to on-site intercept interviews with existing end users, we conducted in-depth interviews with advertisers, industry peers, and industry leaders like Spotify, as well as stakeholder workshops, and member email surveys. 

To get an accurate picture of how users engaged with the current digital content — as well as how to better meet audience expectations — we conducted extensive user testing, a big-data market intelligence study, social listening, and content gap and marketplace analyses.

Content Strategy

With a focus on driving new initiatives and reaching new audiences, we crafted a comprehensive content strategy for WXPN’s digital properties, including underwriting and advertising initiatives. 

Search pattern analysis revealed high-volume branded and non-branded keywords that can be used to drive additional traffic and awareness — and engagement metrics showed areas that matter most to users: artist- and concert-related content and customizable online music platforms like streaming playlists and live music feeds. 

We helped the client team establish clear content objectives and improved workflow, including how to create a cohesive vision and voice, and how to identify team members that should “own,” update, archive, or remove information accordingly.

To better serve sponsors and audiences while staying true to the WXPN brand and revenue goals, we examined how their membership content and underwriting programs fit into the new ecosystem with opportunities that include:

UX Design

We addressed pain points in navigation and taxonomy to organize the client’s extensive — but often siloed and cluttered — content collection.

To validate our recommendations and confirm that content labels and sitemap organization met user expectations, we incorporated sitemap testing and first-click testing at key milestones. 

WXPN’s freestanding blog The Key represented a large new audience that includes non-local music fans that could be converted to listeners or donors. We integrated it into the site to give national exposure to WXPN as a significant content producer and influencer, and leveraged the platform to connect related content, including artist information, a concert calendar, and sponsorship opportunities.

Custom CMS Development 

A client-created and customized installation of the Brightspot CMS served as our foundation for the project build phase. Working with their technology team, we reviewed the available features and components and determined how we could leverage them to meet project goals, while collaborating on plans for a master content migration.

The new interface features a headless media player built in a WordPress and React framework that gives users a seamless visual experience for live program listening while browsing — a significant upgrade over the previous feature, which interfered significantly with the visual user journey and was thwarted by pop-up blockers. 

Not only can users now live stream concerts and content from WXPN Radio, XPN2 – Xponential Radio, and the daily World Cafe program, but they can also use the robust media browsing interface to discover both new releases and well-known video and audio files. Users can search playlists by program air date and link to music purchase sources while following a clear path for viewing articles and information on programs, radio personalities, podcasts, authors, artists, concerts, event listings, and more. Through every step of the user journey, social media sharing opportunities abound.

We created flexible components and page layouts that suited XPN’s specific content and user needs — and provided a consistent experience for future content changes. In addition to incorporating user-friendly components like artist bio teaser cards and sound clips featuring titles and captions, we integrated calls to action that encourage users to make donations and sign up for WXPN’s e-newsletter.

This connected and consistent branded global digital experience supports a wealth of content and tells a cohesive and compelling story about who WXPN is, why their work matters, and why casual listeners and readers should become loyal fans and supporters.

Analytics & Site Performance

XPN already had access to abundant data on the reach and performance of their various website, broadcasts, streaming services, social media, and digital marketing efforts, but it was siloed within different teams and systems. They needed a more holistic way to view and evaluate those metrics.

Surveying their stakeholders helped us understand what numbers are important to them, and then create a plan to access that data and ensure it is regularly updated.

The XPN team can now quickly view executive summaries that pull the most critical numbers across the organization — or go deep on any of these sources to understand whether they’re meeting KPIs and to guide decisions accordingly.