How Skool Drives Community Engagement

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Happy Sunday Operators ⚙️

I’ll be sending acceptance emails to those who will be admitted into Cornerstone's founding group the first week of June. The deadline is June 1st, so apply now to join a group of talented COOs and senior operators.

As I’ve mapped out what tools we’ll use in Cornerstone, Skool has been continually recommended to me.

It has been a trip delving into Skool's offerings. With their focus on education and community building, I can understand why course creators and educators flock towards the platform.

Interestingly, Skool uses its own platform to grow the Skool moderator (so customers) community while finetuning its gamification features.

It’s a double whammy in the best way. Here’s how they are doing it.

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^{Setting the Stage}
How did Skool use their product to scale?

Skool has emerged as a game-changer in the crowded landscape of online education and community platforms.

Founded in 2019 by Sam Ovens, the creator behind Consulting.com, Skool was born out of a simple yet powerful idea.

How can one create a platform integrating learning, community engagem

ent, and live events?

Ovens, no stranger to online education, noticed a glaring problem with existing platforms. Creators had to juggle many tools to deliver content, engage their audience, and manage their communities.

This fragmentation led to a disjointed user experience.

To solve his own problems while scaling Consulting.com. Ovens built the skeleton of what would become Skool.

By combining:

• powerful community features

• intuitive course creation tools

• integrated event management

Skool provides a one-stop shop for creators looking to build and monetize their communities.

But Skool's innovation didn't stop there. They understood that building a successful platform was about engagement. And that's where their secret weapon came in: gamification.

Skool recognized that traditional online learning and community platforms struggled with user engagement.

Learners would lose motivation, and community participation would dwindle over time. To combat this, Skool turned to gamification.

By integrating game-like elements such as points, levels, leaderboards, and rewards, Skool transformed the user experience.

Suddenly, learning and participating in the community became fun and rewarding. Users were motivated to engage, contribute, and keep coming back.

But Skool didn't build these gamification features and hope for the best. They put their money where their mouth was and embraced dogfooding their product.

Dogfooding, the practice of using one's own product, is a common strategy in the tech world. But Skool took it to the next level. They didn't just use their platform; they built their entire community on it.

From day one, Skool hosted its own vibrant community of creators and educators on its platform. This served multiple purposes:

• Showcase the Platform: By dogfooding, Skool could prove the power of its platform in the real-world. Prospective users could see, firsthand, what a thriving community looked like on Skool.

• Gather Valuable Feedback: Hosting their own community gave Skool a direct line to their most valuable resource: their users. They could gather real-time feedback, identify pain points, and iterate quickly based on user needs.

• Foster Trust and Loyalty: By being participants in their own community, Skool built trust and credibility with their users. They weren't just a faceless platform. They were fellow community builders, learning and growing alongside their users.

The combination of gamification and dogfooding proved to be a powerful growth engine for Skool. Engagement soared as they continued to improve their platform based on user feedback.

Users, motivated by the rewarding experience of Skool's gamification, contributed more, learned more, and invited others to join. The vibrant community, powered by Skool's active participation, became a self-sustaining growth ecosystem.

Skool's user base and revenue grew exponentially. They had cracked the code on user engagement. And their platform was reaping the benefits.

So what does that have to do with you?

Ops Tactic: Increase user engagement through continuous improvement of your product by dogfooding your own tools

^{Why this Matters}
3 reasons why you should care

In the fast-paced world of online platforms, it's easy for success stories to get lost in the noise.

But Skool's triumph in building a thriving, engaged community is more than just another tech tale.

It's a powerful lesson in the future of online education, community-building, and user engagement.

Here's why you should be paying attention:

1. The Power of Community-Driven Learning

Gone are the days when learning was a one-way street, with content delivered from teacher to student. Skool has shown that the future of learning is community-drive

By creating a platform that prioritizes community engagement alongside educational content, Skool has tapped into a powerful truth. We learn best when we learn together.

When learners can interact, collaborate, and share knowledge, the learning experience becomes richer, more engaging, and more effective.

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