Metropolis Capstone Journey
Metropolis is a technology startup aiming to streamline the healthcare recruiting process by using machine learning and automation to connect healthcare workers seeking jobs with the healthcare organizations looking to fill them. Metropolis has already assisted healthcare organizations in the top 100 U.S. Metropolitan areas by revolutionizing candidate sourcing and allowing healthcare workers to confidentially match with potential opportunities. Metropolis aims to become a widely-used one-stop shop for both healthcare workers and organizations.
Metropolis has three specific areas where improvement is needed to help them achieve this goal. To address these areas, Metropolis invited our capstone team to work with them and get hands-on experience working for a tech start-up.
Meet the Metropolis Team
Three Areas of Improvement
1. Search Engine Optimization or SEO
As a new company, Metropolis is still expanding their reach and searchability. With an initial SEO score of 45/100, we wanted to start by fixing the immediate and most easily manageable issues first. Our SEO strategy was to focus the front end of our efforts on technical SEO, while we researched and developed a keyword strategy.
For technical SEO we began with physical code changes to train search engines to better understand what is on Metropolis pages across the entire site. These code changes were made on-page and included adding meta descriptions, title tags, headings, and naming images.
We quickly found that many of the pages were not built using standard SEO practices, and so we worked with the development team to create a standard operating procedure for page development to continue these practices down the line.
We also implemented more advanced SEO tactics like setting up a dynamic sitemap to allow for real-time updates of the sitemap.xml and robots.txt files. We then submitted these to Google and set up Analytics on the website as well as Google Search Console. Setting up these analytics tools was our first step in developing the next part of our strategy, which was keywords.
We created a list of the top 100 search terms that Metropolis was currently ranking for and cross referenced it with a list of 100 search terms that we should be ranking for based on our GA data and Google Search Console reports. We realized that most search terms were highly competitive in the healthcare field Metropolis is trying to rank for, and so we had to somewhat rethink our strategy.
Our team along with the company’s CMO, Chad Perry, began drafting a plan to increase SEO by targeting keywords by location. Moving forward, Metropolis now has a plan to increase SEO in the short term by targeting specific cities and using a local SEO strategy to ultimately increase their search ranking for global healthcare keywords.
When we first started with an initial score of 45, we set a goal of 75. Through our technical SEO changes, and beginning implementations of our local SEO strategy, we have officially reached out target score, with a current SEO score of exactly 75.
2. Brand Identity & Marketing:
Metropolis aims to define its brand identity and expand brand awareness, especially through their social media presence across multiple platforms.
We began by creating a Design Guide to help us consistently brand Metropolis content.
Using the 80/20 rule and posting about healthcare related holidays, events, industry topics, and using relevant hashtags will help bring more followers to Metropolis’s accounts. To help create a more consistent posting schedule, we started using a social media planning and scheduling software called ContentCal. With ContentCal, we are able to collaborate with Jenna, the Metropolis Social Media Manager, to create more content for the platforms. Over the course of nine months our team increased posts published by 87% and were able to increase our audience by 27% and our engagements by 81% across all social channels. This ensures that Metropolis is a part of the conversation as the next big health care platform.
We conducted a content audit of the Metropolis website to analyze the images and copy being used. We found that the pages of the site, particularly the About Us and Candidate Sign Up pages, were not being used for their intended purposes. To combat this, we reorganized where information was put and wrote new copy to be more in line with Metropolis’s voice. The new copy is more professional while also conveying the clear message that Metropolis is a rising player in the health care and tech communities.
3. User Experience Strategy & Design
We decided that if we were going to change the site for the long run, then we should optimize it to serve the company as it grew down the line. This led us to work with the development team to convert the entire site from Ruby to Python, which gave us an opportunity to make several big changes and do a complete design overhaul.
We gave the new Metro website an updated modern look, optimized the site for SEO, and implemented new features such as a more efficient sign up process and a login portal for providers.
To make the site more useful for organizations, Metropolis has added Atlas, an applicant tracking system. Atlas acts as a CRM for healthcare organizations to track the status of all position openings so that our clients can use Metropolis throughout their entire hiring process.
To improve the use of Metropolis for our providers, we developed an in-house healthcare news page and healthcare peer-to-peer (P2P) forum, exclusively for Metropolis members. We used Adobe XD to build out and design these pages to give the development team at Metropolis a frame to work with.
The articles on our site will feature relevant industry topics from trending cities to leveraging job opportunities.
Our forum will serve as a place for providers to anonymously participate in conversations about these topics all with the confidentiality that comes with the Metropolis name. They will be able to talk to each other, not just about industry topics, but also share job openings they are aware of and network in general.
We are also planning to take Metropolis to the iOS app store this summer with two new apps catered for our provider and organization audiences. Each app will feature the Metro tools unique to each side, which will make the healthcare recruiting process even more convenient for Metropolis users. Both applications include the same functionality as our website, and we have designed several new features exclusive to the apps using Adobe XD.
Our Advice
Darby: If you have the opportunity to work with a client, take it! It poses different challenges, but it gives you an opportunity to get real world experience. Be flexible! Have a general plan for what you want to do, but make sure you leave lots of room to be adaptable.
Cesar: Make sure to be confident in the work you do and always have a set goal in mind no matter who you are working for. Creating real world products can be challenging but extremely rewarding to see all the work come to fruition!
Daniel: Think early on in the program about what you want out of it. The path you choose for your capstone is huge and will dictate what you get out of the program. Whether you work with a client, with a team, or on your own, they each provide a completely different type of experience that will shape your journey in EM. Think early on about what you want to get out of the program!
Katie: If you are working with a client, be sure to set expectations up front and don’t be afraid to revisit the conversation if you start to feel some scope creep or overwhelmed!