Harbor Web App
Creating Engaging Social Quests to Scale Brands
To boost community engagement and retention for Harbor-powered client websites, I designed the Social Quests module, an interactive system where users complete actions like tweeting, joining Discord, or watching videos in exchange for rewards such as XP or online-currency. My goal was to create a seamless quest experience that was fun, brand-customizable, and scalable across 50+ prospective clients. Since launch, clients have created over 6,000 quests, resulting in more than 180 million quest completions by users across all Harbor websites.
Problem
Brands struggle to convert passive followers into active community members. Users also have little incentive to engage in social media amplification activities such as liking, following, or sharing content, which made it difficult for clients to grow their reach organically.
Design Goals
I designed an experience that gamifies social actions like following, liking, or sharing by rewarding users with XP, in-game currency, or items like loot boxes. The system needed to support multiple quest types such as joining Discord, liking a tweet, or watching a video. To make the module flexible across different brands, the system also required full customization of rewards, colors, icons, and typography so the quest experience could match the client’s visual identity.
Solution
Multi-Quest Support
The system supports a variety of quest types including following accounts, retweeting and liking Twitter posts, joining Discord, watching YouTube videos, and more. This flexibility allows clients to create engaging campaigns that align with their community goals and outreach strategy.
Rewards Integrated, Creating Incentivization
To encourage participation, users earn XP, in-game currency, or loot boxes for completing social quests. These rewards can be tailored by each client to fit their ecosystem, making actions like sharing a post or joining a Discord server feel valuable and purposeful.
Maintaining Brand Identity via Configurability
Every element of the module is brand-customizable, from button styles and background images to typography and iconography. This ensures that even while using a templated website builder, each client’s community hub looks and feels unique to their visual identity.
Impact
Modular Design, Massive Adoption
6000+ Quests Created by Clients
Users Took Action
180M+ Quests Completed by Users, 200M+ Rewards Granted
Social Reach Amplification
~45% increase in social media impressions within the first week of launching social quests
