Audience Persona
A customer persona (also known as a buyer persona) is a semi-fictional archetype that represents the key traits of a large segment of your audience, based on the data you've collected.
Last updated
A customer persona (also known as a buyer persona) is a semi-fictional archetype that represents the key traits of a large segment of your audience, based on the data you've collected.
Last updated
This information will inform all future community development activities. It will guide how you structure the community platform, the activities you host for the community, the discussions you initiate, who you reach out to and how you sustain high levels of activity.
The location of your members is relevant when creating content, developing sub-groups, developing communities of place/interest, arranging meet-ups, or initiating relevant discussions.
The best way to identify location is from an organization’s own records or by an analysis of its existing web traffic—especially to those areas which show a heightened interest in the organization/topic (e.g. company history page).
Google Analytics and Alexa both provide a good location overview of visitors to any given website.
You want to identify clusters of people.
This information should be compiled either from existing records or from a survey to those who already visit the site.
One way to gather this information is to look at magazines that target this audience and request their advertising material. Alternatively, look at who advertises to this audience and analyze who their target audience might be.
If the organization’s community is job-related (communities of practice, for example), it is useful to have an understanding of the job titles of members of your organization.
Reviewing 20 to 30 LinkedIn pages from a random sample of target members.
Specifically you need to know what they do online, what internet tools they use, what they read, what they do in their spare time, and when they are usually online. Each answer is essential to creating a practical community development plan and ensuring the community remains relevant to an audience’s experiences.
What tools and platforms do members use? This will guide your community site development process. You will use the tools members are most familiar with. This should be a multiple-choice question.
What does the audience read online? This will guide your promotional activities, your status-enhancing activities and your relationship activities. This should be a multiple-choice question along with space to add their own reading materials.
What aspects of the topic are the audience most interested in? What sustains the attention of your audience? What topics make the audience emotive?
What time do they browse the internet? This should be a pure multiple-choice question.
Specifics of habits related to the topic. When do people participate in the topic, for how long, what specific aspects of the topic do they participate in? What are their processes for participating in the topic?
Finally, you want to know what the audience thinks and feels.This is more important than you might imagine. Most positioning efforts for a community are based upon psychographics, not demographics.
Psychographics are commonly researched through the Interest, Activities, and Opinion (IAO) variable framework. Others embrace a wider framework that includes the target audience’s attitudes and values.
For the purposes of online community research, learning the attitudes and values of a target audience is unnecessary. Semantic definitions vary and interpreting an audience member’s remark and attributing it to an underlying value is subjective.
Mainly, however, community managers don’t work at the values and attitude level. A community manager does not change someone’s values or attitudes. Community managers identify what people are interested in and build a community around those interests.
Psychographics analysis requires interviewing individual members of the target audience. Contact five to 10 potential or existing members and schedule interviews with them.
15 minutes. The longer the interview lasts, the more willing participants will be to say anything to end the interview. So keep interviews short and sweet.
During these interviews you need to ask them how they became interested in the topic, their fondest memories, what their lives are like, what they are worried about, what they would love to see within that topic in the future, thoughts on topical issues and other pertinent questions.
Interviews you should create transcripts
Identify the specific phrases they use. Ramit Sethi refers to this as the mindreading technique. You can later echo back to the entire audience the specific phrases members use.
The final interview question should be, “Would you like to be one of the founders of the community?”
Questions For Your AudienceBiggest problems/challenges
What key issues do they care about?
What are they struggling with?
What are they worried about?
What interests members? What do they mention without being prompted?
Experiences (successes, failures)
How did they become interested in the topic?
What is their average day like?
What have been their biggest achievements/failures?
Aspirations
What are their hopes, fears and aspirations?
What are their commonly held symbols within the field?
What language do they use when discussing the topic?
CRITERIA
DESCRIPTION
CAPABILITIES
Deep knowledge of the product
Experience of the product in a variety of scenarios and configurations
Effective problem-solver.
Has experience solving other people’s problems Good communicator and able to provide guidance easily in written form
EXPERIENCE
Familiar with online and community support
Product experience will be variable, but fairly experienced in using it to solve practical problems (not a newbie)
Some limited experience in online communities
MOTIVATIONS
Product discounts
Exclusive access to early features or unique material, content, or experiences
Helping people
Recognition in the community
Broader awareness of her business
FEARS
Providing inaccurate information
Providing answers that may cause problems or break something Imposter syndrome (fear that you may not be as talented as other people think you are)
REWARDS
Swag Financial (e.g., gift cards)
Recognition and validation of her contributions
CRITERIA
DESCRIPTION
CAPABILITIES
Coordinating and running events
Putting together content, speakers, and other material for an event
Working with venue, food/beverage, and other vendors
Handling and working with sponsors and sponsorship funds
EXPERIENCE
Has run a number of small local meetups
Was a volunteer for a local conference
MOTIVATIONS
Loves to bring people together
Enjoys face-to-face engagement and in-person discussion
Enjoys working with knowledgeable and notable speakers and sponsors
Enjoys being in the limelight when running the event
FEARS
That no one will show up
That speakers are not interested in speaking at his events
That he embarrasses himself and the community with a poorly run event
That an event loses money (not covering costs)
REWARDS
Acknowledgement of running great events
Building his career experience and expertise
Appreciation at the end of an event for putting it together
Awards and recognition
Measures users Community Persona Maturity Model:
Individual Value. What is the measurable value that this persona should deliver for themselves
Community Value. What is the measurable value that this person has provided to help their fellow community members?
Peer Value. What is the measurable value that the person has provided to help their fellow community members?
Leadership Value. What is the measurable value the person has given in providing leadership in the community?"
