Segmentation is the process of arranging a Community’s members and potential members into categories according to a set of criteria that are important to your community. Examples of categories are: age, gender, geographical location, education level, income level or expertise. Segments represent groups of members which have one or more categories in common.
Why is Segmentation important?
Segmentation is a popular practice in private sector marketing where it is key to isolate exactly the types of person you are targeting for marketing a product or service. For Communities of Practice, understanding the composition of a Community’s membership and potential membership is functional to being able to attract and communicate with a Community’s target audience. For example, when seeking to grow the Community by attracting more members, it is key to know what resonates with them.
Segmenting a Community’s membership according to categories that can be based on various criteria such as education level and geographical location enables you to tailor the Community’s messaging and content to those different segments.
How do you segment a Community of Practice?
One of the first steps in setting up a Community of Practice is to conduct an Audience Analysis. This helps you get to know and understand your community’s members and potential members in terms of what motivates them and what they value. Segmentation helps you group those members into meaningful categories based on which you can develop targeted messaging.
The three main elements to include in your audience analysis are:
Demographics: Demographic data provides information such as age, gender, and, in the case of a CoP internal to a specific organization, organizational mapping. This can be easily collected if available online or through a survey.
Habits: Habits in the context of Communities of Practice concern how a Community’s members and potential members get information and which social networks they rely on to get information and peer support. By analyzing members’ habits, you will understand where they are most likely to receive their information, what content sources they read, who they interact with within the domain, if they are members of any other community or similar professional gathering, how familiar they are with online networks, communities, and collaboration sites, and when they visit them. These questions can be posed through a survey.
Psychographics: Psychographics help you understand what your members think, and what their challenges and aspirations are. This is crucial information particularly for the determination of the value your community can provide to members. Psychographic information can be collected through a random sample of potential member interviews. You could interview 10-15% of your membership base. When doing your audience analysis, you can refer to the “Audience Analysis Template” in which you can find sample information and questions to ask for each of the three pieces of analysis.
Skills/Education Levels: For Communities of Practice, skill levels are especially important. If your Community is aimed at convening leading figures in a specific industry, it is essential that you qualify your target audience by skills and education levels which are relevant to the industry.
Blog » Segmenting a Community of Practice
Segmenting a Community of Practice
Summary:
Resources:
Audience Analysis Template
What is Segmentation?
Segmentation is the process of arranging a Community’s members and potential members into categories according to a set of criteria that are important to your community. Examples of categories are: age, gender, geographical location, education level, income level or expertise. Segments represent groups of members which have one or more categories in common.
Why is Segmentation important?
Segmentation is a popular practice in private sector marketing where it is key to isolate exactly the types of person you are targeting for marketing a product or service. For Communities of Practice, understanding the composition of a Community’s membership and potential membership is functional to being able to attract and communicate with a Community’s target audience. For example, when seeking to grow the Community by attracting more members, it is key to know what resonates with them.
Segmenting a Community’s membership according to categories that can be based on various criteria such as education level and geographical location enables you to tailor the Community’s messaging and content to those different segments.
How do you segment a Community of Practice?
One of the first steps in setting up a Community of Practice is to conduct an Audience Analysis. This helps you get to know and understand your community’s members and potential members in terms of what motivates them and what they value. Segmentation helps you group those members into meaningful categories based on which you can develop targeted messaging.
The three main elements to include in your audience analysis are:
Demographics: Demographic data provides information such as age, gender, and, in the case of a CoP internal to a specific organization, organizational mapping. This can be easily collected if available online or through a survey.
Habits: Habits in the context of Communities of Practice concern how a Community’s members and potential members get information and which social networks they rely on to get information and peer support. By analyzing members’ habits, you will understand where they are most likely to receive their information, what content sources they read, who they interact with within the domain, if they are members of any other community or similar professional gathering, how familiar they are with online networks, communities, and collaboration sites, and when they visit them. These questions can be posed through a survey.
Psychographics: Psychographics help you understand what your members think, and what their challenges and aspirations are. This is crucial information particularly for the determination of the value your community can provide to members. Psychographic information can be collected through a random sample of potential member interviews. You could interview 10-15% of your membership base. When doing your audience analysis, you can refer to the “Audience Analysis Template” in which you can find sample information and questions to ask for each of the three pieces of analysis.
Skills/Education Levels: For Communities of Practice, skill levels are especially important. If your Community is aimed at convening leading figures in a specific industry, it is essential that you qualify your target audience by skills and education levels which are relevant to the industry.
This article is part of the WBG Communities of Practice Toolkit licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The toolkit features practical resources to help you develop impactful Communities of Practice. 📖 Learn more about the Toolkit. ▶ Access the Toolkit.