SWOOP Personas

How the Engager contributes

A good balance of posts, replies and likes dominate this person’s contribution. When it comes to collaboration, they are unafraid and willing to participate. Engagers are the aspirational persona and collaboration runs through their veins.

Recommendations for the Engager

Keep being you! You are a credit to your organisation and the model collaborator. Continue to work to increase adoption by using your enterprise social network as a critical tool to get business done.

Catalysts energise the network by attracting responses. They seed lots of conversations that lead to replies and likes.

How the Catalyst contributes

The Catalyst is constantly seeding conversation and adding spark to the network. Other members are drawn to the conversations of the Catalyst and they often reply to, or like, the conversations.

Recommendations for the Catalyst

Whilst a Catalyst is a highly desirable persona, your next aspirational goal is to become an Engager. In order to lift your game to the next left, you will also need to respond to other messages and engage with your colleagues in more two-way dialogue.

Responders prefer to react to conversations rather than initiating them. They will often reply or ‘like’ rather than begin a new conversation.

How the Responder contributes

The Responder likes to reply to lots of messages, but rarely starts new threads. They offer a lot of information to the network, and if they know the answer to a question they will readily answer it. Their collaboration is often two-way, but since they don’t start conversations, their post count is often low.

Recommendations for the Responder

Responders are great contributors to any social network or collaboration tool. But there are a lot of ways to be better. Things to try:

• Post a new message in any of your groups or communities at least once a week.

• Ask a question.

• Call out a colleague for a job well done.

The ‘Broadcaster’ persona is self-evident - someone who sends messages but does not engage with others in the groups and communities.

How the Broadcaster contributes

Broadcasters share news and information but rarely respond to posts or questions. They don’t give likes but may receive them. This profile often applies to busy executives who occasionally drop by the network, or the internal communications person who posts pre-approved messages.

Recommendations for the Broadcaster

Even an executive leader or comms manager can be more engaged with the community. Start by trying a few things:

• Next time you post, try to leave a comment on a previous post or someone else’s message.

• Look for unanswered questions and have a shot at a response.

• Like posts from previous messages that resonate with you.

Often described as the ‘lurker’, Observers tend to have little or no participation.

How the Observer contributes

They don’t! Observers are very rarely active. That is not to say they do not gain value from the network. They may read posts, assume knowledge and regularly connect with the conversations occurring but usually do so silently in the shadows.

Recommendations for the Observer

Opportunity awaits you! It’s time to start being more active in the network. If you are nervous or shy, why not start with liking a few posts a week. Just to show you are present. Once you feel more comfortable, visit a small community or group you are a member of and pose a question. You’ll be surprised at the result.