Target Audience, Key Messages and User Scenarios

Why Are Restroom Hand-washing Signs By the Sinks?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akeg/

Communication Design

• What are you trying to change?• Who do you need to reach to change it?• What do you need to say to get them to

act (or not act)?• When do you need to say it to get them to

act (or not act)?

Understanding Audience

Demographics PsychographicsGender InterestsRace PersonalityAge ValuesEmployment status AttitudesIncome Lifestyle

Behaviorgraphics

• Benevolence – behavior that engenders and promotes recognition and reciprocity.

• Problem Solvers – people seeking information.• Commenters – Providing thoughts, opinions,

observations, experiences.• Curators – Find and share what captivates them

and what they believe will interest their followers.

http://www.briansolis.com/2011/02/behaviorgraphics-discovering-the-me-in-social-media/

Communication Design

• What are you trying to change?• Who do you need to reach to change

it?• What do you need to say to get them to

act (or not act)?• When do you need to say it to get them to

act (or not act)?

Situation

• What is the situation or environment the audience members are in?

• Why will reaching them with your key messages lead to the change you are trying to affect?

Creating Key Messages

What behaviors will lead to the change you want?

What do you want people to do?

How do you want them to do it?Photo by William Neuheisel,

www.flickr.com/photos/wneuheisel/

Creating Key Messages

Goal:“improving the health of our country through diet and in many cases reversing childhood obesity” – Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

Communication Design

• What are you trying to change?• Who do you need to reach to change it?• What do you need to say to get them to

act (or not act)?• When do you need to say it to get them to

act (or not act)?

Creating Key MessagesKey Messages:• Eat healthier• Eat a little more than

25% vegetables, a little less than 25% fruits, a little more than 25% grains and a little less than 25% proteins

• Lean more about food and nutrition

Creating Key MessagesBetter Key Messages:

• Make half of everything you eat fruits and vegetables

• Use smaller plates to help you eat less

Information & Behavior Change

Probably the most dominant behavior change myth is the idea that if individuals were more knowledgeable about problems, they would act on them in a responsible way.

Owens, S. (2000) Engaging the public: information and deliberation in environmental policy, Journal of Environment and Planning A, 32, 1141-1148.

Information & Behavior Change

If individuals are provided with too much information, they may experience "overload", causing them to feel helpless, leading to an immobilization of action.

Kaplan, S. (2000). Human nature and environmentally responsible behavior. Journal of Social Issue, 56(3), 491-508.

Information & Behavior Change

While "declarative knowledge" is unlikely to foster behavior change, "procedural knowledge," or information on how to perform actions, and "behavioral competence", or the feeling of being confidence and able to take action can be important.

Hines, J.M., Hungerford, H.R., & Tomera, A.N. (1987). Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Education, 18(2), 1-8.

Creating Key Messages• Focus less on what

you want people to know and more on what you want them to do

• Shrink the change – don’t give too many options

• Provide a roadmap – what to do and how to do it

User Scenarios

• Combine user demographics, psychographics and behaviorgraphics with specific detailed situations where learning and behavior change might occur.

• Affect user behavior by communicating– the right message– in the right context– at the right time

Communication Design

• What are you trying to change?• Who do you need to reach to change it?• What do you need to say to get them to

act (or not act)?• When do you need to say it to get them

to act (or not act)?

User Scenarios

eXtension's Just-in-Time Parenting program seeks to reach parents with the key information that can help their family unit thrive and support their children as they grow up healthy and ready for success.

User Scenarios

"A young mother is worried because her 6-month old son is having trouble sitting up on his own. Their pediatrician says not to worry; all babies develop at different rates. As she sits on the floor with her son, watching him trying to sit up, she decides she'd like more information on infant development."

User Scenarios

"A new father standing in the store looking at baby formula. One formula label boasts that it is fortified with Lutein and DHA/ARA for eye and brain development. He'd like to get the fortified formula, but it is $3 more per can than formula that is not fortified. He'd like to know if the fortified formula will really help his infant daughter and if it is worth the increased price."

User Scenarios

"A couple in their 50's are raising their teenage grandson. In the past months they have felt increasingly distance from him. His grades have fallen and he has twice been suspended for verbal outbursts at teachers. The couple feels they have tried everything and are at the end of their rope. The boy's grandmother is standing in their kitchen at 2 a.m., worried and unable to sleep. She knows that they need help, but she doesn't know where to find it."

Online Communication &Transformational Education

Both high content transmission and a high level of process are the most effective in helping people and communities to solve problems or address issues.

 

Online Communication &Transformational EducationWe need to bring high process to our already high content to begin using online communication as a critical element of a lifelong learning network that helps people improve their lives and communities.