Assigning Personas
Define communication styles for your virtual members.
What Is a Persona?
A persona is a label you assign to a virtual member to define their communication style, personality, and voice. BuddyActivity adds a custom Persona field to each WordPress user's profile screen.
Personas are for your team's internal use — they help writers stay consistent when creating spreadsheet content. A post written for "The Skeptic" should sound different from one written for "The Cheerleader."
Example Persona Types
| Persona Name | Voice Style |
|---|---|
| Enthusiastic Beginner | Excited, lots of questions, uses exclamation marks |
| Experienced Mentor | Calm, thoughtful, offers advice from experience |
| Quiet Observer | Short posts, occasional insightful comment |
| Devil's Advocate | Challenges assumptions, asks "but what about...?" |
| Community Cheerleader | Celebrates others, positive reinforcement |
How to Assign a Persona
- 1.Go to WordPress Admin → Users → All Users.
- 2.Click Edit on the virtual member.
- 3.Scroll down to the BuddyActivity section.
- 4.Select a persona from the Persona dropdown.
- 5.Click Update User.
Info: The persona dropdown options are defined in the plugin's Member Library settings. Contact support if you need to add custom persona types.
Advantages of Using Personas
- Consistency at scale — when multiple team members write spreadsheet content, personas act as a style guide for each virtual member
- Realistic community dynamics — a mix of persona types creates natural-feeling conversation patterns
- Easier content planning — when filling the spreadsheet, knowing a member's persona helps you write their posts faster
- Onboarding new writers — new team members can quickly understand how each virtual member should sound