Edit

Use audience targeting in Viva Connections to personalize the experience

  • Article

Learn more about the ways audience targeting can be used to make sure the right audiences see the right content in Viva Connections. Audience targeting can be applied to the three components that make up Viva Connections – the dashboard, the Feed, and the Resources.

Note

  • Audience targeting filters content but is not meant to manage permissions, access, or secure confidential content.
  • Azure Active Directory groups (including security groups, Microsoft 365 groups, and AAD dynamic groups) are supported.
  • While in edit-mode, the author will be able to view all content. In read-mode, the content will be filtered based on the audiences selected.
  • Publish (or republish) to save changes made to existing page content, page metadata, and audience targeting settings for audience targeting features to take effect.
  • If you've selected an audience group that you recently created or changed, it may take some time to see targeting applied for that group.

How audience targeting works for each component

Image of audience targeting

Dashboard Feed Resources
Audience targeting can be applied to cards on the dashboard. Audience targeting can be applied to SharePoint news posts that display in the Feed. Audience targeting can be applied to links that display in Resources.

Apply audience targeting to cards in the dashboard

Create a personalized experience by targeting dashboard cards to specific audiences to ensure only the most relevant cards are seen. Use audience targeting to create custom views for distinct roles and regions, generate as many different views as needed to create unique experiences, and to ensure the most important content is seen by the intended audience. Follow these instructions if you are setting up the Viva Connections dashboard for the first time.

Note

You must be a site owner of the SharePoint home site to edit the Viva Connections dashboard.

  1. From the select the Settings and then select Manage Viva Connections.

  2. Select View dashboard and then select Edit.

  3. Select Edit on the card you want to apply audience targeting to.

    Image of edit card

  4. At the bottom of the edit pane, apply groups to the Audience to target field. Exit the edit pane when you are done.

  5. Preview the viewing experience for different audiences and devices by selecting Preview from the command bar and then Select audiences to preview as. Make sure you preview the experience for each audience and on both desktop and mobile devices.

    While in preview-mode, make sure:

    • There aren’t any physical gaps between cards that may appear while previewing different audiences and devices. If you see gaps, rearrange cards so that every audience and device will have a high-quality viewing experience.
    • Icons, graphics, and images are easy to identify and understand.
    • Buttons and links are active and go to their intended destinations.
    • Labels and description text are helpful, easy to read, and make sense for the intended audience.

  6. Republish the dashboard when you are done for the audience targeting to take effect.

    Image of card targeted audience

Apply audience targeting to news posts that will display in the feed

Apply audience targeting to SharePoint news posts helps surface individual news posts within the Feed. Content that displays in the Viva Connections Feed is aggregated from a few sources – posts from official organizational news sites, news that has been boosted, and video news posts. Learn more about how content is sourced and ranked in the Viva Connections Feed.

  1. Start from the site where the news is published. Select Settings, then Site contents.

  2. Select the library where the news post is located. select Settings again and then select Library settings.

  3. Under General settings, select Audience targeting settings. Then select the checkmark box next to Enable audience targeting and then select OK.

  4. Next, navigate to the news post in Site contents. Select the news post you want to apply audiences to and select Page details from the command bar.

  5. In the panel that opens, apply groups to the Audience field. Select Save when you are done and Republish the news post for the audience targeting to take effect.

    Image of apply groups to target audience

Resources are the navigation links that display in the Resources tab in the mobile app and are inherited from the SharePoint global navigation. You can apply audience targeting to individual links for specific audiences. Global navigation can only be edited from the home site. Follow these instructions first if you are setting up global navigation for the first time.

Note

  • You must be a site owner of the SharePoint home site to edit global navigation.
  • When audience targeting is applied to a parent link, audience targeting also gets applied to the sub-links. 
  • While editing the navigation, all links and sub-links become visible to the editor, including those that are targeted. When saved, the navigation shows the targeted nodes.

  1. Go to your organization’s home site, select Settings, and then select Global navigation.

  2. In the panel, under Navigation source, select Edit global navigation.

  3. Turn the Enable site navigation audience targeting toggle at the bottom of the global navigation pane to On.

  4. Select the ellipses (…) next to each navigational link and select Edit from the dropdown.

  5. Apply up to 10 security groups to the Audiences to target field. Select OK when you are done.

    Image of security groups target audiences

  6. When you are finished targeting links, select Save and Republish the home site for audience targeting to take effect.

More resources

Overview: Viva Connections

Create the Viva Connections dashboard

Frequently asked questions about the Feed for Viva Connections

Set up global navigation in the SharePoint app bar