Building and nurturing an online community is as much an art as it is a science. While the passion and engagement of your members are crucial, understanding the market potential and setting realistic growth goals are equally important. This is where the marketing metrics of TAM (Total Addressable Market), SAM (Serviceable Available Market), and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) come into play. As community builders, leveraging these metrics helps us align our strategies with market realities and drive sustainable growth.
TAM represents the total demand for a product or service within a market if there were no competition. For an online community, this metric reflects the entire universe of potential members who might be interested in the niche or topic your community addresses.
Understanding your TAM gives you a broad view of the maximum potential audience. It’s an aspirational figure that helps you understand the ultimate ceiling for growth and sets the stage for further market segmentation.
Imagine you’re creating an online community for freelance graphic designers. Your TAM would include all freelance graphic designers worldwide. This includes everyone from seasoned professionals to newcomers in the field.
SAM is a subset of TAM and represents the portion of the market that your community can realistically reach and serve based on your current capabilities and resources. This metric narrows down the potential audience to those who are accessible given your geographical, linguistic, and technological constraints.
SAM helps you focus on a more manageable segment of your total market. It’s where you start identifying specific demographics, locations, and other factors that make a portion of the TAM more relevant and reachable.
For our freelance graphic designers’ community, SAM might include English-speaking designers who are actively seeking online networking and learning opportunities. This might exclude those who prefer offline meetups or use platforms that don’t align with your community’s offerings.
SOM is an even narrower subset of SAM. It represents the portion of the market that you can realistically capture in the short term, considering your current marketing efforts, competition, and community management capacity.
SOM is your immediate target audience. It’s the market segment you aim to convert into active community members. Understanding SOM helps you set realistic goals and focus your efforts on the most promising prospects.
For our graphic designers’ community, SOM might include freelance graphic designers in the United States who actively participate in online forums and have expressed interest in joining professional communities. This group is likely to be the most responsive to your initial outreach and engagement efforts.
1. Conduct Market Research:
TAM (Total Addressable Market)
TAM represents the total demand for a product or service within a market if there were no competition. For an online community, this metric reflects the entire universe of potential members who might be interested in the niche or topic your community addresses.
Understanding your TAM gives you a broad view of the maximum potential audience. It’s an aspirational figure that helps you understand the ultimate ceiling for growth and sets the stage for further market segmentation.
Imagine you’re creating an online community for freelance graphic designers. Your TAM would include all freelance graphic designers worldwide. This includes everyone from seasoned professionals to newcomers in the field.
SAM (Serviceable Available Market)
SAM is a subset of TAM and represents the portion of the market that your community can realistically reach and serve based on your current capabilities and resources. This metric narrows down the potential audience to those who are accessible given your geographical, linguistic, and technological constraints.
SAM helps you focus on a more manageable segment of your total market. It’s where you start identifying specific demographics, locations, and other factors that make a portion of the TAM more relevant and reachable.
For our freelance graphic designers’ community, SAM might include English-speaking designers who are actively seeking online networking and learning opportunities. This might exclude those who prefer offline meetups or use platforms that don’t align with your community’s offerings.
SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)
SOM is an even narrower subset of SAM. It represents the portion of the market that you can realistically capture in the short term, considering your current marketing efforts, competition, and community management capacity.
SOM is your immediate target audience. It’s the market segment you aim to convert into active community members. Understanding SOM helps you set realistic goals and focus your efforts on the most promising prospects.
For our graphic designers’ community, SOM might include freelance graphic designers in the United States who actively participate in online forums and have expressed interest in joining professional communities. This group is likely to be the most responsive to your initial outreach and engagement efforts.
Practical Steps to Calculate and Utilize TAM, SAM, and SOM
1. Conduct Market Research:
- Use surveys, industry reports, and online data to estimate the total number of potential members (TAM).
- Segment this data based on relevant criteria such as language, location, and online behavior to define your SAM.
- Analyze your resources, competitive landscape, and current reach to identify your SOM.
- Use your SOM to set short-term growth targets.
- Develop strategies to expand from SOM to SAM and eventually tap into your TAM.
- Focus your marketing and community-building efforts on your SOM.
- Gradually invest in outreach and development to expand your reach into your SAM.
- Continuously monitor your progress and adjust your strategies based on engagement metrics and member feedback.
- Revisit your TAM, SAM, and SOM periodically as your community grows and market conditions change.
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