Send a news message or targeted message

This article describes how you can send news messages or targeted messages to a group with or without a push notification.

Message types

There are two levels on which you can send messages: news messages and targeted messages. Both can be sent from app level or from event level. The steps to send the message and the available options are the same on both levels. 

News messages

App news messages will appear in the overview in the news tile on the society screen. Push notifications will be sent to everyone who has installed the app. You can send these messages year-round and they do not have to be event-related. Examples are updates about your society, announcements of upcoming events or memberships promotions.

Event messages will appear in the event news feed. Push notifications will be sent to those who have installed the event. If you have a single event app, you can only send event messages.

Targeted messages to a group or country

Targeted messages are sent only to a certain group in your community or attendee list, or only to users that have a certain country selected in their profile. They will appear in the news feed of the designated users and only they receive the corresponding push notification. To learn how to add users to groups, read this article.

When sending a targeted message from app level, only users within the selected group(s) will receive the push notification (if enabled) and see the message in their society news feed.

When sending it from event level, only users within the selected group(s) that have the event installed will receive the push notification (if enabled) and see the message in their event news feed.

Message overview

In the page that opens when you click the side menu item News, you will see a table of all news messages and targeted message.

You can filter the table by Receivers (Everyone or Selected groups) or by Status (Scheduled or Sent).You can sort the messages (ascending or descending) by send date, expiration date or by message title. At the top right, you can search for messages in the table.

Send a message

To send a message, go to the News page by clicking the side menu item. Click Add message at the top right to start the message wizard.

Step 1: Choose receivers

In this step, you can choose whether you want to send a news message or a targeted message. To send a news message, choose Everyone. To send a targeted message, choose Selected groups or country.

For targeted messages, you can select the group(s) or country below. If you add multiple groups, you can choose between Member of any group, which will send it to anyone that is part of either of the groups, or Member of all groups, which will target only users that are part of all selected groups. 

Step 2: Add message content

• Subject: the subject is used in two places: the title in the news overview and, if you send a push notification, as the push notification text. Try to keep this below 75 characters, as it might be truncated in the push notification if it's longer.

• Send push notification: tick this box if you, besides including the news messages in the overview, also want to send a push notification. Be careful with sending push notifications: if you send too many, users will be annoyed and switch off notifications completely.

• Banner: the banner will appear above the news message and can be an image or a video. Images can have any height/width ratio, but try to keep it in landscape as portrait image will cover a large part of the screen when they are stretched to the device width. To remove an image, click the trashcan at the top right. To include a video, add a YouTube or Vimeo URL. 
• Text: add the text of your message here. You can use basic styling (bold, italic, underlined), lists, links and tables.By default, links will open in a webview within the app so that users do not leave your app. In case you want a link to open in an external browser, add: ?openlinkType=external. If the link already contains a ?-query, use &openlinkType=external instead. 

 Step 3: Choose date and time

• Send date: here you can choose to send the message Now or Select a date to schedule it for later. If you choose the latter, select the date and time when to send it.

• Expiration date: if you want your message to expire after a certain period, toggle Add expiration date and set the expiration date and time. After this date, the message is no longer visible in the app. This could be useful for example for late room changes or activity announcements, that are not relevant anymore after the session or activity has ended.

• Timezone: choose whether the selected date and time are in the event timezone or in your current timezone.

Click Send/Schedule message after adding all details. If you have chosen to send it now, it will be sent immediately. You can then see a checkmark next to the message. If you have scheduled it for later, you will see a clock icon, and the date it will be sent.

Edit a message

Messages can be edited by hovering over the row, choosing ... on the right and then selecting Edit. This can be useful if you have for example made a typo. Please note that some data cannot be edited, such as the groups of a targeted message or the push notification checkbox when the message has already been sent.

Delete a message

Messages can be deleted by hovering over the row, choosing ... on the right and then selecting Delete. If you had a push notification scheduled, it will no longer be sent.

View receivers

For targeted messages, you can see to which users they were sent. Choose ... on the right and then select View receivers. This opens a table in which you can see all users that are part of the group(s) or country you selected when creating the message. These users will see the messages in their news feed.

If you want to check if a specific user has received your message, enter (part of) the name or email address in the box at the bottom left. The table is filtered accordingly.