Creating Multichannel posts

This feature is available with:

Don't know which module you're using? Find out here.

  • Align - Employee Communications

You can create multichannel posts in the Studio. You need "Access Studio" and "Create, edit and delete posts" permissions to create posts. You need "Publish posts" permission to publish posts. Users without this permission can only create and edit posts but require approval from an admin to publish them.

creating a multichannel post.png

Create a post

  1. Go to the Studio from the main navigation bar.
  2. Select Create > Internal post or New post.
  3. Decide whether to begin with a Blank editor or choose a template.
  4. Select Create post.
  5. Write your post and add and format content using the editor toolbar. If enabled for your platform, you can ask AVA to help produce text for your post.
  6. When you're done, you can provide your post in additional languages before moving on to adjust the settings before publishing.

A draft of your post is saved and updated within a few seconds every time a change is made. This means you can leave the editor, and your post will be saved automatically so you can return and finish the post later. Only the latest version of your post is saved. Your drafts can be located in the Studio from the Dashboard or Calendar tab.

Adjust a post's settings

When getting ready to send your post for approval or publish it, you can configure the settings for your post on the right-hand side of the editor.

Once you've finished creating and configuring your draft post, you can send it for approval or publish it, depending on your permissions. Learn more in Publishing Studio posts.

Schedule for later

You can set a scheduled date and time for your post before requesting approval or publishing. The post is scheduled automatically for the set date and time.

If the post creator doesn't set a date and time before requesting approval, they need to publish it manually after approval. Learn more in Publishing multichannel posts.

Unpublish date

 You can set a date and time for when your post will be automatically unpublished. Once a post is unpublished, it cannot be edited or republished, but it can be deleted. Learn more in Unpublishing and deleting multichannel posts.

Teaser

Every post has a teaser with a title, body, and image(s) to briefly summarize your post to users across all channels.

The teaser will continue to update itself as you make changes to your post until you manually edit it. Once you've edited the teaser, it will remain in that edited state and won't update automatically anymore. You can still manually edit it.

  • A teaser title and body can be different for each language, but the image(s) will be the same in all languages.
  • A teaser title can be a maximum of 255 characters, and the teaser body can be a maximum of 500 characters.
  • You can use up to four images or one video in your teaser. Multiple images will be displayed as a collage, and the user should read the entire post to view them fully. A video teaser is directly playable on the timeline.
  • You can choose a focal point for your teaser image(s) so that the best section of it is always displayed on each communication channel.

Posts you add to digital signage screens can also have different layout options. Learn more in Customizing post layouts for digital signage.

Publish as

You choose who will appear as the post's publisher: You, a page or community you manage, or another user. Your options depend on your permissions. Learn more in Publish On Behalf overview.

If you publish as a Page/Community that you manage and target the post to that same Page/Community, you can publish the post without having the "Publish posts" permission.

If Timeline is selected as a Channel, your choice of publisher affects where the post will be visible. A published post will appear on the page timeline or the user's personal timeline, depending on the post's publisher.

Audience

You target your post to ensure it reaches the right users. The post creator is preselected and fixed.

  • Send to everyone: The post is sent to everyone on the platform. To choose this, you need permission to "Target any audience".
  • Users: The post is sent to selected individual users. To choose this, you need permission to "Target any audience".
  • Pages: The post is sent to selected page subscribers. This option is available to all post creators. If the Multichannel app is installed within the targeted page, the post is visible in the app.
  • Communities: The post is sent to selected community members. This option is available to all post creators. If the Multichannel app is installed within the targeted community, the post is visible in the app.
  • Groups: The post is sent to selected user groups. To choose this, you need permission to "Target any audience".

Once you select an audience, a list of targeted users appears under Show selected audience.

Channels

You can select which channels to send your post to for the chosen audience. The channels you see depend on what has been set up for your platform.

  • Timeline: The post's teaser is displayed on the newsfeed timeline (Timeline widget) to the selected audience. The post creator can choose to Allow reactions or comments for the post unless the admins in the Administration turn these options off.
    • The post can also be found on the page timeline or a user's personal timeline, depending on who the publisher of the post is.
  • Digital Signage: The post is shown on the selected digital signage screens. You need "Add content to digital signage screens" permission to target a post to digital signage screens. You can also choose a layout for a post to determine how it looks on the screen.
  • Featured Posts: The post's teaser can be included in a Multichannel posts widget by checking the Only Featured posts option. Users need to open the post to read it.
  • Email: The full post is emailed to the selected audience. Users can read the full post directly in the email.
  • Slack: The post's teaser is sent as a Slack message to the selected audience. Users need to open the post to read it.
  • Microsoft Teams: The post's teaser is sent as a Teams message to the selected audience. Users need to open the post to read it.

Campaigns

 You can add the post to one or multiple existing campaigns. You need the "Add items to campaigns" permission to add a post to campaigns. Learn more in Using campaigns in the Studio.

Settings

You can configure additional settings for your post.

  • Push notification: Your audience receives a push notification of the new post. A user can see the teaser title in the notification and select it to open the full post on the mobile app.
  • Request read confirmation: Your audience needs to acknowledge that they have read the post. Additionally, you can schedule a reminder to be sent to users who haven't yet confirmed reading it. A post with read confirmation is distinguished by a To acknowledge badge. Learn more in Understanding read confirmation for Multichannel posts.  

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