In BROADCASTER 3, you will begin each broadcast with a found set of records, then choose a template, assign a CSS theme, compose your message, check your recipient list, test your message, and schedule or send your broadcast.
Your most frequent work in BROADCASTER will be: sending broadcasts, monitoring broadcasts, and editing broadcasts as you prepare for future communications. This is detailed in the article Creating a Broadcast.
Basic BROADCASTER Concepts are organized as follows:
- Sending a Broadcast
- Managing Broadcasts
In later articles, we will cover Advanced BROADCASTER Concepts:
- Managing Images (Asset Manager)
- Managing Templates
- Managing HTML
- Managing CSS Themes
Sending a Broadcast
Found Set
Each broadcast begins with a Found Set. In your iR solution (PORTAL, KEYSTONE, GENERATIONS or SANDBOX), find the group of individuals to which you want to send your broadcast.
Broadcast
Each broadcast is one particular core message sent simultaneously to every individual in a particular Found Set. Within each broadcast, the emails are separate, and can contain merged data and personalized messages.
Templates
Templates comprise HTML, your content, and a CSS Theme; these aspects work together to create your broadcast message.
BROADCASTER 3 originally shipped with six templates ready to receive broadcast content. The newest version, BROADCASTER 3.3, ships with four new templates. You can see samples of the templates in the following article.
Templates contain placeholder content that you will replace with your own content. We recommend that you take care not to overwrite the sample templates. Work from a duplicate.
When you create a new broadcast, your first step is to select the template most appropriate to your message. You can preview each template as you decide. Then—in order to preserve the original template—you save as a new template and add your own content.
Your saved content will appear in the Choose Template list as a starting point for future broadcasts.
Templates are specific to a particular solution; that is, if your organization uses more then one iR solution, the users of one solution (e.g. PORTAL in Admissions) will not see the templates used by the other solution (e.g. GENERATIONS in Development). Templates within your domain are accessible by all BROADCASTER users in the domain.
Templates organize the arrangement of different sections. Not every template will contain every possible section. As you become comfortable with BROADCASTER 3, you may learn to create new sections as needed.
Themes
BROADCASTER 3 originally shipped with five themes, each of which can be applied to any template. The newest version, BROADCASTER 3.3, shipes with four themes. Themes control font family, size, color and styling as well as background color for every possible section.
Themes are defined within the CSS Theme Manager (see Advanced Concepts). In order to present a consistent branding identity, themes will usually be set by your communications office as part of your initial setup, and will not vary.
As you compose your broadcast, after you choose your template, you select the theme you wish to use. You can preview each of the different available themes, applied to your template, to help you decide which to use.
Sections
A section is an area within a template. Click on the name of a section as you compose your message, and enter content there. Some sections, particularly those for your logo or banner, already have content in them. If you do not enter content into a section, the section does not display. Experiment. Click Preview to see your work in the context of your template.
The design appearance of a given section in a template is controlled by the CSS Themes Manager (see Advanced Concepts).
Recipient List
Every broadcast is built upon a Found Set of data in your solution. As you compose your broadcast, you can view the Recipient List. The Recipient List makes it easy for you to identify email addresses that are formatted incorrectly and make corrections before you send your broadcast. It also is easy to omit any individual from the Recipient List if you decide someone has been included in error.
Merge Fields
Merge fields are used for recipient email addresses, and within the content of your message.
A powerful feature of BROADCASTER 3 is that you can include merged content from your solution in the message of your broadcast. Because BROADCASTER 3 builds an individual email message for every recipient in your found set—and because BROADCASTER 3 is stitched to your iR solution—you can insert any number of fields from your solution to merge data into each individual’s message.
Insert Image
Using the Insert Images tool button at the bottom of the editing window when you compose your message, you can insert images three different ways:
- Insert an image that has been uploaded into the Asset Manager.
- Browse through your computer system and select an image to insert.
- Enter the url of an image and insert.
Crop and scale your image to the shape and size you desire before uploading it.
Insert Link
Using the Insert Link tool button at the bottom of the editing window when you compose your message, you can insert two kinds of links:
- Clickthrough links are actively tracked in broadcast statistics.
- Links are not tracked.
Safe mode
When you have merged your broadcast, you work in Safe mode while you put the finishing touches on your broadcast. You cannot send a broadcast while in Safe mode.
Live mode
You must be in Live mode to send a broadcast.
Managing Broadcasts
Broadcast Monitor
After you send, you can view the progress of your broadcast in the Broadcast Monitor. Statistics change dynamically as the broadcast is going out; you can view the changing numbers by clicking on the Update button. Statistics include:
- Messages: how many messages were sent in the broadcast;
- Pending: how many messages are still in the queue on your outgoing mail server;
- Sent: how many messages have been sent;
- Opened: how many messages have been opened;
- Unopened: how many messages are unopened;
- Clickthroughs: how many recipients clicked on a link in your message;
- Errors: how many messages failed to leave the outgoing mail server due to an error in the format of the email address.
You can view any one of these groups by clicking on the magnifying glass icon, and then, if you choose, rebroadcast the original message or send a new broadcast to any of these subsets of your original group.
Opened/Unopened Tracking (BLT)
The statistics in the Broadcast Monitor screen that indicate whether or not someone opened your message are generated by iR’s Broadcast Link Tracker (BLT). Note that this tool is not absolutely reliable, as it does not work if your recipient’s mail client preferences are set to not display images from your organization.
Clickthrough Tracking
BROADCASTER 3 lets you track which individual recipients actually click on a link in your message, if when you create a link in your message, you insert a Clickthrough link. This tool is designed to help you understand what makes your email communications successful, and to help you gauge your constituents’ interest in particular topics.