Broadcasts is a legacy feature that will be discontinued soon. For information about our newest Mass Communication tool, please view our knowledge articles here.
Before you start...
If you are sending a Broadcast over Email, Text, or Voice channels, ensure you have a contact list with the recipients you wish to send to before creating a new Broadcast.
If you send a Broadcast over social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, ensure you have added your social media accounts from the Social Media settings.
Create New Broadcast
From the broadcast landing page, click on New Broadcast.
Broadcast Name
Enter the Broadcast name and select the channels used for this Broadcast.
The Broadcast Name is for your reference only and will not be used in the Broadcast itself. Once you have entered the Broadcast name and selected the channels, click Continue to move to the next step.
Broadcast message
Type your Broadcast message for each channel.
Email Message
Select the email address from which this Broadcast will be sent. You should have added these email addresses when you set up Broadcasts.
Enter an email subject line and write the body of your message. You can click Preview Email to see what the email will look like.
Text Message
Text Messages are limited to 266 characters.
Voice Message
Voice Recording
You can record a message using your phone or have the text-to-speech service speak your message.
Enter your phone number and click Call me. You will receive a message from the automated voice recorder.
If you experience issues using your school extension, try adding "w"s in front of the extension number to delay the extension dial. We recommend adding about six "w"s for a 3-second delay.
After the beep, say what's in your script. Press any key when you are finished recording.
Press 1 to listen to your recording.
Press # to re-record your message
When satisfied with your recording, press * to save it and exit the system.
Use Text-to-speech
Enter the message you want, and the text-to-speech service will speak your message in the voice call.
Push Notification
Compose a subject and message for push notifications to your school's mobile app. Optionally, include a website link.
Social Media Message
Please type a message you want to post on your social media accounts. You can add photos or videos to your post, but you cannot attach both simultaneously.
When sending the same message to multiple social media platforms, please keep in mind that each platform has a different character limit. Be aware of the smallest character limit to avoid truncation of your message.
Once you have entered messages for all channels, click Continue to move to the final step.
Send Broadcast
Click Add Contact Lists to select the contact lists that contain the intended recipients.
You can click on the contact lists that have been added to see the list of recipients in the contact list and which email address or phone number will be used for each contact.
After selecting the contact lists you want to send your Broadcast to, you will see an estimate of how much of your quota will be used. If a channel is estimated to use more of your quota than what is available, that particular channel will be disabled automatically. You can also manually remove a channel from the list to save the remaining amount of your quota for another Broadcast.
Push notifications are always sent to all users who have your school's mobile app. You do not need to select a contact list for push notifications.
Similarly, social media posts are sent to the selected social media accounts and are not directed at contacts in a contact list. You do not need to select a contact list for social media posts.
Unlike Email, Text, and Voice, push notifications and social media do not have a quota.
You are now ready to send your Broadcast. You can either Send Now or schedule it to Send Later.
If you want this Broadcast to be sent on a recurring schedule (or a "recurring Broadcast"), consider creating an Auto Notice with Contact Lists instead.