With the Announcements feature, you can easily notify all of your attendees about last-minute changes and important reminders, or drive traffic to Event App features. Schedule them to send at a specific time, or simply send them right away. Attendees receive push notifications directly on their mobile devices. In the web version, a red indicator appears on the Announcements feature to let attendees know there's a new message.
This article gives instructions on creating and customizing Announcements, and it also provides an overview of the attendee experience with Announcements.
Create and customize Announcements
Click your Event App's Announcements tab to access the Announcements page and click the New Announcement button. In the modal that appears, enter the following information:
⭐️ Keep in mind, the Announcements page is only available after you publish your event.
From - Select who the message will appear to come from. Choose to send it using the event name, or select the name of one of your sponsors to send an announcement on their behalf.
⭐️ Keep in mind, only profiles created in the Sponsors feature appear in the From field. If you want to send announcements from exhibitors, simply add your exhibitors to a Sponsor feature. No one will know the difference. 😄
To - Select who will receive this announcement. By default, the message sends to all attendees.
If you've added Groups to your event, select one or more of those Groups for a more personalized and targeted announcement.
Send an announcement to all attendees who've added a specific session to their personal agenda when you need to move or cancel a session.
Message - While there's no character limit, we recommend you keep the announcement brief. Do your best to convey the most important information within the first 150 characters so that mobile users can read it without tapping the push notification.
Link (optional) - Clicking or tapping an announcement that's internally or externally linked takes the user directly to the link destination. Click the drop-down and select either Internal or External.
💡 Keep in mind, announcements can't be linked to Web Link features or Video Rooms.
Internal Links lead to areas inside your Event App. This provides easy navigation to related information and items, creating an intuitive experience for attendees. Read our Internal Links article for more information.
External Links lead to areas outside your Event App such as a website. The website opens when an attendee taps the Announcement or push notification in the app. Read our External Links article for more information.
Send - Decide whether you'd like to send the announcement immediately to schedule it for a specific time.
Selecting Send Now sends the announcement to all attendees in the app once you click 'Send Announcement'.
Selecting Scheduled Time automatically sends the announcement at the date and time you choose.
⭐️ Keep in mind, the Scheduled Time option uses the time zone you set on the Event Location tab when creating the event.
Click Send Announcement/Schedule Announcement when you're done.
Announcements in practice
When you send an Announcement, a red bubble appears next to the Announcements tab in the features panel. Mobile App users receive a push notification.
Web version users can click the announcements feature to open announcements and interact with them. Mobile App users simply tap on the notification to open the announcement.
Clicking or tapping an announcement that's internally or externally linked takes the user directly to the link destination.
Metrics
After you've sent an announcement or two, review the Feature Comparison chart on the Event App's Metrics tab to learn how people are interacting with them. Metrics include:
Views
Date & Time
Clicks
To learn about all of the additional data points in the Export section of our Metrics article, export the Metrics.
Pro Tips! 😎
Consider showcasing Announcements on Live Display!
Read the Announcements Best Practices article for our best tips on sending useful Announcements!
Questions? Chat Us or Email support@socio.events