Announcements

Announcements are broadcast messages that you can send across multiple Slack channels at once. The following are common use cases for sending announcements:

• Sending release notes to multiple customer channels at once.

• Downtime notices for all or a particular subset of customers.

• General updates to your customers or employees.

Sending Announcements

Preparing the Announcement in Slack

1. Navigate to the channel where you will be drafting your announcements.

2. Prepare and send the message you want to broadcast

   • Attach any necessary files directly to this Slack message. Check this section to see how the attached files will be sent.

   • If any URLs are mentioned in an announcement message, you can enable/disable the preview for these links.

3. Click on the three-dot menu (Slack More Actions menu) by hovering over the message.

4. Select ClearFeed Actions from the dropdown.

   • If it's not visible, click More message shortcuts and pick ClearFeed Actions.

5. Click on Create an Announcement.

6. Provide a title. This is only visible in ClearFeed, not in Slack.

7. Click on Save as Draft, followed by the Click here link.

8. You'll be taken to the ClearFeed web app where you can finalize and send your announcement.

Sending from ClearFeed Web

1. Go to https://web.clearfeed.app/announcements -> Draft -> Click on the Edit button against your announcement.

2. Preview Web Links: Enable to show previews for standard web links such as articles, documentation, or websites.

3. Preview Media Links: Enable to show rich previews for media content such as videos and music.

4. Select Recipients

   • Choose Slack channels or entire Collections to send the announcement. Announcements cannot be sent to unmonitored or inactive channels.

   • Use the search bar to quickly locate them.

   • You can select one or multiple recipients.

5. Optionally, test the announcement on a Slack channel to preview how it looks.

6. Choose the Sender:

7. Choose the Sender

   • Channel Owner: Announcement appears as sent by the Slack user listed as the channel owner.

     • You can check the channel owners in Collection Settings for each channel

     • In the channel owner is deactivated, the message is sent as ClearFeed.

   • ClearFeed: Posts as the ClearFeed Bot in one message with attachments.

     • Bot name and icon cannot be changed even if you have done Bot whitelisting

   • User: Posts on behalf of a selected user.

     • Choosing yourself requires Slack authentication.

     • Choosing another user sends via ClearFeed Bot but displays their name and profile picture.

8. Send or Schedule

   • Send Now: Delivers immediately.

   • Schedule for Later: Pick a date and time for delivery.

Announcement Delivery Behavior

Editing Announcements

• Go to the source Slack channel to edit the parent thread of the announcement. You can also access the source Slack message from the Sent Announcement.

• Go back to the webapp and click on the "Re-Sync" button for that announcement

• The edited message in the source channel will be reflected in the sent messages

• Note that we can't change the attachments sent during the announcement

Managing Announcements

You can view saved drafts and view sent announcements from the ClearFeed App.

• Navigate to Announcements on the ClearFeed web app

• Here, you'll find the following tabs:

  • All: Provides a list of all announcements irrespective of their state.

  • Draft: Lists all drafted announcements that are yet to be sent or scheduled.

  • Scheduled: Displays announcements scheduled for future broadcasts.

  • Sent: Lists all successfully broadcasted announcements.

• Post sending an announcement they can be edited by clicking on the "Re-Sync" button

• You can also Delete an announcement completely.

Interaction Metrics

You can view the Interaction Metrics of an Announcement by going to the Announcements page and clicking on the Anoouncement sent.

​Top Level Metrics

• Channels Reached: Number of channels the announcement reached.

• Reactions: Emoji reactions from customers.

• Replies: Customer replies to the announcement.

You can also view the number of reactions from each channel where the announcement was sent, along with the top reactions and the users who reacted.\

FAQs

1. Can we edit an announcement after it has been sent? Answer: Yes, you can edit the content of a sent announcement by following the steps mentioned here.

2. Why can't I see the option to send an announcement from a Slack Channel? Answer: There could be multiple reasons why you cannot see the option to send announcements:

• ClearFeed bot might not be present in the channel where you're trying to create an announcement.

• Even if the ClearFeed bot is present, if the channel is a Triage or Request Channel (often indicated by the channel name or settings), the announcement feature will be disabled. You need to use a separate, regular channel for announcements.

1. How can I set up a channel to create announcements using ClearFeed? Answer: To create announcements, follow these steps:

• Create a new Slack channel (e.g., #announcements) that is not a Request or Triage Channel.

• Add the ClearFeed bot to this channel using /invite @ClearFeed.

• Post your message in this channel and then use the ClearFeed actions to convert it into an announcement following the steps given here.