Start creating and sharing News in 3 simple steps:
Set up targeted Newsfeeds
With Newsfeeds, you can target your News Items to the right audience to increase relevancy and engagement. You’ll want to set these up first and then create News Items specifically for them.
To get started, go to Settings > Outbound > Newsfeeds. Here, you’ll be able to manage and create Targeted Newsfeeds for specific audiences.
Users/Visitors will receive the Newsfeed that is targeted for them and that is top of the order of the feed priority.
Add a Newsfeed by clicking on + Create Newsfeed:
Give the Newsfeed a title to describe which audience this is for:
Then define the audience by selecting from Users, Leads and/or Visitors. If you want to create a very targeted audience click Add audience rule and use attributes to define this audience.
When you’ve finished selecting the audience and adding any audience rules, click Save and close.
The figure for ‘the number of people in your audience right now’ indicates the maximum total reach and shouldn’t be interpreted as total potential reach. Some of those people may be captured in another Newsfeed of higher priority and see that Newsfeed instead.
After creating a Newsfeed, take note of the order in which the Newsfeeds appear. This is the order in which customers will be matched to a specific Newsfeed. Once matched, customers will be able to see News Items assigned to that Newsfeed only.
You can re-order the Newsfeeds by dragging them to the top or bottom of the list.
Audience rules for Newsfeeds only apply to accessing News Items in the Messenger. News Item can be directly accessed by URL, even if the contact doesn't match the associated News Feed. This allows you to share the URL to a News Item with people outside the News Feed audience (e.g. send as a link in a promotional email).
Use your News Center
Get the most out of News by turning your News Center on. The News Center is a live webpage where your News can be accessed and shared from.
To turn your News Center on, go to Settings > Outbound > Newsfeeds and click on News Center Settings at the top. Then select Turn on News Center.
You don’t need to turn on the News Center if you only want your News to display in the Messenger.
When you turn on your News Center, your content is available through intercom.news by default. Your URL will look like this: intercom.news/exampleapp. If you’d like to use a different URL, you can create one by setting up a custom domain.
Custom domains for News Center aren't supported for AU/EU hosted workspaces.
Customize your News Center by:
Defining the URLs and setting up analytics tracking.
Stylizing with your logo, header image and color, as well as links to your social channels.
When you add News Items to your News Center they’ll be displayed on that dedicated webpage URL.
Important:
Published News Items which are added to your News Center will be listed on search engines. This can be turned off in your News Center settings.
The News Center is currently only supported in English. Therefore it will not reflect the default language of your Messenger.
Create a News Item
First, go to Outbound from the main menu and click + New message in the top right corner.
Then, choose News item as your content type.
You can also choose to start with a pre-made template by picking this content type from the left sidebar.
Upload a feature image for your News Item which will display in the Newsfeed when you share it.
Image size 900x504px is recommended for a News Item. This can be a JPEG, JPG or PNG file.
Give the News Item a title and add your content in the News editor. You can add copy and use attributes, images, tables, buttons, dividers, videos, files, HTML code, emojis, bulleted lists, and numbered lists or stylize your copy - all the content elements that you’re familiar with when creating content blocks.
In this example, we’ve added a link to more info and used emojis:
When you’ve finished creating the content, decide which teammate the announcement will be from by selecting the Sender:
Assign your News Item to the relevant Newsfeeds. This is how you’ll target a specific audience and only show News that's relevant to each customer.
You can select one or multiple Newsfeeds which you have previously set up. See how to create a Newsfeed here.
Add one or more Labels to the News Item:
Select up to 3 labels for them to be fully displayed in the Messenger.
Encourage customers to express their reactions to your news by enabling the Reaction reply type:
Draw more attention to your news announcement by adding a badge on the Messenger Launcher when your news is shared:
The red badge will only show if a customer has visited your Newsfeed before. This means they'll have seen any previous News Items you've shared and will be alerted by the badge when there is something new for them to see.
Then decide whether you want to add this News Item to your News Center. This will make it available on a live URL that you can share in other places such as email and social.
You’ll need to turn your News Center on first. Find out how to enable the News Center and customize it to suit your brand.
After creating your News Item, finish up by scheduling when this News can start or stop showing in the Messenger.
Now you’re ready to set your News Item live and share your news! 🎉
Check News Items performance
Access detailed reporting for your News Items by clicking the Opened, Clicked, or Reacted tabs next to the Overview.
Reporting on Newsfeeds is not available.
Create News Items via the Public API
You can also share News Items via the unstable public API. This lets you import news from other products you use such as Beamer, Canny, AnnounceKit and Wordpress. Find out more in this developer doc.
Newsfeeds currently cannot be edited through the API. Refer to this section to set up your Newsfeeds in Intercom.
FAQs
Can I link News to my Help Center?
Can I link News to my Help Center?
No, it's not possible to have your News items appear in the Help Center, they are completely separate.
Can I duplicate News content into an Article?
Can I duplicate News content into an Article?
No, it's not possible to duplicate content from a News item to an article or the other way around.
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