Posting Shout Outs
Shout Outs are a great way for users to communicate with your community, by posting information on their Portal Profile, which other members can view and interact with.
As a Portal user, you can post a Shout Out by following these steps:
Log into your account by going to the Portal address and entering your credentials.
The posting section on your account homepage allows you to post either Status Updates or Shout Outs. Select Shout Out to conitnue.
Enter your desired text, then click Post.
Your post will now be displayed below, under the Recent Activity section.
Replying to Shout Outs
To reply to an already posted Shout Out (this can either be yours or someone else's), all you need to do is enter your text in the "Email a Reply" under the Shout Out, then click Reply when you are ready to send your reply. This will send an email to the Shout Out poster, informing them about your reply.
Viewing Customer Shout Outs
You can see all the Shout Outs being posted on your Portal in Operate is by going to the main menu, then to Portal > Shout Outs.
Recent Shout Outs are shown by default, but you can change to view All by selecting 'All' from the View picklist. (You can make your own View with your own filters by clicking on the "+" icon next to the view - learn more here).
To see all details of the Shout Out, click on the Contact Name to open it.
Operate then displays the details of the selected Shout Out, as well as any replies sent to it.
You can also look at a Contact Record, and see all Shout Outs by that Contact listed in the Shout Outs related list if it is on your Contact Page Layout.
Editing Shout Out Emails
Follow these steps to edit the Shout Out notification that goes to your customers:
In Operate, go to Settings > General > Templates > Email Templates. Search for 'shout out' and you will find the folllowing three templates:
Community Shout Out Forward - This is sent along with any forwarded Shout Out.
Community Shout Out Reply - This template is sent to Shout Out posters, when someone replies to them; along with the reply.
New Community Shout Out - This is sent to all Portal users who have opted to receive Shout Out notifications.
Each of the above mentioned templates can be edited, using the green pencil icons next to them. Learn more about editing email templates.
Make sure you enter a valid 'From' address that the emails will be sent 'from'.
You do not need to enter a 'To' email. The Portal will send the emails to the Community members that you specify when you create your Shout Out (My Network, My Building, My Region or All).
Don't forget to give your email a subject!
Create your email template using the available merge fields and the editing tools. Select a merge field that you want to use from the picklist, then copy and paste the Merge Field Value into the template wherever you want it to appear. When the email is sent to a Portal user, the merge fields will be replaced by user specific information which Operate pulls from their Contact records.
Save the template when you are happy with it.
Available Merge Fields
Here are some of the merge fields that you can use for a Shout Out Email Notification:
Portal Name - this is the name of your portal eg. Your Company Client Portal. (You can edit your Portal name by going to Customize > Portal Settings > Portal Setup > Name your Portal
Fullname - Full name of the Shout Out sender
First Name - First Name of the Shout Out sender
Last Name - Last Name of the Shout Out sender
Shout Out Text - the Shout Out text that has been posted
See/Reply to Shout Out URL - embeds a URL link that will direct you to the Shout Out to reply to it
Opting Out
Portal users can opt out of receiving email notifications for Shout Outs by editing their Portal Profile.
To do this, log into the Portal and hover over the user name. then select Privacy Settings.
Untick the option to 'Receive Shoutout Emails' and then Save the change to stop receiving Shout Out email notifications.
Configuring Who Receives Shout Outs by Default
As an Operator, you can decide who receives Portal Shout Outs by default.
You can choose to send Shout Outs either to everyone in the building or to the sender's followers only.
In Operate, go to Settings > General > Portal > Portal Community.
Under "Who do you want to deliver Shout Outs to?", select one of the following:
My Network to send Shout Outs to the sender's followers only.
All members to send to all users in the building.
