Features

Syndicating news content from your school to parents is possible across the multiple platforms that schools have access to.

This includes:

  • A School’s Website
  • SchoolMessenger
  • The HCPSS Mobile Application for Apple and Android devices

In Practice

Communications uses a process that allows them to post news stories all week on the HCPSS Website, then pick stories to send out every Wednesday via a Weekly Newsletter.

When a news item gets posted it’s given a unique URL to share:

Posting stories on the site the instant they are available allows the Communications Office to get news items out in a timely manner.

This URL is then used to link readers to the full content from a smaller blurb, or content snippet, in the Weekly Newsletter that’s sent out from SchoolMessenger.

Readers who are interested in the topic can click on “Learn more” to read the full article. However, the readers who decide not to click through are not inundated with the full article in the newsletter, so everyone is choosing the content most relevant to their interests.

This clears up the issue of having to put full versions of news content into one email at the end of the week.

Schools have the ability to mimic this same process between school websites, SchoolMessenger, and the HCPSS Mobile App. This can help with getting content to more parents across these three different platforms.

Implementation

After posting news content on your school’s website, that same content is pushed to the app. Using the unique URL from your website, that news story can be made into a quick blurb and linked to the full content from an email newsletter.

School Websites

Collaborate with web managers to have them post news items as they come in.

This gets a story out the instant it’s available, and allows you to link to it in your weekly newsletter

All news items are pushed to the HCPSS Mobile App when they are published on your website. Keeping news content on the school sites also allows web managers to post YouTube embeds, images, and additional documents that would not have been possible in an email.

Web Managers should be pretty familiar with this process, and can send newsletter editors a link once a news item is posted.

If web managers need a refresher on adding news items, they can view our documentation.

The Mobile Application

More than 8,000 families have kids in more than one school. The Mobile Application allows news content from multiple schools to live in one place without the distraction of other messages.

As soon as news content gets posted to a school’s website, it begins to push to the application as a full news feed.

The Weekly Newsletter

After a link is established on your site it’s ready to be immediately shared.

Type up a one to three sentence blurb in your newsletter to give readers some context about the article. Try following up the blurb with a “read more” or “find out more” link to the full content.

If you need a refresher on adding links, view our documentation.

This enables readers to pick and choose how deep they want to go on news content, and keeps the newsletter trim now that the content is primarily hosted on the school’s website.