Stories are the primary way most teams deliver news and messaging to their Subscribers - much like a news article, a Story provides provides written information created by your team, but may also include videos, images, and more.
To create a Story, go to Content, then click the red megaphone icon (Create a Story icon) on the left side of your screen.
To edit a Story that already exists, click the Pencil icon under the story image in your Content hub tables.
Once clicked, the Story Editor will open and you can begin to create or edit your Story.
Author
The Authors toggle inside Content Controls designates whether you see the Authors header.
Toggled Off
You will not see the Authors header. When toggled off, the Story created in your Instance will show as being authored by your Organization.
Toggled On
You will see the Authors header. When toggled On, you can use the drop-down list to select an author for your Story. The authors you can select from are the Author Profiles created inside Content Controls.
Read more about Content Authors or learn how to toggle Authors on/off inside Content Controls.
Title
You can add a Story title by typing in the field where it says Make it Memorable. When writing the title, you have a maximum of 85 characters, and you will not be able to style or format the text.
This title can be seen in the following places:
At the top of the Story Page
Inside of the Subscribers’ News Digest
On your Content Archive page
Pulled into the Content Block Element in Blasts.
Subtitle & Summary
Under the Title, you have the option to enter text that will be used as a Subtitle and a Summary in several locations. Without a Subtitle or Summary, a portion of the article will be used for the News Digest summary.
The Subtitle & Summary gives your Subscribers a good idea of the Story’s content before reading so they can determine if it’s something they are interested in reading more about.
This text is used as the summary text in your News Digest, as the subtitle on Stories in your Content Archive, and is pulled in when using the Content Block Element in Blasts. When writing the Subtitle & Summary, there is a maximum of 250 characters, and style or formatting are not supported.
In the screenshot below, you can see what the Subtitle & Summary of your Story may look like inside of the News Digest (depending on your Subscribers layout preferences).
Body Text
Under the Subtitle & Summary section, you will see the place where you can enter the content of your Story.
Inside the text editor, you have a variety of formatting and styling options in the tool bar. There are a lot of customization options here, and we encourage you to check out all the tools at your disposal.
To learn more about the text editor capabilities, please review Story Text Editor Overview.
Story Image
Your Story Image is the image that represents your Story inside of the Subscribers’ News Digest, at the top of the Story Page, in Content Block Elements in Blasts, and on the Content Archive page.
You can add your Story Image by doing any of the following:
Drag and Drop your image file on your device into the Story Image upload box.
Browse: Select an image from your computer's local files.
Image Gallery: Select from an Image which has already been uploaded to your Image Gallery.
Import from URL: Paste the image URL where it says enter image URL.
The Story Image size is recommended to be 1500 x 1000px, or a 3 X 2 ratio.
Supported file types include:
.JPEG/.JPG
.PNG
.GIF
The maximum image upload size is 1600kb. The max file size for a .GIF file is 1mb.
If an image is not added when published, when shared via News Digest, an image will be randomly selected from your Image Placeholders set under Settings > Branding.
Please Note: If an image is less than 150px wide, the image will be visible on the Story Page, but it will not be added to the News Digest. This is because anything smaller than 150px wide will become very pixelated inside the Digest.
Edit a Story Image
After an Image has been added to a Story, there are several options available to replace, refine, or edit the image.
You can rename your Story Image and include updated alt-text. Alt-text provides descriptions of images for readers utilizing accessibility tools.
Hover your cursor over the image for additional options including:
Remove and replace the image
Click the Garbage can icon to remove the image, and reselect a new image.
Add to your Image Gallery
Click to save the image for future use in your Image Gallery. For more information, please review Add Images to the Image Gallery - Add From Content Story Images.
Before you click to Add To Gallery, we recommend that you review and update the Image Name and Alt-Text. By default, whatever is set as the Image Name and Alt-Text in the Story Image details will be saved to the gallery.
Crop your image
For more information, please review How to Use the Image Cropper
Publish Dates
Under the Publish Dates header, you can select the date and time that your Story is published, a Circulation End Date, and an Expiration Date.
When a Story is Published, this means it is eligible to send and read through all available channels.
If passed the Circulation End Date, it will not be sent in News Digests or be shared in other channel feeds. It will still be available when searching, for use in the Content Block Element in Blasts, and in the Content Archive.
If passed the Expiration date, it will not be made available to Subscribers in any channel, including the Content Archive. Stories which were sent in a Blast or Digest which have expired will still be accessible from the links clicked in those emails.
Select your Dates in one of the following ways:
Manually input the date and time into the text box.
Use the blue calendar icon to select a date and time. When the calendar opens, you can select the date from the pop-up.
Click the clock icon from the bottom of the calendar menu to select a time. By default, the time will automatically select your current time on your device.
When viewing the calendar, Important Days will be highlighted in yellow. If you select a Date that falls on an Important Day, you will see an Important Day callout detailing the Important Day Name, Date, and Message for that day.
If you do not want your Story to expire, you can toggle off Expiration Date to make it Evergreen. This will ensure the Story is always available in your Archive. The Story will also continue to send in News Digests unless a Circulation End Date is selected.
Categories
Under the Categories header, you can select the Categories of interest that are related to the Story you created.
Categories are used to identify which pieces of Content best fit a Subscriber's interests. As Subscribers read more Content, our AI learns what they are interested in and will funnel more relevant Content into their News Digests.
To learn more about Categories, check out Categories Explained.
When creating a Story, you will need to tag your Story with the appropriate Categories. You can tag your Story with as many Categories as you like by doing either of the following options:
Type in the Categories of your choice and select them from the populated drop-down options.
Select any of your Organization Categories that best fit this Story from the Category lists below the drop-down box. These are the Categories that your Subscribers can select interest in during the personalization process and they are set inside of your Content > Controls.
Distribution Settings
If you click the blue gear icon (located in the upper right-hand corner of your screen), your Story's Distribution Settings will open.
In the Distribution Settings, you can determine who will receive your Story, how, and when. There are a lot of options to review, so please continue reading: Story Distribution Settings.
Content Actions
Once you are done creating your Story, or you want to save it so you can finish later, you have the ability to preview your Story, save it as a draft, or publish it.
Below, each of the action options are explained:
Preview: This will open a pop-up modal where you can view what your Story will look like on the Story Page and inside the News Digest.
Save as Draft: This will save your Story as a draft, where you can then view or edit it by going to the Content > Drafts page.
Publish: Depending on your Team Member permissions, this button will do one of the following:
If you do have Approve Content permissions: Clicking Publish will move the Story to the Content > Approved page where it will become eligible for News Digests.
If you do not have Approve Content permissions: Clicking Publish will move the Story to the Content > Queue page for a Team Member with Approve Content permissions to approve and make it eligible for News Digests.
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@cerkl.com or use the support Chat toward the bottom right-hand corner of any cerkl.com page.