Using feed sources allows you to pull content relevant to your Audience into your Content Hub from an external source like a Blog or News site which utilizes common RSS or XML standards.
Cerkl automatically pulls in news stories from the active sources in your Sources list at the top of every hour, saving you time so you can focus on your other communication tasks. These stories will then be included and linked to from your channels.
Sources check for new Stories to pull at the top of every hour. When checking for a new Story to pull, the story must have been in the feed for at least one hour.
If a Story is not showing up in your Content hub and you require it to be listed sooner, you can copy the URL of the article itself, and then add it to Content using the Share a Link feature.
To get to your Sources page, go to Content > Sources.
Sources Page
On the Sources page, you will see a list of all the sources in your Instance and some action options.
Toggle: The toggle to the left of each source indicates whether the source is active or not.
Toggled on: When sources are active (blue toggle), our system will read the source's RSS Feed to automatically pull in stories from this source at the top of every hour.
Toggled off: When sources are not active (grey toggle), no stories will be pulled in from the source.
Name and Feed: On the Sources page, you will see the name of each of your sources. To visit the feed itself, click the link below the source's name.
Edit: To edit a source, click the blue pencil icon.
Delete: To delete a source, click the red trash can icon.
Add a New Source
To add a source to your Content Hub, go to Content > Sources, then click the Add New Source button.
Once on this page, paste the URL of your source in the box under Source URL. This can the RSS or XML feed link or even a website URL. Since some websites may have a feed associated with their main link, you will need to test the URL to know if it works.
The URL must have a valid RSS or XML Feed associated. Here is an example of an RSS Feed. You should strive for a feed that looks like this: https://cerkl.com/feed.
Once entered, our system will search for a feed:
If a feed can be found, you will move forward in adding it to your Instance.
If multiple feeds are found, you will have to select one from the list to continue.
If a feed can not be found, you will not be able to use that source inside of your Instance and should look for an alternative.
Even if you have a valid RSS feed, server specific security configurations may prevent your from using it. We are unable to bypass these security settings.
After the feed is found and selected, you will see a screen with many different Content Source Settings. Below, the information on the Sources page is broken into two sections: Source Info and Source Actions.
Please Note: All content sources outside of Cerkl Broadcast are treated as a Story. Cerkl is limited in it's ability to support third party RSS feeds. When self-hosting a feed, please refer to Cerkl Namespace for our relevant programming standards for control.
Source Info
At the top of this page, you will see the following source information:
Title: The title of your source.
Associate With: The author that all the Content pulled in from this source will be associated with. Use the drop-down to select your Organization or any of your designated Content Authors.
URL: The URL of the feed your Instance will be pulling stories from.
Content Expiration Days: The number of days that the Content pulled from this source will be published and eligible to be sent out inside of your News Digests. You are still able to edit the expiration date of each piece of Content on an individual basis.
If you want to use the default expiration days that were set inside Content > Controls, check the box to the left of Use Default Expiration Days in Controls.Initial Load Number: The number of Stories that will be pulled from the source when it is first added in your Instance. These will all be previously published articles on the source's feed.
Source Settings
After you enter the source basics, you have the following source action options:
Enable Source:
Toggled On: This will allow Cerkl Broadcast to read the source's feed and pull in Content and sometimes Categories for that Content.
Toggled Off: Cerkl Broadcast will not read the source's feed. This means no Content will be pulled in from this feed when Enable Source is toggled off.
Moderation:
Toggled On: This will pull the articles into the Queue where it will require approval from a Team Member with the Approve Content permission.
Toggled Off: This will approve articles automatically and pull them into the Approved page where they are eligible to be sent out in News Digests.
We recommend this be toggled on for third-party RSS feeds.
Link Tracking:
Toggled On: This will allow you to track if your Subscribers click on links that are provided in the feed.
Toggled Off: You will not be able to track links in this feed.
Please Note: Only toggle this off if the source does not allow for link tracking.
Include Categories: Here you have the option to select Categories that will be tagged onto all articles that are pulled from this source.
If you want Cerkl Broadcast to try and add Categories automatically if a feed has fewer than three Categories, go to Content > Controls, then toggle Auto Generate Categories on.
Exclude Categories: If you don't want articles that are tagged with a specific Category pulled into your Content Hub, you can select those Categories here. When you select a Category to exclude, any article with that Category will not be pulled in from the source (even if it's tagged with other Categories that are relevant to your Audience).
When you are finished editing your source information, click the Add button (located in the top right corner of your screen).
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.