Bulletins are a new way to display important messages to students or providers after they've signed in.
As a StudyStays administrator, you can post Bulletins from Admin > Content > Bulletins. You can specify a target audience to display to (students or providers) and a title and message for the Bulletin.
How Bulletins work
Bulletins are only shown once to each person.
When you post a bulletin, you choose whether it will be seen by students or providers. After people sign in, they will see any Bulletins that have been posted for them since they last signed in. People can quickly continue on with what they were trying to do by clicking a "continue" button, or by clicking on any other links on the page.
Bulletins are designed for updating people with new information, so one detail to keep in mind is that Bulletins will only be shown to people who have already registered when you post the Bulletin.
Formatting your message
The message box for Bulletins only accepts plain text, unlike content pages where you can add links, bold text and other formatting using toolbar buttons. You can however do some formatting using a popular syntax known as Markdown. For example, in the image above I have made some text bold by adding double-asterisks (**) on either side.
Here are some examples of Markdown.
**This is bold** becomes: This is bold
*This will be italic* becomes: This will be italic
Here is a [link](http://studystays.com) becomes: Here is a link.
For more examples, please see the Markdown Syntax Examples.
When to use Bulletins
As mentioned above, Bulletins are intended to update people with important changes and information. Things like new requirements for landlords are perfect for bulletins.
In contrast to Mailouts, Bulletins are a good way to update people just as they're about to use your website. If you have information that you want people to see now, you might consider doing a Mailout instead.
Information overload
It's important to remember that Bulletins are interrupting people as they're about to perform a task like searching for a flat or listing their property. For this reason, it's a good idea to use them sparingly, and when you do, to keep them short and to the point.