Connect dynamic content into Messages from Athletics Manager

Misty Flowers

December 05, 2018 15:46

The Dynamic Content feature in Messages lets you automatically pull live posts, events, or athletics data into a message template, so the email populates with current content at send time. This eliminates manual content updates for recurring messages like newsletters.

💡Quick answers

What is dynamic content in Messages? Content blocks that automatically pull live data from your Finalsite modules (Posts, Calendars, Athletics Manager) into a message template at send time, so content is always current.
How do you add a dynamic Posts block to a Messages template? In the template editor, drag a dynamic content block from the Content tab into the message; configure it to pull from a specific board or collection and set how many posts to display.
Does dynamic content update automatically each time the message is sent? Yes; the block pulls the most current published posts (or events/athletics data) at the time the message is sent, not at the time the template was created.
Can dynamic content be combined with static content in the same message? Yes; you can mix static text and image blocks with dynamic content blocks in the same template for a consistent layout with automatically refreshed content.

It's possible to sync dynamic content into a message using the Dynamic Content feature in Messages. This means that each message will populate with the most current and updated content from each of the following modules: Athletics Manager, Calendars (New Calendars module or Calendar Manager), and Posts.

This article will focus specifically on connecting dynamic content from Athletics Manager module that is set up on your specific platform.

Step 1: Open the Dynamic Content > Create Content

Open Dynamic Content from the Messages main menu, choose Athletic from the left nav, and click the Create Content button in the top-right corner.

create content.png

Step 2: Configure the Content Filters settings

Enter a title for the configuration, and expand out the Content Filters settings.
Click Add a Filter... to designate which teams will be included in the content.
- Available filters are: Advantage, Division, Gender, Result, School, Season, Sport, Team, and Type.
- A new Add a Filter... dropdown will appear to select another filter.
  - Use the “ - ” icon next to a filter to remove subsequent filters.
- Saving the configuration without any filters will include all teams.

add a title.png

athletic configuration - content filters.png

Step 3: Configure the Content Details settings

athletics content details settings.png

Under Content Details, choose which elements of the displayed events you would like to display. Each of these fields can be given custom formatting once you select them. Choose a different font family, font size, alignment, font weight, and color for each detail to give a thoroughly unique look to your dynamic content. "Inherit Element Font" will use the font set in the “Formatting” menu below. These can be:

Icon/Color
Team Name
School Name
Opponent
Date
Time
Advantage
Location
Dismissal Time
Departure Time
Return Time
Pickup Time
Transportation
Status
Result
Score
Read More
Recap (not recommended)
Custom Directions (not recommended)

Important Note

Recap and Custom Directions content are not recommended because they may contain HTML content that’s not compatible with the email format. This may cause the content to display incorrectly or break the email’s formatting, especially on responsive (mobile) displays.

Step 4: Configure the Formatting settings

Configuring the formatting settings allows you to designate:

how many events will appear,
what order they’ll appear in,
the date format,
spacing between events,
and whether to link the event title back to the default athletic page.

You can also customize the font that athletic content will use in the message.

formatting settings for athletics.png

Step 5: Click Save

Once you have configured the settings, click Save at the lower right to finalize the configuration. Your configuration will then be available to use in the Message and Template editor.