Editing Song Alert Templates

The templates used when sending Song Alerts can be managed in the Tether dashboard under Social Engagement & Alerts > Song Alerts. Then, select the delivery method (Email / SMS / Push / Twitter) from the tabs.  Remember to save the template for each delivery method before moving on to the next one.

• Character Count Restrictions
• Email HTML vs. Body Template
• Rotating Alert Templates
• Available Replacements

Types of Alert Templates

The following can be edited in the Tether dashboard:

• Song Alerts - The message a listener receives when their chosen song plays
• Opt-In Message - The message sent to email and SMS subscribers to confirm their desire to receive the alerts

Character Count Restrictions

Character count is an important limitation to note when modifying your SMS and Twitter alerts templates.

SMS alerts longer than 160 characters will be split into multiple messages and then re-assembled on the user's device. However, it is possible that some carriers or devices will not re-combine templates or will deliver them backward. Futuri will make every effort to split messages at the ends of words/links to make them as legible as possible, but we would recommend keeping SMS alert templates safely below 160 characters.

Twitter alerts longer than 140 characters will be rejected by Twitter and will not be posted, so it is important to make sure Twitter alerts are safely under 140 characters.

As you're typing each SMS and Twitter template, a character count will appear under each text box, with sample data substituted for each replacement token (i.e. title, artist, Twitter handle). Please keep in mind that your real data will often be longer than this sample data, so aim low with your character count.

Email HTML vs. Body Template

In each email template, you'll see a text box for "Text Body" and another for "HTML Body." If a user opens the email in a client that reads HTML (such as Gmail or Outlook), he/she will see the HTML Body, but if the user opens the email in a plain-text client (such as some older webmail interfaces), he/she will see the Text Body template.

It is a good idea to fill out both, and if you have any questions on formatting HTML, please check with your station's digital team or Futuri VIP Support.

Rotating Alert Templates

For SMS and Twitter alerts, you can rotate multiple templates so that users don't receive the same message each time. To add more templates, click the +Add Alert button under the last template and type a new message. Once you have multiple templates in place, you can then click the red trash can in the upper right corner of any template you wish to remove. Remember to save at the bottom of the page when you're done adding and deleting templates.

Available Replacements

The following replacement variables can be used when filling out Song Alert templates in the Tether Dashboard. The variables described here will automatically be replaced with the appropriate value when an alert is sent.  For ease of use, you will see handy buttons that will automatically insert the selected tag.

NOTE: If any of the above values can't be replaced, they will be removed from the alert. Users should never see these replacement tokens in the final alert.