Engage – Frequently Asked Questions

The Engage FAQ provides quick, short answers to our most common questions. But if you’re looking for more in-depth information, please try our main Help Index page, or use the search feature on the right-hand side.

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Engagements

Q: How do I create an Engagement?

A: First – make sure you have an Issue and a Campaign  created!

With an Issue and a Campaign in place, go to Engage -> Engagements -> Create Engagement. First select the Campaign then select the type of Engagement you want. Now compose the content of the webpage we will make for the Engagement. Let’s assume you are making a Write-a-Letter engagement.

Enter the headline, engagement text, intro text, and select an image (if desired). Click ‘Continue’. On the next page select the target legislators, candidates, or custom recipients. Enter the message subject and the Message Body. Click ‘Continue’.

Finally, enter the start and stop dates of the engagement. Add the engagement to a list to make it show up on your webpage’s slideshow or list of engagements. Click ‘Continue’. Then click ‘Finish’ to complete the set up.

You can learn more with this video and the Engagement sections of our help site.

Q: Can I narrow down the targets of my Engagement? What if I want people to just write Sponsors of a Bill?

A: You can narrow down the recipients of any engagement using an Officials Search.  These searches can be selected as recipients. So if you want to narrow down which legislator gets your advocate’s messages, create a search first! Then, use it as the recipient of your Engagement.

Q: Can my advocates write people other than elected officials? What if I want them to target a company?

A: Engage allows you to create Custom Recipients. You can then target Write a Legislator, Call a Legislator, or Tweet a Legislator Engagements to other recipients using this feature.

Q: My Engagement is published but isn’t showing on the site. How do I get it to display?

A: You can display your engagement by adding it to the list that feeds either a List of Engagements or the Feature Items slideshow.

To do this, go to Engage -> Engagements. Click the Details button and click the Edit button. Select the Settings option and at the Add to List section, select the list from the drop-down list.

If you want to have an Engagement dominate your page, try the Single Engagement module. This will bring the Engagement form front and center on your page.

Q: Can I use a Twitter engagement in an iFrame?

A: Due to the requirements of Twitter’s authentication system, “Tweet your Legislator” engagements cannot be used directly in an iframe. You can place a hyperlink to the Twitter engagement, hosted on your Engage webpage, in the iframe. You can set this hyperlink to open in a new browser window.

Q: Can I include a picture with a tweet from a Twitter engagement?

A: Twitter only allows us to send text tweets at this time. If you’re looking to show a picture or a website, consider using a short-link in the tweet itself.

Q: Can we change Prefix and Phone to not-required on an Engage form?

A: Yes, you can. If you go to Engage-> Forms, and select the form you wish to change, you will see a gear icon next to every field listed there. Click on the gear and you will be able to change the field’s settings. For Prefix and Phone, you can uncheck the “Required” box.  But a note: Some legislators do require Prefix and Phone, so make this choice with care. You can learn more in our article on customizing your Engage forms.

Q: Can Engage capture testimonials from my advocates?

A: Yes! With the Share your Story Engagement, your advocates can speak out about key issues. You can curate their testimonials, and post them on Engage, or other websites.

Advocates & the Advocate Database

Q: Can I upload advocates into the advocate database?

A: Yes, you can. You just need a properly formatted CSV file with the right headers. We have a full guide to Uploading Advocates and a video as well to show you the process.

Q: Can I customize the database? And can I have those custom questions show up on my forms?

A: The Engage database can be customized by the Engage administrator. You can create a wide variety of Custom Questions. This lets you hold more information about your advocates and precisely target your outreach. You can also add these to Registration and Additional Advocate Info forms.

Q: How can I search and segment my advocates?

A: You can create Advocate Searches in the Advocate database (People -> Advocates).  These searches will let you segment your list by location, by representation, and even by action. With the right search terms, you can find people who opened a specific Communication and then acted on a specific alert!

Communications

Q: How do I send emails out via Engage?

A: Once you create an Advocate Search, run the search. In the upper right of the search results page, click on Email These Advocates. On the next page add more mailing lists if you wish. Click ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the page.  Now you are on the Message Setup Page.

Here fill in who the email should look like it is coming from, and I recommend selecting the “Simple” template. Click ‘Continue’. Now, compose your message and copy the text into the Plain Text Message box or click “Convert From Template.” Click ‘Continue’. On the next page you can send yourself  a test message and save the email as a draft, send immediately, or schedule it to be sent in the future.

You can learn more by watching our video on Creating a Communication.

Deploying Engage

Q: How do I edit my Engage home page?

A: Your Engage home page is just another Standard Page. If you go to “Sites -> Standard Pages” you can make changes there. You can also create a new home page and swap it out for your old one, if need be!

Q: Can Engage be used behind a members only section or restricted?

A: Yes. Engage can be added to members only sections or restricted pages in a wide variety of ways. Engage components can be added to pages via Plug-ins. We also offer the ability to restrict traffic to sites using IP Protection and Referral Protection. These two offerings prevent anyone from accessing Engage unless they are coming from an authorized website. Speak to your Customer Success Manager if you’d like more information.

News Streams

Q: How many / how extensive are the news sources that provide articles and draw traffic from search engines to discover my site?

A: CQ Roll Call has a special licensing agreement with over three-thousand national and state news organizations. These organizations have given special permission for Engage to publish the whole article on your site. This means your readers are not directed to another page, or have to go through a paywall.

 

Reporting

Q: How can I see the platform that people are taking action on?

A: The Engage dashboard allows you to see the platform used to take action on your engagements, including Facebook, Engage, Plugins, Engage Connect and Other platforms. We also show the Device type used (mobile, tablet, desktop) and the referrer information (Email, Facebook, Twitter, Engage, Google, Partner and Other).

You can also search on advocate sources when creating Advocate Searches or Custom Reports.

If your team needs more extensive information, you can add in tracking code to your theme. Just go to Sites -> Themes  and drop in the tracking code into the “Bottom-of-Page” mark-up area.