Owners - Setting up your Team

Here you will find instructions on how to successfully set up your account in order to streamline communication. These steps are recommended so that you can successfully manage and oversee all the communication leaving your district.  These steps will ensure that all communication is branded and engaging, helping you strengthen your brand identity while improving relationships and building trust with your community.

Step1: Create Groups and Invite Members

Make managing and overseeing the account simple by creating groups. These could be buildings and principals, Departments and Heads of Departments, or Grade Levels and Grade Leads. 

As owner of your Smore Team you can oversee all communication via your Management Dashboard.

To create groups head to the Management Dashboard by clicking on the blue Management Dashboard button on your home page, and open up the Groups Tab.

Simply click on the  + Create new group button and name the group. As you continue creating all your groups you will see a list like below.

Click on Manage Group and then add members to each group by inputting their email address into the invite box.

If your staff are not yet members of the team they will receive an invite via email or a pop up in their individual account.

In Smore, an Administrator refers to a member who also has access to the Management Dashboard of the whole Team or a specific group.

Next to each member's name you will see 3 black dots. Click on these dots to change any member to an Administrator or remove them from the group.

Note: You can only make a member an administrator once they have accepted the invite to Smore.

Pro tip: Have at least 1 admin per group so you can delegate the management of each group. Admins will have access to the Group’s Management Dashboard so will be able to add and remove members too!

Note: Group Admins cannot see the Management Dashboard of the whole team.

Pro tip: Via the members tab of the Management Dashboard invite 2 other team members as Administrators to the whole Team. This will help delegate the management of the whole team.

Note: If you are not creating groups from the get go, you can add members directly into the Team via the members tab in two ways:

1. Input email addresses into the invite box and they will receive invites via email. You can copy and paste a list from anywhere and the system will recognize the emails.

2. Send all users the magic link, which will add them to the account as soon as they click the link.

Note: Individuals with existing accounts need to be invited to the team account too. As soon as they accept their invitation all their newsletter and data will be transferred over.

Step 2: Create shared folders for collaboration

Save time by working collaboratively with your team. Rather than asking colleagues for information that you then need to add to a newsletter yourself, use our Shared Folders feature and add colleagues with Editor permissions. This will give them access to add and edit information in newsletters themselves.

To create Shared Folders go to your Newsletter Tab and click on + New folder.

Remember to click Done, once you have added the name.

You can then add your colleague by clicking on ‘Share this folder’ searching for a specific name in the drop down. 

On the dropdown next to the member’s name select which permission you want them to have.

To enable them to edit the master copies, set them as an Editor.(Editor permissions allow the user to edit, duplicate and view newsletters in the folder)

When you are ready click Done.

Step 3: Create a Template folder for each group

Send consistent newsletters faster, with less back and forth between collaborators: Make accessing your shared templates as easy as possible for your team by having separate template folders for each group.

Rather than sorting through the templates of all groups they will be able to find their folder and template within seconds. This will also create an organized archive of all the templates.

To create template folders for each group follow STEP 2.  Add the correct group and set them as ‘Viewers’.  (Viewer permissions allow the user to view and duplicate newsletters in the folder).

What you see:  

Pro tip: Make the name of the folders very specific and easily identifiable for your team. E.g Baytown Elementary school templates.

Pro tip: In each template folder have a team member who also has Editor access who can assist in maintaining the templates. You can give different team members different permissions in the same folder.

Step 4: Create Set Branded Templates for your Team

Create set branded templates for all members to duplicate and use. Streamlining newsletters across your school and district is key to increased engagement. With one consistent brand, message and structure no one will miss a newsletter in their inbox.

To access the Editor click on the Start a Newsletter button.

You can then choose a basic template and select start editing. ( All sections of  the basic templates can be fully personalizable).

You will see all your recent newsletters listed there too.

Now you are in the Editor you can begin personalizing the newsletter to fit your brand guidelines and mission.

To Start, decide on a design by clicking on the drop down menu,  and then proceed by adding your logo, background and editing the Header and Title.

To edit the header hover over it and click Edit.

Once the look, font and colors are chosen, look at creating a consistent structure using the Title widget to create Section Headers.

Simply click on Title under the + Add content box and then select where you want to add it. This will guide your team with what information to include in their newsletter.

Pro tip: A consistent structure will help engagement levels as your audience will know exactly where to find the information they are looking for.

To save the  newsletter template click Publish. Make sure to do this every time before leaving Smore.

Pro tip: Using the paragraph widget add Place holders with what kind of information you would like the team to include. Once they duplicate the template they can then edit the section and delete your instructions.

Step 5: Add Newsletters to the Correct Folders

Once the templates are ready, add them into the correct Template Folder so your staff can easily access them. 

Once in your My Newsletter page you can hover over any newsletter and select Add to Folder. You can then type the name of the Folder into the Drop Down and click Add to folder.

Pro tip: Newsletters can be added to more than 1 folder at a time, so you can add them to your team folder to allow for other team members to add their relevant input and also the correct template folder for your team to duplicate)