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Steward Help Center
Steward Help Center
Articles for administrators.
63 articles in this collection
Written by
Kieran,
Tina Hart,
and
Support
Technical FAQ
Exporting member and post data from your Switchboard
How to export data from your Switchboard to use in your CRM or email marketing platform
Written by
Support
Updated over a week ago
How to enable and edit the custom sidebar module
The sidebar module lets you link out to other resources you want members of your community to know about.
Written by
Support
Updated over a week ago
Changing a Switchboard member's user role
How to promote a user to steward, demote a steward to user, ban a user, and more
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
How to delete member accounts
There are many reasons you may want to delete member accounts from your Switchboard. Here's how
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Display your Switchboard's posts in an RSS Feed
Public Switchboards' posts feeds can be rendered as an RSS feed
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Using Design Settings to customize your Switchboard's appearance
You can customize your Switchboard's logo, footer, and sign up page in Admin > Settings > Design.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Using member segments to target subsets of your community
Member segments allow you to message, make announcements to, and analyze the activity of specific subsets of your Switchboard.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Hiding posts
Remove a post from the post feed without alerting the poster. Sort of like a "shadowban."
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Understanding Topics
Official topics vs. unofficial topics, and everything else you need to know about the feature
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Creating Custom Post Categories
Custom post categories let your members add an additional layer of data to their Asks and Offers
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Featuring an Ask or Offer
How to set a post to feature at the top of the Switchboard feed
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
How to invite new members and update existing member information
You can upload a .csv (spreadsheet) to send invitation emails and to update existing member information en masse
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Mass messaging users
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
What privileges do stewards and moderators have?
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
What’s the best way to comment on posts?
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Using Campaigns to communicate with your community
How to make banner announcements to specific segments of your Switchboard using the Campaigns feature
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Whitelisting email from Switchboard
How to prevent email from Switchboard from getting caught in your organization's spam
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Getting Switchboard Started
Switchboard Basics
Switchboard basics to help you wrap your head around Switchboard and getting it started.
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Goal Setting: Balancing Adoption vs. Activity
How to find the right mix of engagement and adoption to avoid just inviting people to join Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Marketing and rollout plan for months 1 - 6
Key strategies and focuses to efficiently and effectively rollout your Switchboard in the first 6 months
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
How to keep Switchboard top-of-mind in your community
Tips and tricks to help ensure Switchboard receives proper attention and energy
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Maintaining a balance between Asks and Offers
Strategies outlining the importance of posting balance and tips to foster a healthy balance of asks and offers
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Analyzing and Interpreting Switchboard Data
Ins and outs of using Switchboard data to foster growth and engagement
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Promoting Switchboard on your website
Helpful examples to inspire your own Switchboard landing page
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Setting and Maintaining the Tone of Your Switchboard
How to create a tone that clearly projects purpose of your Switchboard and fosters future engagement
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Adoption
How to enlist early adopters
Strategies to help with recruiting Switchboard early adopters
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Starting your Switchboard with a soft launch
Building more momentum once you've seeded your Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Gaining traction with a hard launch to your entire community
Strategies for planning and implementing community-wide Switchboard announcements
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
How to drive organic adoption of your Switchboard
Ideas and strategies for building conduits to your Switchboard that support sustained adoption and engagement
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Annual "Must-Do" Events
Tips and strategies for leveraging annual events for adopting new folks into Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Engagement
Stewardship best practices
Fostering better growth and engagement through simple best practices.
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
How to welcome new Switchboard members
Techniques around welcoming new members to foster appreciation for Switchboard and meaningful engagement
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Responding to Posts on Switchboard
How to increase member engagement
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Benchmarking Success on Switchboard
Tips and strategies for understanding and impacting the success of your Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Promotional Frequency
Tips and strategies around how often to promote your Switchboard to foster healthy growth and engagement
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
High-Value vs. Transactional Posting
Understanding the differences between the two types of posts to ensure the fostering of meaningful posting to the community
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Leveraging Annual Events
Worksheet to help organize Switchboard engagement around annual events
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Ways to engage your Alumni Board
Work with alumni to increase engagement and expand your community on Switchboard.
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Leveraging Top Contributors
Strategies for inspiring your super users to further engage with the community
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Engaging student and/or alumni moderators
Strategies to engage volunteers/interns/student workers to help manage your Switchboard as Ambassadors
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Marketing and rollout plans for months 7-12
Key strategies and focuses to efficiently and effectively continue the rollout your Switchboard in the last 6 months of your first year
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Connecting users through existing posts
Using the search tool to model and inspire further engagement on your Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Using Steward tools to increase connections with users
2 easy ways to facilitate connections for further, sustained engagement on your Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Executing a "War Room" event
Tips for stakeholders on efficiently and effectively interacting with posts during a War Room
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Making the most of Year 2
Strategies and tips for generating continued growth and activity in Year 2 of your Switchboard
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Continuing to Engage Alumni and Student Volunteers
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Example position description for student/alum moderators
Written by
Tina Hart
Updated over a week ago
Switchboard Marketing Kit
Switchboard resource library
A collection of example posts, promotions, social media posts, emails etc.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Switchboard Logos and Branding
Switchboard logos, fonts, visual elements, design guidelines in vector and .png formats
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Introducing Switchboard to Stakeholders
Presenting and explaining Switchboard and how it works to staff, faculty, alumni, and other stakeholders.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Switchboard Landing Page
Creating a permanent page perpetually promotes your Switchboard
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
How to Use Digest Inserts
How to use customizable inserts in the digest emails your community members receive weekly
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Tabling for Your Switchboard
Tabling for your Switchboard is the quintessential way to grow your community and stay in tune with student and alumni needs
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Promoting Switchboard in Your Email Newsletter
You should include Switchboard in your email newsletter regularly. Featuring success stories is an organic way to do that.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Promoting Switchboard in Your Alumni Magazine
Your alumni magazine might be the one surefire way to reach older alumni. Here's how other partners are making the most of theirs.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Promoting Switchboard on Facebook
Sharing Switchboard in Facebook posts and ads—from official pages and your own accounts—is an important way to reach alumni where they are.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Promoting Switchboard on Twitter
Twitter isn't as powerful a medium as some other channels, but tweeting is easy.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Promoting Switchboard with Audio and Video
Audio and video are high-production value, but persistent, ways to promote Switchboard
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Celebrating Switchboard Milestones and Anniversaries
It's important to celebrate your progress with your team and your community. Here's how some other partners have done so.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Switchboard and Commencement
Graduation is one of the best times to introduce seniors to Switchboard, and the last chance you have to do so on campus.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Switchboard and Reunions
Reunions are the physical manifestation of Switchboard and the perfect time to introduce the platform to your community.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Switchboard and Holidays
Holidays like Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day are opportunities to spread the gratitude and love that Switchboard brings to your community.
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago
Hiring a student to serve as Switchboard ambassador
Students serving as ambassadors can help you get your Switchboard started by getting other students to post
Written by
Kieran
Updated over a week ago