How to create and manage Announcements

Announcements help you share important updates, keep your team aligned, and boost engagement. They’re perfect for making sure your message stands out, whether you’re introducing a new program, celebrating achievements, or reminding people about key dates.

Announcements appear in the Upcoming and Important section on the homepage until their end date or until a user marks them as read. You can target them to specific teams or your whole organization, schedule them in advance, track readership, and even send an email version for broader reach.

• Welcoming your organization to Kudos with a launch announcement
• Highlighting important milestones or sharing recognition program updates
• Reminding employees about deadlines like benefits enrollment
• Promoting company events such as town halls, picnics, or hackathons
• Notifying staff about planned system maintenance

Creating an announcement

1. Admins can create an announcement from two places:
   • Upcoming and Important section on the Home page
   • Announcements page in the Engagement section of the admin menu
2. Enter a Title for your announcement.
3. In the Announcement field, write your message.
   • Use formatting tools to bold, underline, or add emojis.
   • Insert links, images, or tables as needed and add any relevant attachments.
4. Set the Start and End dates.
   • This determines when the announcement appears in Upcoming and Important.
   • After the end date, it moves to the general wall feed in chronological order.
5. Choose your Audience:
   • Entire organization: Everyone will see the announcement.
   • Individuals in selected team(s): Only users in specific teams will see it.
6. Optional: Check Email announcement to also send via email.
   • The email body automatically uses the Title and Announcement fields.
   • You can send yourself a test email to preview beforehand.
7. Click Post to publish immediately (or on the start date), or Save draft to return to it later.

Managing announcements

From the Announcements page in the Admin menu, you can:

• Review start and end dates, status (Scheduled, Active, Complete), creators, and audiences.
• Track engagement in the Read column to see how many users marked it as read.
• Use Preview and Duplicate to reuse and quickly edit existing announcements.

• Target the right audience to keep messages relevant.
• Schedule announcements early to align with campaigns or events.
• Always send a test email to check formatting and clarity.
• Monitor the Read column to adjust timing or content if engagement is low.
• Keep messages short and skimmable using bullet points or formatting.
• Explore the announcements template library for inspiration: Announcement templates

Q: Can I schedule announcements in advance?
A: Yes. Set future start and end dates to schedule announcements ahead of time.

Q: Can announcements be emailed?
A: Yes. Select Email announcement and optionally send yourself a test email before publishing.

Q: Where will employees see the announcement?
A: In the Upcoming and Important section on the homepage. Once marked as read or after the end date, it moves to the wall feed.

Q: Can users dismiss announcements?
A: Yes. Clicking Mark as read removes it from Upcoming and Important and moves it to the wall feed.

Q: Can I reuse an announcement?
A: Yes. Use the Duplicate option to copy and edit an announcement before reposting it. Be sure to adjust the start and end dates accordingly.

Problem: My announcement isn’t showing in the Upcoming and Important section.

• Confirm Start and End dates are correct
• Ensure it has been posted, not saved as a draft
• Check the audience includes the intended users

Problem: I can’t select specific teams for the audience.

• Verify the teams have been created and are active in Kudos
• If teams are missing, ask your Kudos admin to create them or consult the following support articles to create them yourself:
  • How to create and manage Quick teams
  • How to create and manage Automated teams
  • How to create and manage Manual teams

Problem: I'm not receiving my test email.

• Make sure your email address is correct in Kudos
• Check your spam, junk, or promotions folder
• Ask your IT team to whitelist Kudos’ sending domain

Problem: Users say they didn’t receive the announcement.

• Verify that Email announcement was selected before posting
• Ensure the start date has already passed
• Confirm the correct audience was selected before publishing