Gloo has many powerful features, and understanding the similarities and differences between them can help you craft holistic strategies for communication and engagement with your church. Here is a brief comparison of Broadcasts and Series.

Broadcasts and Series share some similarities. Both are messages that can be sent out to anywhere from one person to an unlimited group of people. Both of them can be scheduled to be sent on particular dates and times, which means you can eliminate administrative burden in the future by setting things up early.

There are also some key differences between the two features. First, while broadcasts can be sent using either text or email, Series are currently only available to be sent via text.

Second, a Broadcast is a single message that is initiated by a team member on your account and gets sent out to the person/group of your choice, or even your entire contact list. Users don’t need to specifically opt into receiving a particular broadcast message- anyone in your team with the appropriate permission level can send a broadcast to anyone in your account they choose. Series, on the other hand, are a set of multiple messages like a drip campaign that must be opted into by the user by texting in the keyword you’ve set up to activate the Series.

Note: There is currently no way to manually add someone to a Series or push those messages out to them if they haven’t opted in.

And third, Broadcasts and Series tend to be most useful in different situations. Broadcasts can be used to quickly send out announcements, sign up sheets, or other information to large groups of people, since there is no opt-in keyword required. We recommend generally keeping those Broadcasts short and sweet- get people the info they need without overwhelming them! We also recommend Broadcasting less frequently since those messages are unprompted- no more than 2 or 3 a week. You can also try to tailor to specific audiences instead of just general text blasts.

Series, on the other hand, are often best used for devotionals, training content, prayer initiatives, or following up with new guests or new believers at your church. In cases like these, most likely just one message isn’t going to cut it! But rather than sitting down every week to craft a broadcast, find the group you want to send it to, and send it out, you can do all of your leg work on the front end by creating a Series. When people opt in, all of that info will go out to them automatically on the dates/times you’ve pre-arranged, eliminating the need for constant maintenance on your part! And since Series are specifically opted into, you can send a higher frequency of messages, as long as you let them know on the front end. For example, it’s ok to send a daily message to subscribers to a 40 day devotional because they chose to participate by texting in the keyword. On the other hand, if you send out a 40 day devotional via Broadcasts to everyone unprompted, you could see a high opt out rate from people frustrated by the high frequency of messages.

Pro tip: Want to get some advice on how to best use these two features? Head on over to our Best Practices: Broadcasting and Best Practices: Series guides for some helpful tips and tricks we’ve picked up along the way!

One misconception is that it is possible to manually add someone into a Series without them texting in the opt-in keyword. This is not true- the only way for someone to receive messages in a Series is for them to text in the opt-in keyword.

Another misconception is that Broadcasts must be sent right when they are created and can’t be scheduled for a specific date/time like a message in a series could be. This is also not true! Use the “Schedule for Later” button to easily schedule your broadcast to go out any time you choose!