My Activities Overview
The My Activities section houses all of your communications with the media from Emails, Social Posts and PR Web releases generated within the Cision Communications Cloud to logs of interactions that have occurred outside of the platform.
To access this section:
Click on the Campaigns tab.
Click on the My Activities section.
When you visit the My Activities page you will be presented with several panels designed to help you efficiently and effectively manage your interactions with media contacts and outlets.
Use the top panel to create a new interaction. Locate the desired interaction and then click the Create New button to get started.
Use the Filters panel to narrow the interactions that you see at the bottom of the page. You can filter by Date, Activity Type, Status, Owner, Tags (Applied to Activity), Outlet (Associated with Activity).
NOTE: Any filters that are applied in this area will reflect in your Export. The ‘Failed’ filter choice under Status will include emails in which the send failed. While this is extremely rare, this filter will enable you to clearly identify emails that have not sent properly.
All interactions will show in this panel by default unless you apply filters. Many of the columns in this panel contain links that can be used to learn more about the Campaign, Media Contact, or Media Outlet associated with the Activity or Interaction. By default, 5,000 Activities will show in this panel at a time. If you need to see more than 5,000 Activities at a time in the panel, please contact the Customer Support team via the Chatbot found on the bottom right corner of your screen.
The checkbox column enables you to select which Activities, Distributions, or Interactions you would like to report on or add to campaigns.
The Export Button will enable you to create an Excel file report for all interactions that appear in the panel below.
The Add to Campaigns button will enable you to add Activities, Distributions, or Interactions to Campaigns.
The keyword search field can be used to find an interaction with the media by name. To use the keyword search, enter a word or phrase enclosed in quotations, or a combination of words and phrases connected using simple Boolean Terms. Boolean Terms accepted by this field are OR, AND, and AND NOT all of which must be capitalized when used.
NOTE: The keyword search looks through the Title and Notes fields of logged interactions.
Use the Gear icon to customize the view. Select which columns of data you want to see and determine the columns order.
The Calendar View will show you all past and scheduled Activities, Distributions, or Interactions in a calendar view.
Creating, Editing and Deleting Activities
You can create organic activities to keep track of appointments, callbacks, interviews, and other tasks that occur outside of the Cision Communications Cloud but are linked to contacts and outlets. In the spirit of relationship management, you will see all contact activities listed in the History panel on the contact profile, along with Twitter interactions and News. You will also see all contact activities logged on the My Activities page where you can report on all media interactions. The steps below outline how to create an activity one by one.
Logging Activities
Click the Campaigns tab.
Click the My Activities section.
Find the My Activities panel.
Click the Create New button below the New Custom Activity option.
A dialog box will appear enabling you to enter the activity details such as type, title, date, notes, and attachments.
NOTE: All fields denoted with a (*) are exportable using the Export button.
Select the Type of interaction from among the following choices: Send Mailing, Callback, Appointment, Inquiry and Other. You have the option to create your own Activity Types if none of these fit your business needs.
*Give the interaction a Title that will help you easily identify what took place during this specific interaction or its unique purpose. The maximum length for the Activity Title is 200 characters.
*Enter the Date and Time that the interaction occurred.
Select your appropriate Time Zone if different from the default.
*If you wish to associate the activity with any Campaigns, select the Campaign names from the drop-down menu that appears.
*Add any Notes to more fully detail the interaction.
Use this option if you wish to link a Contact or Outlet to this activity. When you select Contact or Outlet, you will be presented with a match list to find the Contact or Outlet with whom you want to associate the activity. Select the desired Contact or Outlet from the list of matches. If you link the Activity with a Media Contact or Outlet, you will see the Activity recorded on the History panel of the Media Contact Record or Media Outlet Record.
Tags allow you the option to group activities together. For example, if you wanted to group all Activities that pertain to a certain campaign you are working on. To add a new tag, just begin typing a unique name and a “create tag” option will appear in the drop-down. To associate with an existing tag, select the tag you would like to use from the drop-down.
Add an optional attachment. This option is beneficial for associating documents external to Cision with the activity. Attachments can be images, PDF, or DOC files. Each attachment can be up to 5 MB in size.
*If you have created any Custom Fields for your activities, you will see them at the bottom of the page and can select their appropriate values.
Click the Create button.
Filtering Activities
Use the filters on the left-hand side of the screen to filter and find any activity or group of activities that you would like to see or export.
Date Range: This allows you to filter by the date that the activity took place.
Type: Allows you to filter by what type of Activity it was.
Status: Allows you to filter to find all Activities with a certain Status.
Campaign: Allows you to filter to find any Activities associated with an existing campaign.
Owner: Allows you to filter for just Activities owned by specific people.
Tags: Allows you to filter for any Activity that is linked to that specific Tag.
Outlet: Allows you to filter for any Activity associated with a specific Outlet.
Any filters applied, will be reflected in your Export.
Column Settings
You also have the option to customize what columns show in your Activities view. Each user can have their own set of columns. Once you update it, the system will remember your selections each time you visit the Campaigns tab. You can drag and drop your columns in any order you would like. To add and remove columns from your view, select the Gear icon in the right-hand corner of your view.
By clicking the blue check mark boxes, it will remove those columns from your immediate view so that you are just seeing what is important to you. After you have un-checked any that you do not want, click Save.
Editing an Activity
To make an edit, you must be the owner of that Activity.
To Edit an Activity of which you have ownership,
1. You can find the Activity that you want to Edit in several ways, one of which is the keyword search field. To use the keyword search, enter a word or phrase enclosed in quotations, or a combination of words and phrases connected using simple Boolean Terms. Boolean Terms accepted by this field are OR, AND, and AND NOT all of which must be capitalized when used.
NOTE: The keyword search looks through the Title and Notes fields of logged interactions.
2. Another option for finding a particular Activity is to use the Title column in the center of the My Activities page to find the email.
3. If you have trouble locating the distribution, you can also use the Filters on the left side panel to sort Activities by Type. You may have a variety of Activity types based on the interactions you may have logged such as Appointment, Interviews, and Inquiries.
4. Click the upside-down triangle by the name of the Activity you want to edit.
5. Select the View Details option.
6. Click the Edit button.
NOTE: Some Cision Communications Cloud packages do not include the ability to Edit Custom Activities. If you are unsure what your package includes, please reach out to your Cision Account Executive.
7. Make any edits you desire using the form presented and then click Save.
Changing Ownership of An Activity
If you have had a change in staff or anticipate being out of the office when an email distribution or social post goes out to the media, you may need to change the ownership of an Activity so that it can be properly managed. Your ability to change ownership of an Activity depends on your user permissions. Those with Administrator permissions can change the ownership of any Activity.
Those with Standard Permissions can only change the ownership of Activities they have created. Users with Read-Only permissions cannot change ownership of any Activities. Follow the steps below to change ownership of an Activity:
Click the upside-down triangle next to the owner’s name in the Ownership column. Note that the Ownership column may appear further to the right in your view. You can use the Gear icon located in the upper right-hand corner of the My Activities grid to move the Ownership column if you prefer.
Select the new owner of the Activity.
Deleting an Activity
You must be the owner of an Activity to Delete it. Those with Administrator permissions can change the ownership of any Activity. Those with Standard Permissions can only change the ownership of Activities they have created. Users with Read-Only permissions cannot change ownership of any Activities.
You can find the Activity that you want to Delete in several ways, one of which is the keyword search field. To use the keyword search, enter a word or phrase enclosed in quotations, or a combination of words and phrases connected using simple Boolean Terms. Boolean Terms accepted by this field are OR, AND, and AND NOT all of which must be capitalized when used. NOTE: The keyword search looks through the Title and Notes fields of logged interactions.
Another option for finding a particular Activity is to use the Title column in the center of the My Activities page to find the email.
If you have trouble locating the Activity, you can also use the Filters on the left side panel to sort Activities by Type. You may have a variety of Activity types based on the interactions you may have logged such as Appointment, Interviews, and Inquiries.
Click the upside-down triangle by the name of the Activity you want to edit.
Select the Delete option.
Export Activities as a Report
Should you need to capture all of your PR efforts into a report, you can Export all of your Activities to an .CSV/Exel file.
Create Activities Export
Click on the Campaigns tab.
Click on the My Activities section.
Apply Filter choices, if desired, to narrow the Activities that should be included in the Export. You can filter by Date, Activity Type, Status, Campaign, Owner, Tags (Applied to Activity), Outlet (Associated with Activity).
Select the specific Activities that should be included in the report by clicking on them. Use the top checkbox to select all Activities in the panel. Use the checkbox preceding each Activity to select them individually. By default, 5,000 Activities will show at a time in the panel. If you need to see or report on more than 5,000 Activities, please contact the Customer Support team via the Chatbot found on the bottom right corner of your screen.
Click the Export button.
Uncheck any columns of data that you want to exclude from the Export.
At the top of the Export Activities window, you will find an option to Select All or Deselect All data.
Toggle the Enable Templates button to save selections as a template if you will be creating Exports in the future with the same format.
Select the Create a New Template option.
Enter a name for the template. NOTE: Template names cannot include the following characters: \%$[];&+
Click Save to preserve the template.
Click Export. The Export will automatically download.
Following is an example of an Activities Export.
Exporting Email Distribution Activities
If you are Exporting Email Distribution Activities, notice that there are columns reporting the open rates, click rates (for links in the email distribution), and bounce back rates that you may want to include in your Export.