Target the right students

Not every message is for every student. Targeting is how a single cohort's feed can carry both "everyone" content and content meant only for, say, first-in-family students at one campus — without cluttering everyone else's view. Get it right and the right people see the right thing. Get it wrong and an item either reaches no one or the whole cohort.

The reliable way to check targeting is not to reason it out, it is to look. This guide builds an audience, points content at it, and verifies the result before anything goes live.

Walk through it

1. Understand the tags you have

   There are two kinds. Synced facets — program, campus, year level, cohort — come from your student records and are read-only. Your own tags — like first-in-family or commencing — are segments you create for groups the records do not describe. See targeting with tags for how they differ and how students can self-select some of them.

2. Build an audience

   Decide who the content is actually for and assemble the tags that describe them. Combine a synced facet with one of your own where you need to — campus plus first-in-family, for example. Resist adding a tag "to be safe"; each one removes students, and the goal is the smallest set that is exactly right.

3. Target the content to it

   When you author the item, apply those tags so only matching students see it. Leave a facet untagged and it stays open across that facet — no tags at all means the whole cohort (within the item's week scope) sees it.

4. Verify the student count in the cohort browser

   Open the cohort browser and filter by the same tags. The count tells you whether the audience is the size you expected. A count of zero, or far smaller than you thought, almost always means the tags combined more narrowly than intended. Then use preview: render a student who should see the item, and one who should not, to confirm it resolves correctly.

5. Set which features apply per cohort

   Targeting decides who sees an item; features per cohort decides whether the surface exists for that cohort at all. If events or resources are switched off for a cohort, content for them will not appear regardless of how it is tagged. Confirm the surface is on before you chase a targeting bug.

6. Double-check targeting before publishing

   Publishing is the commit point — once you publish, matched students see it. So the verification happens before, not after. Run the preview check, confirm the count, confirm the right cohort is active in the sidebar, then publish. See draft to publish for the status flow.

Quick checklist

Before you publish a targeted item:

• You know who the content is for, in plain words, before touching tags
• Only the tags that are genuinely required are applied
• Synced facets used where they fit; custom tags only for what records miss
• The cohort browser count matches the audience you expected
• Preview shows the item for a student who should see it
• Preview hides the item from a student who should not
• The needed feature is switched on for this cohort
• The correct cohort is active in the sidebar
• Item scoped to the right week
• Published only after the checks pass

Common questions

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