Introduction
Channel Broadcast lets your users write one message and send or schedule it across WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Facebook Messenger and email — from a single composer with a live per-channel preview. It can pull the text from an existing Ad Copy, attach a generated Ad Creative, write the message with AI, and deliver it now, on a schedule, or on a recurring cadence. Like Social Media Studio, Channel Broadcast is a delivery tool rather than a generation studio. But there’s a key difference in how it’s wired: there are no platform-wide OAuth apps to register. Each user brings their own credentials per connection — their own WhatsApp Business token, their own Telegram bot, their own Slack webhook, their own recipient lists. The admin only decides which channels are available at all. This guide covers the full lifecycle — where to buy it, how to install it, how to enable channels and set the AI rate, how to grant access by plan, the cron requirement for scheduling, how each user connects a channel, and how the composer works.Included Tools
- Compose — the studio. Load text from an ad copy (or write / AI-generate one), attach a creative, add a CTA link, pick target channels, preview per channel, then send now / schedule / repeat.
- Channels — connect, test, pause, reactivate or disconnect destinations. Each connection stores its own encrypted credentials.
- Activity — history of every broadcast with per-channel status (delivered / scheduled / partial / failed), a detail view, reach totals and delete.
Supported channels
| Channel | What it sends to | What the user connects with |
|---|---|---|
| Individual opted-in numbers via WhatsApp Business Cloud API (one-to-one, no group chats) | Phone Number ID + Access Token + recipient numbers | |
| Telegram | A Telegram group or channel via the user’s own bot | Bot token + chat / group ID |
| Slack | A Slack channel via an Incoming Webhook | Webhook URL |
| Facebook Messenger | Messenger subscribers of a Facebook Page | Page Access Token + recipient PSIDs |
| A subscriber list from the platform mailer (recipients are BCC’d) | Recipient emails + optional from name / address |
Credentials are owned by the user and stored encrypted per connection. Users may connect as many destinations per channel as they like (multiple WhatsApp numbers, several Telegram chats, more than one Slack channel, and so on). The admin never enters any channel keys — they only toggle whether each channel is available.
Purchase & Installation
Channel Broadcast is distributed through the in-app plugin marketplace — purchasing and installation both happen inside your MagicAds admin. There’s no third-party download.Open the Plugins marketplace
Sign in as an admin and go to Admin → General Settings → Plugins. Find the Channel Broadcast card in the marketplace catalog.
Purchase (if required)
The card CTA depends on your license and purchase state:
- Free / already owned → installs directly.
- Paid → routes you to the plugin checkout to complete the purchase.
- Extended License holders → plugins flagged “free for Extended License” install without an extra purchase.
Install / activate
Click Install on the Channel Broadcast card. The platform downloads the archive, unpacks it, runs its migrations and activates the plugin. This provisions the storage it needs for:
- the plugin’s settings (feature flags, the AI message rate and each channel’s enable switch),
- each user’s connected destinations (with encrypted per-connection credentials),
- every composed broadcast (message + media snapshot + CTA + schedule),
- and each channel target within a broadcast (its own status, remote id, retry and recurrence bookkeeping).
channel-broadcast:send-due) which the scheduler runs once a minute.Configure Channel Broadcast
Go to Admin → General Settings → Plugins → Channel Broadcast (/app/admin/general/plugins/channel-broadcast). The screen has these sections.
General
| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Enable Channel Broadcast | Master switch. When on, the studio appears in user menus and becomes usable. Off by default. |
| Free Tier Access | When on, users without a paid plan can use the studio. When off, only subscribers (on a plan that includes it) get access. |
| AI message rate (credits per 1000 words) | Cost of generating a message with AI in the composer. Integer 1–999, default 2. Broadcasting and scheduling themselves are always free. |
Channels
One switch per channel — WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Email. This is the only thing the admin controls per channel; there are no keys to enter here because credentials belong to each user’s connection. A channel only becomes connectable for users when its switch is on.All connection credentials (tokens, webhook URLs, recipient lists) are stored encrypted on each destination using your app
APP_KEY — never in .env.AI message generation
Writing or optimizing a message with AI in the composer uses your central OpenAI key from Admin → AI Settings (openai_key) and spends the user’s shared credits.
- The cost is the AI message rate (credits per 1000 words) set above; users are charged only on a successful generation.
- Everything else — connecting channels, composing, sending and scheduling — is always free.
If no OpenAI key is configured, the AI writer shows “AI text generation is not configured” and users can still write their message manually. Only the AI step needs a key.
Scheduling — cron requirement
Immediate broadcasts publish during the web request. Scheduled and recurring broadcasts are delivered by a background command that the Laravel scheduler runs every minute. For scheduling to work, the host must run Laravel’s single scheduler cron entry:channel-broadcast:send-due (guarded so it only runs when installed). Each minute it reclaims any target stuck mid-send, delivers everything that’s due, and re-arms the next run for recurring broadcasts until their end date.
The delivery worker retries a failed target up to 3 times with a growing backoff, processes up to 25 targets per run, and reclaims targets left mid-send for more than 15 minutes (from a crashed run) so they can retry.
Grant access by plan
Access is gated in two layers:- Platform layer — the master Enable Channel Broadcast switch must be on.
- User layer — who actually gets the studio:
- Subscribed users (on a plan): access is governed by the plan’s Channel Broadcast feature toggle. Edit each plan and enable it for the plans that should include it.
- Non-subscribed users (no plan): access only when both Enable Channel Broadcast and Free Tier Access are on.
When the studio is offered platform-wide but the current user isn’t eligible, it appears as a locked, upgrade-to-unlock entry that nudges the user toward an eligible plan rather than hiding it entirely.Because broadcasting is free and only AI message generation spends credits, plan-based limits are enforced naturally through each user’s credit balance.
- Enable the master switch in the Channel Broadcast config.
- Go to Admin → plan management, edit each plan, and turn the Channel Broadcast feature on for the plans that should include it.
- Optionally enable Free Tier Access if you want plan-less users to try it.
Go-live checklist
Enable channels
In the Channel Broadcast config, turn on the channels you want to offer (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Messenger, Email).
Add an OpenAI key (optional)
For the in-composer AI message writer, add an OpenAI key in Admin → AI Settings.
Once every step above is green, Channel Broadcast is live. Proceed to the section below on how to use it.
How to Use
All tools live under Channel Broadcast in the user sidebar.Channels — connecting a destination
Each connection is created by the user with their own credentials, then a test message fires automatically so they get instant confidence. From here they can test again, pause (temporarily exclude a destination from broadcasting), reactivate, or disconnect it. What each channel needs:Create a Meta app with WhatsApp
In Meta for Developers, create a Business app and add the WhatsApp product. This gives you a test number and a temporary token to start.
Get the Phone Number ID
Under WhatsApp → API Setup, copy the Phone Number ID of the business number you’ll send from (this is the numeric ID, not the phone number itself).
Generate a permanent Access Token
Create a System User in Meta Business Settings with access to the WhatsApp account, then generate a permanent token with the
whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management permissions. Temporary 24-hour tokens work for testing but expire.Telegram
A bot token and the chat / group ID.Create a bot
Message @BotFather on Telegram, send
/newbot, and copy the bot token it gives you.Add the bot to your group/channel
Add the bot to the target group or channel and promote it to admin so it can post.
Slack
An Incoming Webhook URL — the broadcast is posted to whichever channel the webhook targets.Create a Slack app
Go to Slack API → Your Apps → Create New App → From scratch, and pick your workspace.
Enable Incoming Webhooks
Open Incoming Webhooks, toggle it On, then click Add New Webhook to Workspace and choose the destination channel.
Facebook Messenger
A Page Access Token, plus one or more recipient PSIDs (Page-Scoped IDs of people who have messaged your Page), one per line.Create a Meta app with Messenger
In Meta for Developers, create a Business app and add the Messenger product.
Generate a Page Access Token
Under Messenger → Settings → Access Tokens, connect your Facebook Page and generate a Page Access Token. It needs the
pages_messaging permission (and page messaging access via App Review to reach real users).Compose
The studio centerpiece:Message
Load it from a saved Ad Copy variant, type it, or generate it with AI (pick a tone; this spends credits at the configured rate).
Broadcast to
Choose target destinations. The composer validates each destination against the active content and dims incompatible ones with the reason (e.g. a channel that doesn’t support the attached media). Use Select eligible to pick all valid targets at once.
When
Immediately, Scheduled (date & time), or Recurring (start, end, an interval in minutes, and which days).
Per-channel content rules
The composer enforces each channel’s capabilities automatically:| Channel | Media (image/video) | CTA button | Formatting | Text limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Plain text | 4,096 | |
| Telegram | Yes | Yes | HTML | 4,096 |
| Slack | Yes | Yes | mrkdwn | 3,000 |
| Facebook Messenger | Yes | Yes | Plain text | 2,000 |
| Yes | Yes | HTML | No limit |
Recurring cadence
Recurring broadcasts repeat on an interval (minimum 5 minutes) between a start and end date, filtered by an on-days rule: every day, weekdays only, weekends only, even days, odd days, or a specific weekday. After each successful send the worker computes and arms the next allowed slot until the campaign’s end date passes.Activity
A filterable history (Scheduled / Completed / Partial / Failed) with a channel filter and search, plus a reach total (recipients sent). Each row shows the message and a chip per target channel coloured by outcome. Open any broadcast for a per-channel breakdown (status, send time or error, provider message id), or delete it.Media & storage
For media attachments, channels that can upload bytes (e.g. Telegram) receive the file directly from the local results disk, so previews work even when the app isn’t publicly reachable. When a creative is offloaded to a cloud provider (Amazon S3 / Wasabi plugin), the studio resolves the provider’s public URL and hands it to channels that fetch media from a URL.Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Studio doesn’t appear for a user | Master switch off, plan lacks the feature, or a plan-less user with Free Tier off | Enable the master switch; enable the feature on their plan; or turn on Free Tier Access. |
| A channel isn’t offered on Channels | The channel’s switch is off | Enable that channel in the Channel Broadcast config. |
| ”Test failed” when connecting | Wrong or incomplete credentials for that channel | Re-check the token / webhook / IDs; use Test Configuration to verify before saving. |
| WhatsApp message not delivered | Recipient outside the 24-hour window, or not opted in | The recipient must message your WhatsApp Business number first, or use an approved template. |
| Telegram send fails | Bot not an admin of the group, or wrong chat ID | Add the bot to the group as admin and paste the correct chat / group ID. |
| Messenger send fails / restricted | Outside the 24-hour window, or the token lacks messaging permission | Reply within 24 hours of the user’s last message, or use an approved tag; ensure the Page token has pages_messaging. |
| Scheduled or recurring broadcasts never go out | Cron not running | Configure * * * * * php artisan schedule:run. |
| Broadcast shows Partial | Some channels succeeded, others failed | Open the broadcast in Activity to see the per-channel error. |
| A target keeps retrying then fails | Transient provider error exhausted the retries | The worker retries up to 3 times with backoff before marking it failed; fix the cause and resend. |
| AI message returns nothing / “not configured” | No OpenAI key in AI Settings, or insufficient credits | Add an openai_key in Admin → AI Settings; ensure the user has enough credits. |
| ”Add a message or media before broadcasting” | Nothing to send on the selected content | Type or load a message, or attach a creative. |
Connection credentials are stored encrypted. Broadcasting and scheduling are always free; only AI message generation deducts credits, and only on a successful generation.