Push notifications are one of the most impactful ways to boost early visibility and drive sales. They appear instantly on your fans’ phones and inside the Shotgun app, helping your event stand out at key moments.
Before continuing, let’s look at how they work and how to use them.
In this article
- Send a push notification at event publication
- Send a push notification following a lineup update
- Monitor your push notification campaigns impact
- Tips to grow your followers and boost the reach of your push notifications
Send a push notification at event publication
Publishing your event is often the moment when attention peaks. To help you capture it, Shotgun can send a push notification automatically or let you trigger it manually.
Automatic push notifications
Shotgun automatically sends a push notification when you publish an event set to Public. It’s the simplest way to shine a light on your launch without any extra action on your side.
💡 If you publish your event in Private or My page only, no publication notification is sent. If you later switch your event to Public, the publication notification is automatically triggered at that moment.
Who receives it
- Fans who follow your organizer page
- Fans who follow artists in your lineup (located in the event’s area)
- Followers of any cohosts who accepted your invitation
When it’s sent
- At publication
- At ticket sales opening (if sales start later than publication) 👉 See how to launch a pre-registration event.
Manual push notifications
If you'd prefer to send your publication notification later (or if it was blocked earlier), you can trigger it manually. This is particularly useful when you want to time your announcement precisely, for example to match a social post or artist announcement.
To send it manually:
- From your Smartboard, click on your event
- Go to Promote > Campaigns
- Click Send publication notification
⚠️ This option only appears when your event is eligible. That includes situations like:
• You disabled the automatic publication notification during creation
• You were blocked by the 12-hour rule (Shotgun prevents two publication push notifications within 12 hours to avoid overwhelming users)
Before sending, we clearly show which audiences will be reached. This helps you understand exactly who will receive your message.
Send a push notification following a lineup update
Updating your lineup is often a key promotional moment, and Shotgun helps you make the most of it. Once your event is published, you can send a push notification every time you add or change artists.
💡 The notification is sent to followers of the updated artists who are located in the event’s area, to avoid spamming users who are hundreds of kilometers away.
This is a great way to spotlight fresh additions and reactivate interest in your event.
Monitor your push notification campaigns impact
Once notifications are sent, you can track their impact directly from your Smartboard.
Go to Marketing > Campaigns > Notifications, or open your event and navigate to Promote > Notifications. Then click on the campaign you want to review.
Each notification displays four key metrics:
- Delivered: number of users who received it
- Viewed: number of users who saw it
- Unique visitors: users who opened your event page after seeing it
- Generated sales: revenue directly attributed to the notification
These insights help you understand what resonates with your audience and refine your communication timing for future events.
Tips to grow your followers and boost the reach of your push notifications
The more followers you have, the wider your natural reach becomes. Every new follower is someone who will automatically receive your future notifications, which means more visibility each time you publish.
Here are a few simple ways to grow your community:
👉 Customize and share your Shotgun public page
👉 Activate pre-registration to attract early fans
👉 Create exclusive tickets to encourage fans to follow you
💡 Encourage artists and cohosts to share the event with their own audience
This little ecosystem adds up. Over time, your follower base becomes one of your most powerful distribution channels for launches, announcements, and lineup updates.
