If you’re new to SharePoint - or just trying to figure out how it works with ContactMonkey - you’re in the right place. This guide explains the basics of SharePoint’s structure and how ContactMonkey fits into it, so you can confidently embed and manage email feeds across your organization.
What Is SharePoint?
Microsoft SharePoint is a powerful platform used by organizations to store, manage, and share content—often serving as a company intranet. Your SharePoint environment is typically made up of Sites, Pages, and Web Parts.
- Sites: These are top-level containers for all your content.
- Pages: These are customizable layouts within a site where you display information.
- Web Parts: These are blocks of content you add to a page, like the ContactMonkey email feed.
What’s a Site?
A site is the main structure that holds everything: pages, document libraries, files, and apps. Sites usually represent a team, department, or purpose - like “Marketing” or “HR.”
Every site has a unique URL, like:https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/hr-team
What’s a Page?
A page is a customizable layout within a site. It’s where you add content blocks (called “web parts”) like text, images, calendars, or ContactMonkey's email feeds.
You can have many pages in a single site. For example, your HR site might have:
- A homepage
- A “Benefits Info” page
- A “Team Events” page
What's a Web Part?
A web part is a modular building block you can add to a SharePoint page. Think of it as a widget that provides specific functionality or displays certain content. The ContactMonkey integration adds a specific web part that allows you to display your email campaigns directly on your SharePoint pages.
What's a Channel?
A Channel is a ContactMonkey term. It's a content feed used to organize and distribute your communications (e.g., “HR Updates,” “Company News,” “Sales Announcements”). In the context of SharePoint, a ContactMonkey Channel is what's created and managed when you integrate a SharePoint site with ContactMonkey.
How ContactMonkey Channels Work with SharePoint
One Channel = One Site
Each ContactMonkey Channel is directly connected to a single SharePoint site. When you add the ContactMonkey web part to a page within that specific site, it will display the email feed from that Channel.
You can add the same ContactMonkey web part to as many pages as you want within that same site - but they will all display the same email feed from that one Channel.
Want different email feeds for different teams or departments? You'll need to create a separate ContactMonkey Channel for each, and then connect each new Channel to a different SharePoint site.
What’s a Root Site?
The root site is your organization’s main SharePoint landing page—often used as the company homepage. Its URL usually looks like:https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/
You can connect a ContactMonkey Channel to a root site the same way you would for any other site. Just be sure to check who has edit permissions since they often have stricter access controls.
Summary: Sites, Pages, and Channels
| Term | What It Is | ContactMonkey Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Site | Top-level container | The primary connection point for a ContactMonkey Channel. |
| Page | Content layout within a site | Where the ContactMonkey web part is embedded to display a Channel's email feed. |
| Channel | Feed of shared emails (ContactMonkey term) | Created when you integrate a SharePoint site with ContactMonkey. Each Channel is tied to a single SharePoint site, meaning all web parts on pages within that site will display the same Channel's content. |
| Root site | Your organization's main SharePoint homepage | Treated like any other SharePoint site for ContactMonkey integration; you can connect a Channel to it. |