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Supercast is a private podcast platform. Outpost integrates with Supercast to provision per-member private feed URLs for qualifying subscribers.

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How it works

Supercast generates a unique private RSS feed URL for each subscriber. Outpost creates that Supercast subscriber one member at a time, as each member qualifies, and keeps the two systems in step as subscriptions change. When Outpost creates a member’s Supercast subscriber, it adds the Supercast label to that member in Ghost. The label is how Outpost knows who already has a feed, so it is the first thing to check when you are working out whether a member is set up. See the label reference for the full list of labels Outpost writes. Outpost always stores the member’s Supercast subscriber ID and customer ID on their record. The Notifications card of the Supercast panel has a checkbox, Show Supercast links and icons in the Advanced Account Settings page for subscribers, which is ticked by default. While it is on, Outpost also stores the member’s feed URL and Supercast subdomain, and their Advanced Account Settings page on your site shows their Supercast player. The checkbox is not shown while the integration is in Activation Mode, though the setting you last saved still applies. Neither the feed URL nor the subdomain is available as an email merge tag. The only tag Outpost supplies is the one under Merge tag below.

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Setup

  1. In Supercast, create an API access token for your show. That token is the only credential Outpost needs.
  2. In Outpost, go to Integrations and Core Connections → Integrations, click Add Integration, and choose Supercast.
  3. Paste the token into the Access Token field.
  4. Choose an Integration Mode, then tick the tiers under Apply To Tiers that should grant Supercast access.
  5. Click Save and Connect. Outpost checks the token with Supercast before it stores the connection. If the token is wrong, the connection is not saved and Outpost shows the error Supercast returned.

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Integration modes

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Activation Mode

In Activation Mode, members claim their podcast themselves. Set the box up in the Activation box on the “Advanced Settings” page card, which has a Title, a Body, and Activate button text. Title defaults to Supercast and Activate button text to Activate My Podcast. Body starts empty, so write your own instructions there. The button takes your site’s accent color from Ghost, or your default CTA design colors if you tick Default design from CTA. Members who become eligible from now on also receive the Supercast Integration Welcome (Invite Only) email, as long as Email new subscribers with instructions on how to activate is ticked. Members who were already eligible when you switched modes are not emailed. They see the activation box on their Advanced Account Settings page, so you will need to tell them about it yourself.

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Delivering feed URLs to members

When a member qualifies for Supercast access, Outpost:
  1. Creates their Supercast subscriber, or uses the one Supercast already has for their email address
  2. Saves their Supercast IDs on their record, plus the feed URL and subdomain when that option is on
  3. Adds the Supercast label to them in Ghost
  4. Sends the welcome email, if Email the RSS feed URL and instructions to new subscribers is ticked

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Merge tag

Outpost supplies this tag to the Supercast Integration Welcome email only, so put it in the template attached to that action. Anywhere else the tag is not replaced, and the subscriber sees the raw text instead of a link. That template lives in the Autoresponder, on the Other tab, under Integrations. Outpost turns the Supercast welcome actions on for you when you save the integration with the notification checkbox ticked.

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Welcome Email Method

When Email the RSS feed URL and instructions to new subscribers is ticked, Welcome Email Method decides who sends that email. Send via Outpost email system is the default. Outpost sends the Supercast Integration Welcome template with the merge tag above filled in. Send via Supercast API hands the sending to Supercast. You still choose an Outpost template in the Email Template field: Outpost fills that template’s subject and body with the member’s details and passes them to Supercast, which adds the podcast feed URL and sends the message. If you leave the template empty, no welcome email goes out at all, from either system. This setting is not offered in Activation Mode, where the invite email always comes from Outpost.

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Checking and fixing access

Two controls in the integration panel exist for the moment a reader writes in saying their podcast feed does not work. At the top of the panel, a counter reads There are N members on the tiers: … followed by N have active memberships. The first number is your paid members on the tiers you ticked under Apply To Tiers. The second counts members with the Supercast label, which is how Outpost tracks who actually has a feed. The gap between the two numbers is the useful part: it tells you at a glance that forty people should have a feed and thirty-seven do, without checking anyone by hand. Subscribe Member Manually is the single-member fix. Enter the reader’s Email Address and choose Subscribe, and Outpost provisions them.
If that fails you will see “Unable to subscribe this member. The Supercast API returned an error, or no member exists with that email address.” Those are two different problems sharing one message. Check the spelling of the address first, since a typo and a Supercast outage look identical here.

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Removing access

Outpost revokes Supercast access by default. Under Remove this Benefit, three settings are ticked for a new integration: When user downgrades to free, When user tier changes to, and When user is deleted. Outpost fills the tier list next to When user tier changes to with every tier you did not tick under Apply To Tiers, and refills it whenever you change that selection, so review the list once you have settled on your tiers. When one of the three applies, Outpost deletes the member’s Supercast subscriber, removes the Supercast label in Ghost, and clears the Supercast subscriber ID stored on their record. It clears the stored feed URL, subdomain, and customer ID as well when Show Supercast links and icons in the Advanced Account Settings page for subscribers is ticked. If that box is unticked, the customer ID stays on the member’s record. Their private feed stops working. Send user an email when the benefit has been removed is off by default. It uses the Supercast Integration Benefit Removed template, which sits alongside the welcome templates in the Autoresponder. If a member subscribes again later, Outpost creates a fresh Supercast subscriber for them rather than restoring the old one, so avoid telling readers that their feed URL is permanent. If you would rather a returning member keep the same feed, untick the removal settings so their Supercast record stays in place.