Controller Bot: Channel Manager

The default channel editor cannot delay a publication, attach reactions to a post or count subscribers by period. Controller Bot fills those gaps: it is for channel owners who want to publish better and know exactly what is happening. 📣

According to its author, the bot is used in more than 500,000 channels. The full version is free.

What the bot does

• Scheduled posts. Write the text, set a date and time, and the bot publishes it.
• Reactions and buttons. Under a post you can place reactions made of emoji, text or both, plus link buttons.
• Statistics. Active subscribers over a period and views of individual posts.
• Multiple admins. Every channel administrator can post.
• Self-destruct timer. Handy for temporary announcements.

Subscribers have pressed reactions hundreds of millions of times since launch, so the tool is clearly popular.

Connecting in five steps

1. Start the bot with /start.
2. Add your channel with /addchannel.
3. Make the bot an administrator in channel settings: Administrators, Add Administrator, search by the bot name.
4. Connect your own bot. In newer versions the main functions run through it, so you do not switch between bots. You can create one in Telegram's official bot service.
5. Create a post with /newpost.

One channel can be connected to only one bot. The developers advise using a single connected bot for all your channels so everything stays in one place.

Scheduling a post

Open your connected bot, tap "Create posts" and pick a channel. Write text or attach photos and video, then tap the enqueue button.

Finally send the date and time of publication. The bot does the rest, even when you are offline. ⏰

Commands worth knowing

• /mychannels opens the list of channels to edit.
• /settings holds other settings.
• /lang changes the language.
• /help answers common questions.

There is also a mode for building a post in a browser, handy when the post is long and has complex layout.

Reactions: when they work

Reactions suit mood polls: "liked it", "debatable", "want more". They train the audience to interact and show what hooks people.

Do not overload a post with ten buttons. Two or three reactions work better than a long row. If you want a dialogue, add a comments button. 👍

Things to keep in mind

Give the bot only the permissions it needs. If you no longer use it, remove it from the channel administrators in settings.

Guides online are sometimes outdated, since the bot's interface changes. Rely on the prompts in the bot and the /help command.

For regular publishing, build a simple schedule and keep a week of posts in reserve.