How Do I Show Notification About Number Of New Msgs To Be Read In Inbox?

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ASP.NET

I have a project in hand in which there is admin and few users.

Now i want help at 1 place in project there is private msg like feature with which user and admin can send msg to each other as we have normally have like Inbox .
I know how to show inbox like msg but i am unable to understand how should i show them a
notification as well, notification will only show number of new msgs to be read as generally we get notification in any mailbox.

How should i go at it ? Any help would be appreciated