School Holidays Set Up Procedure

Contact Previous Clients

Before you even start the set up you might want to go to clients from the previous holidays and just see if they want to sign up again straight away. This means you can then put them straight into their contact client tag and various other things as you go through the below steps (eg adding them in the blog post).

SET UP SPREADSHEETS

First set up a folder with a Google shared excel spreadsheet for the latest holidays. Use this Holiday Spreadsheet Template (located in Drive folder). Alternatively you can just copy the spreadsheet from the last holidays and just remove all the content of the sheets.

Once you've opened the template and enabled editing, make a copy with the holiday date in the title, eg call it Holiday Spreadsheet - April 2023 and save it to a new folder you set up for that holiday period in Google Drive. This will be:

• To list advertisers (with details like their plan, charging and commission breakdowns)
• To add stats
• To sort giveaways winners, etc

PAGE SET UPS - GIVEAWAYS AND SOCIAL

Then set up giveaways page - see if you can get prizes donated or sponsored and upload and make page and form live.

Giveaway page set up –

This should have been done at the end of the last holidays in which case just check all is correct and form working etc. You will need to at least change the menu page link.

Check –

• Forms | Check you have a new form with shortcode (note form number)
• Check form settings | Scheduling start and end dates/times
• Go to email notification and put in holiday date for entry submissions
• SAVE
• Go to your Giveaways page
• Check all good and check correct form shortcode

Then Go to Appearance | Menus

• In the right column search pages and add Giveaways page to Menu
• Select and remove current Giveaways Menu item (this will be removing the congrats page – do this by clicking the drop down arrow next to the menu item | Remove) (if the tick boxes don’t appear to select you may need to tick the “Bulk Select” button then just select the one you want)
• Move new menu item up to above About Us | Save Menu
• Go and check the menu link on site and enter prize draw to test the form - you can check if it recorded the entry by going back to the form in the backend and checking the entries tab. You should also get a submission notice by email to the admin email address for the site.

Go to your giveaways slider and check dates, if you have client's already publish their ads and get the slider live.

FACEBOOK UPDATES AND SM SHARING SCHEDULE SET UP

Then set up Facebook page, group banner and event for holidays.

In Facebook make sure put up new page and group banners (you should be able to select the image from the page/group photos already in Facebook)

Set up an event for the holidays through the page, link the group to the event

Then you can get your social media sharing schedules sorted, so ...

SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING SCHEDULES

First copy a new "School Holiday Sharing Schedules - TEMPLATE" (for repeat clients you can always copy over their links from any past holiday schedules). Then -

• Under the first tab - Advertisers add name, regions and page links

For each holiday period you will set up two Facebook posts per client (one a static post and one a video post) approx 2-3 weeks apart depending on the start date of that particular client advertising and the length of the holidays.

However in Summer holidays you will set up 3 posts being a static | video | static again about 2-3 weeks apart.

As each client comes on board you will create (in their set up process) at least the first 2 posts (in Summer you can't set up the third as you'll want to change the FB open graph image on their backend page SEO and you can't do that until after the first static post has been posted (the video post doesn't use the image so is different).

Therefore you can set up both social posts for all holidays except Summer at the start and Summer note to change the OG image, update and schedule post about a week or so after the video post has published.

Update "extra" Promotions

Then go to -

• Your blog posts for the areas you have one for and update for the latest holidays (You'll add each client links as they sign up in the client upload procedure but you can add any you already have).
• Add recurring events in both the Linku2 Hibiscus Coast and Linku2 North Shore calendars linking to the HBC and North Shore school holiday pages respectively.
• Note to distribute any posters you may have
• Update Auckland Google Things to Do map (put all clients at top with full links, logo and description)
• Pin the updated blog posts to top of all relevant local FB pages and groups
• Make sure you have all client side ads in the Giveaways page scroller
• Create a Tiktok post

AUTOMATION EMAIL CHECKING

Firstly check through Contacts List | Activity Providers there are no contacts in the specific tag you are updating (they should have all been updated end of last holidays automatically to the relevant “pending” tag) but just to be sure.

The easiest way to do this is -

Go to Contacts and filter by Lists | Activity Providers

Then filter each "current" tag as follows -

• Clients
• Previous Client - North Auckland
• Previous Client - Hamilton/Waikato
• Previous Client - Bay of Plenty
• Previous Client - Otago
• Previous Client - Wellington
• Previous Client - Non-Active Region
• Activity Providers - North Auckland
• Activity Providers -Hamilton/Waikato
• Activity Providers - Bay of Plenty
• Activity Providers - Otago
• Activity Providers - Wellington
• Activity Providers - Non-Active Regions

(Add to this list as you create each "active" region)

It is easy to do the above, just toggle on all the tags as listed - if there are any contacts you'll need to then move each by individual tag to the relevant "pending" tag

If any contacts come up - go to each tag above you see in contacts and -

• Tick them all (box at top)
• Select Action | Add Tag | put in the relevant "pending" tag
• Select Action | Remove from Tag | take out the "current" tag

Note you must ADD the tag first as when you remove the tag the contacts will all disappear as that is the tag you have searched on!!

Then do the same under List: Site Users and search on all the current tags as follows to check there are no contacts in there as all contacts should all be in the pending tags, eg

• Users - Auckland
• Users - Non-Active Region
• Users - Bay of Plenty
• Users - Hamilton/Waikato
• Users - Otago
• Users - Wellington, and again any "active regions you may have created

Then search under List "NEW Site Users" - these will be any new sign ups - put them into List "Site User" then add relevant "pending" tags for them depending on their region.

You can then remove them from "NEW Site User" list. Remember to add the tags before you remove from the NEW site user list otherwise you'll lose them in the mass of all site users!!!

Once you go to the Automations in the next step, don’t worry if you see contacts within that Automation already as these are old Automation runs.

Automation Updates

Before you update the Automations you can print off or download a copy of the "School Holiday Automation Checklist" which you can use to work through and check you have all relevant dates and do all the correct updates.

Then go to all the Automations for Activity Providers. First make a note on a piece of paper or add to the above Checklist of the dates you are going to add in for -

• 1st email contact
• 2nd email contact
• Friday before start of the holidays (holidays have started)
• 4 days before end of holidays (last days for prize draw)
• 10 days after holidays (report holiday stats)

Then go to each of the following to enter the above dates (there will be 2 types of automations for summer and the ones to use change the prefix holiday date to the front as you update, eg OCT23 will then be updated and become APRIL24 then you'll publish so you know for sure they are done and you can tick off in your checklist) –

• Client Tag (this one is different from the others)
• Previous Client North Auckland Tag
• Previous Client Hamilton/Waikato Tag
• Previous Client Bay of Plenty Tag
• Previous Client Wellington Tag
• Previous Client Otago Tag
• Previous Client Non-Action Region Tag
• Activity Providers North Auckland Tag
• Activity Providers Hamilton/Waikato Tag
• Activity Providers Bay of Plenty Tag
• Activity Providers Wellington Tag
• Activity Providers Otago Tag
• Activity Providers Non-Active Region Tag

(for Summer these automations are not the above ones - use Summer versions of the Automations as the timings are different but you'll still need same above dates)

Go through each tab in each Automation –

• Check the relevant tag
• Then check all email content and all steps in the procedures with timing for wait periods are updated details for next holidays, eg dates, holiday names (eg "October holidays"), scheduled send dates, emails, images, etc - can't do stats etc on closing emails of course!

This MUST be done in the emails in the relevant Automation (NOT in the original email templates)

REMEMBER to ensure you have the correct trigger date and time both in the yellow action box and the bottom of the actual email box also

Then publish the Automations as you finish updating each one

DO NOT TRIGGER AUTOMATION BY ADDING THE TAGS TO CONTACTS YET - THIS WILL BE DONE SEPARATELY

SITE USER CURRENT AUTOMATION

Now do the same updates for Users.

Before updating this Automation you need to move any new Contacts who've signed up since the last holidays into the relevant User tags (the form puts them all in "Site User Current").

So, go to Contacts and find all new contacts in tag “Site User Current” as they will need to be allocated to the correct tags (there will be some as this is the tag people who sign up are automatically added to).

• Make sure you tick all (note if there is more than one page you need to do separately)
• Bulk action – first add to appropriate "Pending" tag related to their region (eg if Auckland, Waikato, Non-active, etc)
• Then bulk action remove from tag “Site User Current”

This just means you have everyone in bulk when you activate the Automation as it won’t activate for those already in a tag only when you re-add the tag to them

You should have already checked each of the User tags in Contacts and make sure they are all pending, eg Users - Non-Active Regions, Users - Auckland, etc - there should be no contacts in these tags as they should all be in the equivalent "pending" tags.

Then get the following dates to put in the automations -

• 3 weeks before holiday start date
• about 8-11 days later
• First Sat or Sun of the holidays
• 4 days before end of the holidays
• Approx 10 days later

For Summer you'll need just one more date approx 5 January as a mid-holidays reminder date

Then go to User Automations. As you did for the Activity Providers, now go through each tab in each User Automation –

• Check the relevant tag
• Then check all email content and all steps in the procedures with timing for wait periods are updated details for next holidays, eg dates, holiday names (eg "October holidays"), scheduled send dates, emails, images, etc - can't do stats etc on closing emails of course!

The Automations you will have will be -

• Users - Non-Active Regions Tag
• Users - Auckland Tag
• Users - Waikato Tag
• Users - Bay of Plenty Tag
• Users - Wellington Tag
• Users - Otago Tag
• NEW Site User (this one is only reporting holiday winners at the end)
• Plus any other active regions you have going

NOTE: Do not move NEW site users across to Site Users and their regions until after the holiday congratulations email has gone out to all.

Once done publish all the User Automations.

CLIENTS

Note: If you have any contacts who have already indicated they wish to advertise these will be the ones you put in the "Client" automation and you need to ensure you set up their advertising pages asap - the only Automated emails they get will be the "Hi, holidays have started" and "Remember enter the prize draw" all other interactions will be manual.

TRIGGER AUTOMATIONS

THIS IS A CRITICAL STEP TO GET RIGHT AND WORTH PUTTING ASIDE APPROX 1 HOUR OF UNINTERRUPTED TIME TO GET RIGHT!!

Before you start it is wise to do a site back up - if you then get something wrong it will be easier to restore the back up and start again than to try and track and delete all the incorrect contact emails!!

Once you have set up all your Activity Provider and User Automations, just double check a couple to make sure they are all good and all published (only published Automations should be the ones you are going to use these holidays), then ...

Before you add and remove tags you may want to just check each contact list you are assigning against each Automation to ensure it has the right contacts in it and only those contacts (no stragglers from other lists and no contact should be in more than one tag as they will otherwise get double up emails) - if you do it wrong and you have to re-do you could trigger the Automation more than once which will mean the contact will get the same emails the number of times you trigger it and you could be at risk of losing contacts who get emails from the wrong Automation!!!!

Add appropriate tags and remove tags from contacts to activate the Automations, as follows -

(remember for Summer all will be the same except you'll be using the "Summer" Automations - the tags will always remain the same)

Clients

• Go to Contacts first add "Client" tag to any already confirmed clients
• Remove from the "Previous Client Pending" tag

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Client" Automation for them

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Previous Clients

• In Contacts search on "Previous Client Pending" tag
• scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• check all should be in this tag (and this one alone - these should also be North Auckland only too).
• Add "Previous Client North Auckland" tag
• Remove the "Previous Client North Auckland Pending" tag

This will trigger the "Previous Client North Auckland" Automation

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Holiday Active Regions (this is for Activity Providers)

• In Contacts search on each of your regional "Previous Clients (region) pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Previous Client (region)" tag
• Before you remove the pending tag click into one contact | Emails and make sure auto is triggered
• Remove the "Previous Client (region) Pending" tag

This will trigger each of the regional Automations for previous clients.

Then do the same for all the "Activity Provider" regions and tags.

As you do each one just go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Do this also for the Non-Active Regions tags.

Users - Auckland

• In Contacts search on "Users - Auckland Pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Users - Auckland" tag by ticking all users then "Add tag"
• Remove the "Users - Auckland Pending" tag by again ticking all users then "Remove tag"

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Users - Auckland" Automation

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Users - Waikato

• In Contacts search on "Users - Waikato Pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Users - Waikato" tag by ticking all users then "Add tag"
• Remove the "Users - Waikato Pending" tag by again ticking all users then "Remove tag"

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Users - Waikato" Automation

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Users - Bay of Plenty

• In Contacts search on "Users - Bay of Plenty Pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Users - Bay of Plenty" tag by ticking all users then "Add tag"
• Remove the "Users - Bay of Plenty Pending" tag by again ticking all users then "Remove tag"

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Users - Bay of Plenty" Automation.

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Users - Wellington

• In Contacts search on "Users - Wellington Pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Users - Wellington" tag by ticking all users then "Add tag"
• Remove the "Users - Wellington Pending" tag by again ticking all users then "Remove tag"

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Users - Wellington" Automation.

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Users - Dunedin

• In Contacts search on "Users - Dunedin Pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Users - Dunedin" tag by ticking all users then "Add tag"
• Remove the "Users - Dunedin Pending" tag by again ticking all users then "Remove tag"

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Users - Dunedin" Automation.

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

Users - Non-Active Regions

• In Contacts search on "Users - Non-Active Regions Pending" tag
• Scroll through the contacts right to the end (remember to check if there is more than one page)
• Check all should be in this tag (and this one alone!)
• Add "Users - Non-Active Regions" tag by ticking all users then "Add tag"
• Remove the "Users - Non-Active Regions Pending" tag by again ticking all users then "Remove tag"

This will trigger the "Apply Tag: Users - Non-Active Regions" Automation.

Go into the Automations | Automation you've just added | Reports and check this is activated correctly - you will need to go into the profile of one or two contacts just to check scheduling, etc

If you have any other active regions do the same for those too.

All the set up now will then run automatically for the whole holiday period and all you'll need to do is work manually with your paying clients!!