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 upload as you go 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). Once you download this, save a copy in your Google Drive to use.
Once you've opened the template and enabled editing, make a copy with the holiday date in the title, eg call it Holiday Spreadsheet - eg, April 2025 and save it to a new folder you set up for that holiday period. This will be:
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 –
You may find this has already 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 - you can click to copy the shortcode before you leave the form)
- Check form settings | Scheduling & Restrictions - start and end dates/times
- Go to email notification and put in holiday date for entry submissions
- SAVE
- Remember to click on the form shortcode at top to copy it
- 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 any ads or the slider is scheduled, 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 banner
- Facebook group banner; and
- Facebook vent for holidays.
When changing the page and group banners check the images from the page/group photos already in Facebook or create a new one.
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
You will be adding social posts to share in your general sharing schedule for that month.
For each holiday period you will set up two Facebook and Instagram 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. You may add more as you see fit.
However in Summer holidays you will set up 3-4 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 - you have to create your videos or use past ones).
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 a recurring event in the Linku2 Hibiscus Coast calendar and link to the directory school holiday programmes page.
- 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 and make sure there are no contacts in the specific tag you are updating "School Holidays Marketing" - all contacts (except those already confirmed as clients) should be in the "School Holidays" tag.
- Clients already signed up should be assigned tag "School Holiday Client", take out of "School Holidays" tag and NOT go into the marketing tag.
- Go to your School Holidays Marketing automation and update all dates and any other relevant information (eg month of holidays, check all content)
- Then publish the Automation
- Then filter by tag "School Holidays", just check no clients have still been left in this tag
- Then bulk add tag "School Holidays Marketing"
- This will trigger the Automation
- Remember to take out any businesses from this tag when they then sign up
This Automation will contain the following templates -
- 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)
CLIENTS
Make sure they are put in the "School Holiday Client" tag and taken OUT of "School Holidays" tag otherwise they might get caught up in the school holiday marketing automation
When setting up a client for school holidays below are the places they should be added according to their Plan. Copy each list into a task in the appropriate holiday Board to complete.
Where listings/ads added for School holidays
- Upgraded listings in the following site pages - School Holiday Programmes and Activities and Things to Do pages according to their school holiday plan eg Premium, Deluxe or Standard (same as HBC plans)
- Ensure layout is same as HBC listings
- Acknowledgement linked listing in School Holiday Fun Feature
- Add into all the following Sliders -
- Plus add Deluxe client ads into the following sliders -
- It's All About the Kids sticky sponsor banner
- School Holidays sticky sponsor banner
- Travel sponsors
- Businesses with Linku2 SMART Plans (Premium or above) get a 10% discount
- Add a FREE featured classified advert in "School Holiday Activities" category
- Inclusion in social media programme (all posts shared) - Facebook and Instagram
- Upgrade listing in Google My Maps and note map views to put in stats for the first client you do then upload the map to the Education pages template and other relevant templates above (eg School Holiday Fun Feature)
Classified
Businesses may opt to just take a classified advert at $55 + GST - if so, CLICK HERE and select the School Holidays Activities category
