#HolsDirect Twitter Hour Mon 27th March

#HolsDirect is a Twitter Hour run by Book your Holiday Direct Twitter Hour every Monday evening from 7pm to 8pm (UK time) and 8pm to 9pm (in France)

Helping the #HolsDirect Twitter Hour to Grow 

Two weeks ago we wrote about the aims and objectives of #HolsDirect Hour.  The ultimate aim is to increase direct bookings for holiday home owners and therefore the more successful the Hour can be and the further #HolsDirect tweets travel the greater the chance we have of each achieving this aim.  Last week we gave 2 ways those taking part in #HolsDirect can help the Hour to grow - Retweeting and following large relevant Twitter accounts.  Today here are 5 more ways that YOU can increase the success of #HolsDirect.

1.  Promote other local businesses in your #HolsDirect Tweets

Two weeks ago when we asked a question about local restaurants in #HolsDirect some people taking part included the Twitter handles of local restaurants who could then see they have been recommended and RTed the tweets .... thus further promoting themselves as well as the owner's property and #HolsDirect.  So if in the course of #HolsDirect if you can mention relevant local organisations with their Twitter handle there's a good chance they will RT you.  This might include restaurants, local tourist attractions, shops etc.  

2.  Mention your area in #HolsDirect Tweets

Tourist boards and Twitter accounts promoting specific areas will often RT tweets about their area of interest.  So if, for example, you're in #Yorkshire or #Normandy etc, mention this is a #HolsDirect Tweet.  Adding a hashtag helps it to be seen but do remember that hashtags stop at gaps so if you are in the Peak District for example you'll need to either write #PeakDistrict, #Peaks or #Peak_District.  An underscore is allowed in a hashtag but not a hypen so #Peak-District will stop being highlighted after Peak.

3.  Use #HolsDirect for more of your Publicity Tweets

You don't need to keep #HolsDirect just for Monday evening - use it where relevant in your tweets throughout the week.  You can also do a search for others using it and give some of them a RT .... just make sure you're promoting BYHD too when you're do it!

4.  Tweet about the map and link to BYHD throughout the week

Our map is growing week by week. It now has well over 400 properties on it and has been viewed over 7000 times.  It can be viewed by everyone so we need to get people to know about it.  This will also help BYHD to grow alog with your chances of getting bookings.  So some tweets mentioning the map, BYHD and #HolsDirect throughout the week will all help.

Link to map - http://bit.ly/2jxyetU

Link to BYHD - https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookholidaysdirect/

5.  Promote #HolsDirect on other Social Media Channels  

Hashtags are not just for Twitter so give it a mention on all your social media channels where you can including your own FB pages, Intagram, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn etc. 

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#HolsDirect - 27th March

From 7pm UK time (8pm French time) we will be asking 4 questions related to holiday accommodation and holidays in the UK and France and asking owners of holiday accommodation and those looking for holidays to join in with #HolsDirect. 

#HolsDirect Hour Questions – Monday 27th March

7pm, Q1: Everyone:

Nutella or marmalade for breakfast?  What is your favourite toast spread?

7.15pm, Q2: Holiday Home Owners

Tell us where you are in the UK, Ireland or France.

7.30pm, Q3: Everyone:

What's your favourite UK or French zoo/wildlife park?

7.45pm, Q4: Holiday Home Owners:

Tell us you Easter availability and special offers.

It’s free to join us and totally free to promote your holiday home. Join the friendly admin team on Twitter and Facebook to showcase your holiday property to the World Wide Web!

Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/BOOKHOLSDIRECT

Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookholidaysdirect/

Please remember no links to booking websites or agencies.

If you need a bit of help knowing how best to take part have a read of our tips here and here.

We look forward to chatting with you on Monday 27th March #HolsDirect.

Your hosts on March 27th will be:

• Linda Penman from @Rattys_Retreat in the beautiful Cotswolds
• Rosie Hill from @EcoGitesLenault in fabulous Normandy

See you then!

Linda and Rosie

PS - if you have any questions please join our Facebook group and message one of the admin team.

How to be a Featured Property on Twitter or Facebook

Over the last few weeks you may have noticed on our Twitter page and Facebook group that we have had Featured Properties.   If you would like your property to be featured on either of these then read on!

To be a Featured Property on Twitter

On Twitter we will now be featuring a property for a week at a time so your cottage or gite could be pinned to the top for 7 days giving you lots of extra exposure.  To get featured:

1.  Your property needs to have a Twitter account
2.  You need to follow us at BookHolsDirect
3.  Please then message Linda Penman on the Facebook page with the following:

• Your Twitter handle
• A link to your website or facebook page (Only one)
• How many you sleep
• A good quality landscape picture.  This can be a single image or a collage.
• A single SHORT sentence to showcase your property.

Remember that tweets are only 140 characters so it needs to be brief and Linda does not have the time to edit lots of text!  Something like these are great:

> Sleeps 6 Breath taking views all year round French Alps
> Sleeps 4 Period cottage 4* Gold Award winning Historic Lincoln
> Sleeps 6 Family & dog friendly Lake District  

Once on Twitter you can also join in with our weekly chat #HolsDirect which really helps get your property promoted to a lot more people.  In the 3 days since the last #HolsDirect Hour tweets containing the hashtag have reached over 115,000 Twitter accounts.  That's a lot of potential guests.

To be a Featured Property on our Facebook Group

On Facebook we feature a property for 2 days and it is Rosie Hill who chooses ... and she will only choose properties that do the following:

1.  Your property needs to be added to the regional albums on the group*
2.  In your album entry you need to have included the following:

• A bit more detail where you are i.e. town or area/county/department etc
• How many you sleep
• A link to your website or Facebook page (you can add both)
• A brief description of your property with some key selling points.  

* As well as the regional albums do make sure you are in as many other albums as fit your accommodation - and remember in these it is even more important to say where you are. 

Only album entries that have all this info stand a chance of getting featured.  And this is why ...

The albums are like a listing on an agency site - potential guests search through them looking for their next holiday and they are not going to land on your website if you don't have sufficient details.  It also does not reflect well on the group if there are details lacking as guests won't bother looking any further and may well head back to those agencies charging booking fees.

So getting a decent album listing is really important for both you and the success of the group.  PLEASE head over and check your entry now and you may be our next featured property!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookholidaysdirect/photos/?filter=albums