The use of social media ‘influencers’ has quickly become a key element for many companies’ marketing strategies over recent years. Tourism, like all other industries, knows it needs to adapt. But how are New Zealand’s four major cities promoting themselves on the domestic and international stage through these platforms? Blake
The rise of the social media influencer – and how NZ tourism operators are trying to cash in
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The use of social media influencers is becoming increasingly popular but are New Zealand tourism operators making the most of them? Photo / File
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That five-day trip saw the star visit places including Rotorua and Auckland, where he put his rugby league skills to the test at a Warriors training session.
IShowSpeed, known for his wild stunts and high energy, showcased New Zealand to an audience size many companies can only dream of.
Tataki Auckland Unlimited, ChristchurchNZ, WellingtonNZ and DunedinNZ are New Zealand’s four largest regional tourism operators, representing their respective cities.
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In short, they’re the city’s economic development agencies – funded via their respective councils – and lead a variety of work for their patch, including the promotion of their areas.
Documents released to NZME under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, showed that in the past five years, only Auckland and Christchurch have opted to use paid social media influencers within their campaigns.
Auckland has spent a total of $103,300, while Christchurch sat at just over $27,300.
Neither had undertaken a specific cost-benefit analysis report into the spending – instead reviewing the usage of influencers as part of the wider marketing campaigns.
When breaking down the payments, Auckland started small in 2021 – dishing out a $7500 payment to a New Zealand-based ‘Food & Drink’ influencer.
Included in that cost were two social media posts, one video, and five stories; engaging 52,190 people.
That equated to a spend of about $6.95 per engagement.
In 2022, Auckland stepped up its game again – spending $31,800 collectively on two equal payments, to the same star it used the year prior.
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For that price, the organisation received two posts, two videos, and five stories from each payment.
The average per-engagement cost of the star’s two payments sat at around $1.95 and $2.45 respectively.
Tataki Auckland Unlimited took a brief break from influencer partnerships in 2023 but made a strong return last year.
Across 2024, it dished out $64,000 to nine different content creators – across various categories including ‘Motherhood’, ‘Travel’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Lifestyle’.
Two Australian influencers also each received a AUD$5000 ($5510) payment for various content, although that was funded via the Auckland Destination Partnership Programme – not ratepayer-funded – and therefore isn’t included in the above figure.
Payments using Tataki Auckland Unlimited cash ranged from $4050, to more than $10,000.
It saw varying rates of success.
Its least successful was a $5950 payment to a New Zealand Lifestyle influencer which received just 209 engagements, across two commissioned Instagram videos.
That is an individual engagement cost of $28.46.
The organisation’s biggest 2024 success came from a $7300 payment to a Kiwi Motherhood star, which paid for two TikTok videos.
They engaged more than 221,000 people, for an average spend of just three cents.
NZME put the figures to Tataki Auckland Unlimited’s director of marketing communications and growth, Shelley Watson who stressed that they spend their money carefully given that they are publicly funded.
Watson also pointed out spending can fluctuate year-on-year – as seen in 2023’s absence of influencer payments - depending on what is happening within the city.
She cited the example of when Auckland hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 – a major event which saw the organisation work directly with the Crown.
Watson said as a result, its “spend profile was quite different last year than it is proposed to be this year”.
She also acknowledged that the organisation’s budget is set as part of the Auckland City Council’s annual planning process – and tends to “stay flat, if not go down”.
As Tataki Auckland Unlimited “does not have a growing budget as such”, it will alter the proportion of cash spent on different media channels – based on the success or failures from the previous year.
Christchurch, meanwhile, jumped on the influencer bandwagon in 2022 – where it dished out $20,000 within the year.
That was split between just two influencers.
The first – a New Zealand-based lifestyle content creator with 88,000 followers – received $8050 for two Instagram posts and two stories, which attracted about 7800 individual engagements from social media users.
That equates to just over $2000 per post/story, or $1.03 per engagement.
The second payment of $11,950 went to travel and lifestyle photographers, Charlotte and James Maddock, based between New Zealand and Western Australia.
Content from that campaign – which included a minimum of six Instagram posts and two stories – equated to an average spend of $1493 per post/story, or $1.31 per engagement.
ChristchurchNZ’s spend reduced significantly in 2023, to about $3800 – followed by a further dip last year, to $3500.
Steve Backe-Hansen, general manager for marketing, brand and communications, explained 2022’s near $12,000 payment also included swathes of photography and other materials, to be used in perpetuity by ChristchurchNZ.
Backe-Hansen said the content was commissioned to replace marketing imagery of the city and wider-area, which had become outdated as it evolved post-quake.
An example of the content created by the Maddocks for ChristchurchNZ.
“It’s really focused on building our toolkit... we need to make sure we’re putting a lot of resource into keeping those assets really fresh.”
In his eyes, that payment was a success.
“It’s going gangbusters... we had over 10,000 downloads of assets last year, which was about a 25% increase,” he said.
“People are really getting behind it and using it as a great resource to promote Christchurch.”
Both DunedinNZ and Wellington confirmed social media influencers have not been used within any of its campaigns.
When pressed on whether the practice was under discussion, Dunedin NZ destination manager Sian Sutton said it’s “always looking for new and effective ways to increase brand awareness of Dunedin as a destination, including considering the role influencers can play”.
It was a similar story at WellingtonNZ, with spokesperson Todd Barberel not ruling out the possibility of doing so in the future.
He maintained the organisation is “always looking at the best means to reach audiences” and would consider working with influencers if “that aligns with our objectives”.
While the capital opted against direct payments to social media stars, it did confirm it has hosted several influencers within the last half-decade, including through partnerships with Tourism New Zealand.
It had also “occasionally” provided event tickets” to influencers, at no cost to the organisation.
Wellington and Dunedin’s lack of uptake was a big surprise to Massey University Marketing Professor Bodo Lang.
He said influencers are “fundamental” to all business marketing plans these days.
“I would have thought that in the 2020s all big cities used influencers as a piece of the puzzle, to reach their targets... to attract both domestic and international tourists”.
Lang felt Tataki Auckland Unlimited’s $103,000 spend on content creators “didn’t sound like much” in the grand scheme of things, although that ultimately boils down to the organisation’s overall budget.
He thought businesses should be spending at least 5-10 per cent of its marketing budget on social media content creators, as a minimum.
“Young people are online and so that’s where the marketing budget needs to be spent.
“If you want to attract the younger generation and you’re putting an ad into a hard copy newspaper, you’re not going to reach them... advertisers need to be where the eyeballs of the target audience are.”
On a national scale, Tourism New Zealand confirmed it does partner with social media stars, when relevant and valuable.
That included the likes of last year’s $1.4m dollar ‘stargrazing’ campaign.
Marketing general manager Brodie McLeish said it “carefully considers work with others as part of wider campaign activity” to ensure it reached the intended audience, aligned with its brand, and delivered a return on investment.
At this point, neither Auckland nor Christchurch had plans to use influencers within planned 2025 campaigns.
Backe-Hansen made it clear ChristchurchNZ does not operate with a “dedicated spend or anything like that purely for influencers”.
But he said that if an “unmissable opportunity” cropped up in the Garden City this year, “we’d be silly not to review [influencer spending]”.
Backe-Hansen’s line of thinking was echoed by his Auckland counterpart.
Watson confirmed “there’s nothing in the planning pipeline” for the use of content creators this year.
But, she wouldn’t rule out doing so in the back half of 2025, if the right campaign came along in which content creators could be utilised – to best reach the desired audience.
“It’s based on the objectives of the campaign, the level of budget we’ve got, and working with our agencies and our skilled team, on what we think is going to be the best mix of media channels,” Watson said.
When it comes to selecting which social media stars to work with, both operators assured there are strict criteria in place for its various campaigns.
In the Garden City, Backe-Hansen said it looks at “everything from audience, to demographics, tone of voice and suitability across channels”.
He also noted a strong emphasis on deciding whether the individual fundamentally aligns with the city’s overarching strategy and brand identity.
“We get a number of influencers coming through to us and pitching ideas... it’s really a case-by-case basis.”
Backe-Hansen said any offers for collaboration are looked at and considered if it would “fit into our overarching workload”.
It is a slightly different approach in Auckland.
Firstly, Watson noted that in their patch – they use the term ‘content creators’ instead.
That’s because “it’s a job and the whole industry has become quite professionalised... they work really hard”.
Watson said the selection process is not usually conducted by Tataki Auckland Unlimited itself, but rather by its preferred agency partners, or content creators’ own agencies – as opposed to “street casting”.
It makes an easier job for staff, as the agencies have “already established and audited the audience and know what sort of category the creator is producing content in.”
“Our preferred agency partners will typically recommend a long list of creators, and then we’ll go through it... look at their content... their channels, shortlist and then select.”
She said the decision on whether to use a content creator’s services would come early within a campaign development – and form “part of the overall media mix”.
As an example, if the organisation was to develop a campaign to attract Australian tourists to Auckland over the winter months – it may look to see how content creators could assist.
Watson said that could eventuate into finding someone who has a significant presence in the food scene, performing arts community – or other bracket required.
It is a similar method to Tourism New Zealand’s operations in this space.
McLeish outlined that content creators it worked with previously have been “strategically selected” with agency help.
She said the Crown entity “also evaluates the social profile, reach and engagement of potential key influencers, including their market suitability to represent the New Zealand brand”.
It tends to target the 25 to 54 age brackets with these methods.
Despite Auckland and Christchurch’s respective spending, neither had undertaken a specific cost-benefit analysis into the use of influencers within their respective campaigns – largely due to the limited use of content creators so far.
Instead, both made clear that reflections on their use are made anecdotally when reviewing the overall success of a campaign – as social media influencers make up just a small tactic of a strategy’s puzzle.
In Christchurch, Backe-Hansen confirmed that would include work such as reviewing post-engagement data.
That’s “everything from likes, shares, comments, saves”, as well as website referrals, bookings and conversion rates to business partners.
Backe-Hansen said the ultimate goal is to “drive good quality traffic to those people’s websites... so, people can book accommodation or the local attractions or activities”.
Watson said in Auckland, staff will review all media created for the campaign – whether that is by in-house employees or outside sources – and do a full analysis.
She affirmed that Tataki Auckland Unlimited has “really enjoyed” working with content creators on campaigns.
“I think our agency partners know how to put content creators together with the right brand.”
Watson felt that “measurability of the content is improving all the time”, and the usage of social media stars is a strong media type within an overall campaign – that will continue to grow and evolve.
Tourism New Zealand also stood by its use of influencers.
McLeish said there is “strong evidence” indicating their use is successful within specific market objectives.
She said the organisation had several indicators which helped determine the effectiveness of influencer’s work.
That includes independently conducted research to measure the success of a partnership.
The third-party measured things like campaign recognition, ability of the content to build positive perceptions of New Zealand, its ability to generate interest in a holiday here – and its understanding of the key campaign messages.
When it came to the regional tourism operators’ wider social media strategy, Auckland and Christchurch both confirmed they have one in play.
Watson said not every Tataki Auckland Unlimited campaign involved content creators – and it will “often try new media”.
Watson said as an example, one of the last media schedules she signed off involved advertisements within podcasts – which was a first for the organisation.
“The platforms, different media approaches are evolving so quickly, that there’s a lot of test and learn.”
She said it is open to repeating successful social media ventures – including working with the same content creators - if they believe it was worthwhile to its campaign.
Backe-Hansen said ChristchurchNZ’s own social media strategy has become “a crucial part” of its operations.
“That’s where the majority of our audience play... it’s a hugely powerful tactical platform for really getting the message across.”
He echoed Watson’s sentiments that the digital age has made it far easier for businesses to target specific groups and demographics in campaigns, as opposed to days past where you “probably just threw the message out to the ether”.
Backe-Hansen viewed its social media strategy as just one piece of a wider puzzle, in ongoing work to build the city’s brand identity.
“That’s our guiding light... that’s really about how we position Christchurch both locally and internationally.”
Backe-Hansen said in recent years, ChristchurchNZ had worked hard to change the overall perception of the city – to position it as a “great place to live, work, study”.
He said that involved “focusing more on changing the overarching perceptions of Christchurch - rather than looking at sort of more individual tactics, or marketing campaigns”.
As a result, ChristchurchNZ did not have an overarching need for influencers – nor did it have a dedicated annual spend for the social media stars.
Both Auckland and Christchurch employ a fulltime ‘social media specialist’ to oversee their in-house content creation and manage their respective channels.
Backe-Hansen described the role as “a bit of a powerhouse”, which makes sure “all messaging and content is aligned” for the right audiences at the best times.
Watson confirmed it a similar approach in Auckland.
An example of Tataki Auckland Unlimited’s social media content, created in-house.
Watson believed the in-house roles are critical as “they’re kind of the champions of the brand”.
She said the staff are responsible for learning how the social media sphere is evolving, and assuring its own content remains fresh and relevant.
“They’re learning about how to actually work the tools, because the tools are shape-shifting all the time as well.”
While neither DunedinNZ or WellingtonNZ have dabbled in the influencer space – both organisations confirmed they employ a social media manager or equivalent role.
Blake Benny is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on tourism and social issues, along with general news.
Blake joined Newstalk ZB in 2022, having previously studied Broadcast Journalism at the New Zealand Broadcasting School. You can contact Blake at blake.benny@nzme.co.nz
