Local Focus: Rotorua restaurants get social media savvy

Rotorua is a well-established tourism destination, but the goal now is to make Rotorua famous for its dining options as well.

With this in mind, almost 20 Rotorua hospitality businesses were invited to participate in a social media crash course this week.

Dimple Digital Rotorua Founder David Remmerswaal says 80 per cent of internet searches are via mobile phones and increasingly, visitors are checking out restaurants online before they pay a visit.

He says, that's why social media is so important.

"The best kind of marketing is always word-of-mouth referrals, because the customer has already been sold before they even come to your business," Remmerswaal said.

"Social media enables that conversation to be amplified online, so more people can hear about, talk about or learn about your business online, through recommendations from their friends and family."

Destination Rotorua International manager Lou Baddiley said the seminar was part of an initiative to support the local food and beverage sector, as the region prepares to welcome transtasman visitors.

"It's been a really tough year for the visitor economy here in Rotorua and also with the lockdowns, and we knew that we needed to wrap a little more support around our local businesses," she said.

Matai Restaurant's Ryan Gregorash said the course was insightful and will hopefully help to bring in more customers.

"We've got better insight into how to manage what we're doing and how to target our audiences better."

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