Redwoods Treewalk director Bruce Thomasen. Photo / Andrew Warner
Artificial intelligence tools and new digital technologies have been a “game-changer” for a Rotorua tourism business, doubling online its sales share - as another attraction racked up 100 million views for a single video.
Redwoods Treewalk Rotorua & Altitude was just one of the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Digital Boost programme’s success stories.
Nationally the free programme - which teaches digital skills to businesses - had nearly 62,000 active users more than its target of 30,000, including 4822 registered users in the Bay of Plenty.
Redwoods Treewalk director Bruce Thomasen said Digital Boost was about maximising the opportunity to sell directly to visitors via online channels and making sure its website and interactions with customers were seamless to help boost conversions.
“Most visitors are using mobile devices so it’s critical that we are 100 per cent effective with our online presence, such as being one click from booking a ticket and having a live feed from Instagram and Facebook to keep content real-time. We are lucky the forest is very photogenic and that organic sharing has been a great source of referrals for us.”
Artificial Intelligence had also been a “game-changer”.
“Using AI to answer visitor questions in real time online has been another game-changer, freeing up staff time that was in the past spent answering guest queries when booking. Now our chatbot is able to predict and answer some 99 per cent of questions from guests, without our team having to be involved.”
Pre-Covid, online sales accounted for around 10 per cent of direct sales. In the post-Covid environment that has moved to 20 per cent. More people preferred and were more comfortable with buying directly online, Thomasen said.
At Zorb Rotorua, operations manager Owen Douthett-Turuta said social media played a “pretty big” part in marketing.
The adventure park has over 57,000 followers on TikTok, with its videos clocking up more than 4.8 million likes.
“We’ve noticed that social media is the best marketing tool at the moment,” Douthett-Turuta told the Rotorua Daily Post.
He said TikTok in particular, as one of the “biggest” platforms, helped the business to reach a wider demographic of customers.
“A lot of people think the activities at Zorb are mainly for kids. TikTok helps us to go beyond that market.
“Backpackers get their travel inspiration from social media. They come across our videos and they get excited. We attach our website to our posts and it helps them to find out about us.”
@zorb.rotorua Enjoy your ride 🤪🤔😂 #zorbrotorua
♬ original sound - ZORB Rotorua
Douthett-Turuta said using videos helped Zorb to stand out online.
“For myself, if I see a photo post and it doesn’t draw me in straight away, I scroll straight past it. Videos attract attention and keep people engaged.
“Lucky for us, Zorb’s a huge inflatable ball, so the videos get everyone wondering. They see it and they want to find out more.”
Douthett-Turuta said Zorb Rotorua’s two most viral videos featured crew members demonstrating ways to get in and out of a Zorb ball.
“The first one was of someone jumping into the Zorb and showing people different ways to get in. That got over 100 million views. It was shared on a few American platforms and channels. It just happened overnight.”
Douthett-Turuta said the viral success of the first video inspired the creation of an equally successful second clip where Zorb employees demonstrated how to get out of the Zorb.
“You never know when something is going to take off.”
MBIE director of innovation Malcolm Luey said the Digital Boost programme was a government-funded platform run in partnership with the private sector and was set up in response to Covid and the challenges faced by businesses to keep their doors open.
Initially, $2500 of free training for 30,000 small businesses or $15 million was allocated but an extra $61.5m in funding was made available to continue developing and expanding the Digital Boost Educate platform.
“One of our key objectives is to develop a comprehensive five-year Small Business Digital Enablement Strategy/Work Programme. Our ambition extends further as we join forces with the private sector partners of the Digital Boost Alliance to continue building on a five-year roadmap, aligning all our efforts towards making New Zealand fully digital by 2030.”
The Digital Boost Alliance was a collaboration between private sector organisations and the government and consists of 37 large corporations including heavyweights such as Google, The Warehouse Group and ASB.
Luey said as a nation, New Zealanders were supportive of buying local and encouraging small businesses.
“The challenge was not an unwillingness of New Zealanders to support local small businesses but rather for small businesses to gain a digital presence so that consumers know they are out there.”
In the wider Bay of Plenty, training was provided by multiple groups such as the Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce, Western Affair, Pakihi Ora, Katch Katikati and the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce.
Viral how-to videos on TikTok and snappy AI-generated slogans have helped Tauranga CBD cobbler Shane Barr take his trade to a new level.
The Shane Barr Shoe Repairs owner said he had made about 1000 TikTok and Facebook videos and posts and while his on-the-tools practices had not changed, his approach to new digital technologies had, thanks to the programme.
He said his early video forays were heavy on the sales pitch but following some “pretty rank comments”, he changed tack and it had paid off big time.
“So from then on I just tried to make the videos more helpful and valuable.”
@shanebarrshoerepairs Nike airbag repair. #Nzshoes #shanebarrshoerepairs #shoehacks #shoerepair #howto #tauranga
♬ original sound - Shane Barr Shoe Repairs
His quick videos - including tips for regluing the sole of a shoe, cleaning “scuzzy insoles” or saving Birkenstocks from going to landfill - proved a hit with viewers.
His TikTok channel has more than 1.3 million likes and was approaching 39,000 followers.
He said it had boosted his customer base and business was good: “We’re so busy.”
Artificial Intelligence was another concept Barr had taken advantage of to help with snappy slogans and he used a chat forum on his website.
Through those digital platforms and smart marketing tactics, Barr was repairing shoes for people who couriered them to him from all over New Zealand - even as far afield as Invercargill.
Most of that traffic stemmed from the website, which he had put hundreds of hours into.
“We’ve had people from some far-flung places who are now our customers.”
- Additional reporting Maryana Garcia
Carmen Hall is a news director for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, covering business and general news. She has been a Voyager Media Awards winner and a journalist for 25 years.