Rotoroa Island
Photo by Hakan Nedjat
Goal
To increase awareness of Rotoroa Island as a restored wildlife sanctuary, open to the public to visit for the day (ferry ticket sales) or overnight (island accommodation bookings).
Results
Since Social Pop started working with Rotoroa Island in November 2018, significant increases have been seen every year in visitor numbers, holiday home bookings, web traffic from social media, and social pages following. Rotoroa Island is also currently rated #5 of 501 things to do in Auckland on Trip Advisor.
RESULTS SUMMARY | 2020 vs 2019
FERRY TICKET SALES
5,896
↗15%
Web traffic
23.8%
↗175%
ACCOMMODATION OCCUPANCY RATE
52%
↗40%
Link clicks
14,104
↗85%
SOCIAL PAGES FOLLOWING (lifetime)
7,925
↗126%
Total reach
2.65M
↗190%
Summary:
Rotoroa Island was closed to the public for over 100 years while it was owned by The Salvation Army for drug and alcoholic rehabilitation. Rotoroa Island Trust took over a 99-year lease and spent the next few years planting over 400,000 native trees, removing 22,000 pine trees and eradicating predators so it could become a haven for endangered New Zealand species (such as kiwi, takahē and pāteke). In 2011, it opened to the public for the first time. While international tourists fascinated by New Zealand’s natural beauty was a huge target market, our aim was to reach different groups of Aucklanders interested in what the island had to offer — endangered species, beautiful beaches, walking tracks, photography opportunities, accommodation, bird watching — all in their own backyard and a short ferry trip away. When COVID-19 hit in 2020 this focus was extended to all Kiwis across New Zealand. For a long time nobody could travel, therefore ferry ticket sales and accommodation bookings were effected. Published content was all about conservation education, the benefits of getting outside, personal experiences of Rotoroa’s Island rangers, updates on the island’s wildlife, working together with conservation partners, and letting everyone in New Zealand know we looked forward to welcoming them back to connect with nature. And when it was time to, they came.
Results:
• Social Pop took over an already existing Instagram and Facebook page. Conservation is massive on Twitter, so despite only a small number of New Zealanders on this platform comparison, we set up a Twitter page.
• Total followers across all three platforms have grown from 3,503 to 7,925. An overall increase of 126%.
• Across all platforms, Rotoroa Island was seen over 4.7 million times since November 2018. In 2020, 2.65 million people were reached which is an average growth of 190%.
• The average cost-per-engagement is $0.04 and the average cost-per-click was $0.08. Both of which decreased compared to 2019 by 41% and 40% respectively. The overall average click-through-rate for social media advertising is 4.4%.
• 23.8% of all web traffic was from social media in 2020, an increase of 175% compared to 2019.
• Both paid and organic metrics increased in 2020 compared to 2019. On Facebook, organic reach increased by 49%. On Instagram, organic engagements were more than paid engagements by 50%.
• While we don’t have the latest holiday home occupancy rates yet, they have been consistently booked out and will be until the end of April 2021.
