Impact of social media on restaurant selection in New Zealand

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of social media use on customers choice for selection of restaurants in New Zealand. This aim has been divided into four objectives, as follows: 1. To examine the influence of social media on restaurant selection in New Zealand. 2. To identify the different kind of platforms used for restaurant selection. 3. To investigate what kind of information customers are searching for. 4. To compare the use of social media platforms amongst different age groups. This study was quantitative in nature. Data were collected with the help of an online questionnaire. A total of 190 responses were received, of which 148 were valid responses. The findings of the study showed that in today's technological world, social media marketing is significant. Photos of food, location, hours of operation, menus and reviews are some of the restaurant attributes that customers expect to find on a restaurant's social media account. According to the results, Instagram and Facebook are the two most popular platforms that customers turn to when gathering information about a restaurant. Additionally, the use of social media platforms is more popular amongst the age group of 18 to 28 years. Restaurant owners and managers can use the findings of this research to formulate better social media marketing strategies.