Digital Storytelling on Marketing Communication of a Tourism Product: A Trend or a Necessary for Indonesian Buyer?

The implementation of storytelling in current marketing communication has become a global trend, and the need for companies to create engagement with their consumers can be achieved through storytelling techniques. This research examines how Kito Scarf Bengkulu, a unique tourism product of Bengkulu, implements marketing communication techniques through storytelling on its Instagram account. The qualitative research method employed is a case study approach to examine the implementation of digital storytelling on Instagram of Kito Scarf Bengkulu to engage with customers. The findings indicate that in the case of Kito Scarf Bengkulu, the storytelling technique cannot be considered efficient in creating engagement with followers and customers of Kito Scarf. The utilization of Instagram's feed feature in the form of photos and storytelling captions by Kito Scarf does not align with the characteristics of its followers and customers. Several factors contribute to this condition, including the relatively low interest of customers in reading, as well as the content of the photos and captions not being able to capture the interest of the intended target audience. Further investigation into this matter is still necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]