Storytelling Through Social Media: Enhancing North Lombok's Tourism With Digital Narratives Text

Abstract

This study explores how digital narrative texts are used as an effective tool to promote tourism in North Lombok, focusing on the Instagram account @lombokutara.tourism. North Lombok has emerged as a geotourism destination, attracting visitors with its unique blend of cultural heritage and natural beauty. In the digital era, tourism promotion through storytelling on social media has become a crucial strategy. The Instagram account, managed by the North Lombok government, serves as one of the main platforms for promoting local tourism. The research applies narrative paradigm theory, representation theory, and media ecology theory. The method of this study is using qualitative interpretative which examines digital narrative text as a media for North Lombok tourism promotion on the @lombokutara.tourism, incorporating content analysis of 8 posts from 2022 to 2024 which collected through purposive sampling and secondary data. The results reveal that the digital narratives on the @lombokutara.tourism account emphasize that storytelling is not only informative but instrumental in establishing an emotional connection between the audience and North Lombok as a tourism destination. Through immersive descriptions, interactive captions, visual appeal, sensory language, and supported by strategic influencer collaboration, the account shows cultural narratives that reflect brings the landscapes of nature, community identity, local traditions, environmental consciousness and the spiritual richness of the region to life, making it more relatable and accessible to a broader audience. The study highlights the need for more focused digital strategies to maximize the potential of storytelling in promoting local traditions and geotourism.