Abstract: With the continuous advancement of digital transformation, the tourism industry is facing new communication challenges and opportunities. As an emerging social media platform, Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) has become an important platform for tourism brand communication with its short video content form and powerful social interaction function. Taking Malaysia as a case study, this study explores the communication strategy of the Malaysian tourism destination brand image on the Douyin platform under the backdrop of digital transformation. Through descriptive case analysis, combined with brand communication theory, social media marketing theory, and user participation and emotional resonance theory, the research deeply analyzed the brand communication practices of Tourism Malaysia and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on the Douyin platform. The results show that the brand communication of tourist destinations in Malaysia has achieved a good communication effect through the creative design of short video content, the enhancement of social interaction, and the cooperative communication of KOLs. At the same time, the emotional resonance of users and the establishment of brand identity are also key factors for the success of brand communication. Finally, this paper puts forward suggestions for optimizing communication strategies, with a view to providing strategic insights for tourism destinations, especially in Southeast Asia, to optimize their social media communication in the context of digital transformation.

Keywords: Digital transformation, Douyin, Tourist destination, Brand communication, Social media strategy, Emotional resonance

Pages: 505-528