Podcast – TikTok Made Me Go There
Producing my podcast about how social media is changing the travel industry and then producing a small social media campaign around it made me think about media-making as both a creative practice and a strategic process. This reflection considers the major decisions I made in relation to scripting, audio production and promotion and assesses them using concepts from media-making scholarship, particularly Sutherland’s work on strategic social media management and recent advice on podcast promotion.
My first big decision was to script the podcast like a conversational story, not an essay. I started by asking the listeners to compare old-school travel planning to the feeds we see today on TikTok and Instagram, and then I went into research and examples. The decision was based on Sutherland’s argument that effective social media content should employ an accessible voice, narrative hooks and relatable scenarios to build connection with audiences. I wanted to sound credible but keep the informal tone, so I used spoken citation cues (like “a 2022 study in Frontiers in Psychology found that…”) and integrated scholarly sources into everyday language. I think it worked well in practice: the script feels like a peer talking about research, not a lecture, and that’s in line with advice for podcasting that highlights intimacy and authenticity as the medium’s key strengths.
Production-wise, I deliberately kept the format a short solo episode of about 5-6 minutes, with few sound effects. This choice was driven by both pragmatic considerations and a strategic focus on clarity. Research in digital audio indicates that consistent pacing and clear recording quality are more crucial for listener engagement than intricate sound design, particularly for educational podcasts. I used simple transitions between sections and restated my main argument in the conclusion to help listeners follow the structure. One limitation here is that I didn’t mess with interviews or ambient sound, which could have added some texture and emotion to the topic. If I did this project again, I would consider adding a short grab from a traveller or tourism operator to better reflect these ideas but still keep the episode short.
For the social media aspect, I created Instagram-style posts that took the core ideas from the podcast and translated them into bite-sized, visually engaging content. Sutherland says that each platform needs its own content, but that campaigns are most effective when the messages are consistent across channels. From there I selected one core message from each post (e.g. “TikTok as the new travel agent”) and combined it with a simple graphic and short caption referencing the episode. This coherence between audio and visuals is one of the strengths of my campaign. The colour palette, tone of voice and key phrases are repeated and help to create a sense of a small but intentional ‘brand’ around the project. This fits with Sutherland’s emphasis on strategic consistency and audience recognition in social media campaigns. There are areas I could improve at the same time. My posts are pretty dense with information and don’t fully take advantage of platform-specific features like short Reels, interactive stickers, or carousel posts that encourage swiping and saving. Currently, the best practice for promoting podcasts is to create a range of content types – audiograms, quotes, and behind-the-scenes snippets – to cater to different audience preferences and increase shareability. One short audio clip or animated waveform would have added a little more dynamism to the campaign. Overall, this project helped me see how theory about media-making translates into concrete creative decisions. The unit readings on strategic management of social media and content repurposing gave me a framework for decisions that might otherwise have been purely intuitive. Comparing my work against that theory reveals the strengths I brought to the project – clear messaging, consistent branding and evidence-based scripting – and where I would develop further, for example, more experimental audio elements and richer platform-specific content. I want to think of each new piece of media going forward as part of a whole mini-ecosystem, not as a standalone assignment. Where audio, visuals and copy work together to tell a coherent story and reach audiences where they already are.
Podcast on “In what ways has social media impacted the travel industry? TikTok Made Me Go There”
In this Podcast session of TikTok Made Me Go There, I explored how TikTok and Instagram have shaped how we travel nowadays. From brochures, travel agents, and even guidebooks to just a scroll on social media.
I unpacked the question of “In what ways has social media impacted the travel industry?” using academic research as well as real-life examples to support that.
Media Credits
Podcast thumbnail and promotional social media graphics are created using Canva free design elements and tools
Photos are personally taken by Pagnabuth Korm
Intro Music “Water Afro-pop Music” by kontraa from Pixabay. Used under the Pixabay Content License.
Reference List
Abdullaev, Z., & Anggraini, D. (2023, March 15). The Role OF Social MEDIA Marketing in Travel Decisions. Neliti. www.neliti.com/publications/6775…-travel-decisions
Afren, S. (2024, January 31). The role of digital marketing promoting tourism business. A study of use of the social media in prompting travel. UCLan – University of Central Lancashire. knowledge.lancashire.ac.uk/id/eprint/50416/
Sutherland, T. (2020). Making media: Foundations of sound and image production. Routledge.
Pagnabuth Korm 