Becoming a Digital Storyteller

What I Learned

I was able to return to my roots while learning about storytelling this week. I went to school for Communications, part of which included courses in Journalism. I have gotten away from the journalistic type of writing that I learned in school, as I have been working in another field and did not make the connections until I read the curriculum and blogs posted on storytelling and communication styles.

Some of the most important things that I learned this week were the Inverted Pyramid (Gibbs, 2022) and the four levels of reading (Clark, 2022). The Inverted Pyramid demonstrates how crucial information needs to be introduced at the beginning of the article to get the reader’s attention (Gibbs, 2022). This is especially important in the age of social media where everyone’s attention is being diverted by a wealth of material and information. I also liked the idea of keeping the end in mind (Gibbs, 2022). I want to increase the engagement for our posts, so I will make sure to keep the action that I want the reader to take in mind when I’m planning the article.

Learning about the four levels of reading was also helpful. It makes sense, especially with how much information we have at our fingertips, that people are going to read differently and read for different reasons, such as those that are looking for entertainment versus those that are looking to learn something (Clark, 2022).

How I’m Going to Implement My Learning

I need to take a step back from how I have been doing social media posts at work. I need to start looking at the things from a storytelling perspective and take a new approach to our social media presence. One of the things that I want to do is to make my posts more engaging, so that readers become Analytical and Syntopical readers. Judging by the lack of comments and shares on my posts, I think people are doing Inspectional reading, where they are either skimming or reading the posts at a superficial level.

I also want to look at how I am introducing the material. I haven’t written any blogs. Most of my postings relate to jobs that we are trying to fill, events that we are having, or community resources available. I am going to find a different way of introducing the job postings to encourage more engagement. I’d like to get the reader’s attention by identifying their struggle and letting them know I understand where they are and where they want to be (A. McKinney, personal communication, November 7, 2018). For example, maybe some people need additional support while on the job because they have barriers, such as mental health concerns.

I’m going to also make sure that I am not burying the lead, so that if the readers start by skimming the information, they will be able to see right away if it’s something of interest to them (Clark, 2022). After that, I can share the opportunity with them to help them fix the problem (A. McKinney, personal communication, November 7, 2018). Instead of just posting individual jobs, I can write articles about the services that might help people overcome their barriers and find work. I will then make sure to include a call to action (Gibbs, 2022). This could include the job application process, or how to reach out to us for services that we offer. I think having a clear action will help with engagement. I am hoping that more engagement will lead to more people using our services.

What I Would Like to Investigate Further

I would like to look more in depth at the tools available to help writers, including NaNoWriMo, The Write Life, Positive Writer, and Goins, Writer (Scribendi, 2020). I would like to find some inspiration with these websites, so that I can come up with a writing plan. I am also interested in taking my learning further by reading the book, How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for me? Is there anything that you have found helpful?

References

Clark, B. (2022, May 16). How to read – copyblogger: Content marketing and copywriting. Copyblogger. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://copyblogger.com/how-to-read/

Gibbs, S. (2022, October 25). Becoming a Digital Storyteller. D2L login page. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://ontariolearn.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/52537/viewContent/2598996/View

Scribendi. (2020, February 1). The 28 best writing websites of 2020. Scribendi. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.scribendi.com/advice/best_writing_websites.en.html