Every third Wednesday of the month, The North Alabama Chapter of the Public Relations Council of Alabama hosts a luncheon for local professionals to come together, share a meal and network with their peers in the industry. This month, our guest speaker was Kadie Pangburn, and she offered her insight with a presentation entitled, "Digital Storytelling: Building Your Brand Through Community." This is a very important topic for us in the public relations industry, as we are in the story-telling business.

Pangburn set the stage with a few statistics to show that we, as Americans, have become disconnected in recent years. Shocking, right? As of late, there has been a 58 percent decrease in the club and extracurricular attendance, a 43 percent decrease in family meals and a 35 percent decrease in having friends over. Why? Because we have other entertainment options to keep ourselves occupied. We are lacking in social capital, meaning "the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively," according to the Oxford Dictionary.

As you can see, this is very important. Pangburn made an excellent point: we, as storytellers, can encourage the public to take back their social capital through the people and companies we are, and the stories we tell. We must identify the things that matter most and build a community around those topics of interest. There are six steps to building these communities, according to Pangburn:

1. Emphasize.

What is important to your brand?

2. Advocate.

"It's about loving who your consumer is," said Pangburn.

3. Invest.

These are long term relationships we're talking about here. You're not trying to make a one-time sale.

4. Curate.

Share specific content your audience wants to see.

5. Teach.

It's all about the lightbulb going off in the consumer's head. You want them to go home screaming, "Guess what I learned today!"

6. Care.

I think this is pretty obvious. You have to care about your customers and treat them like human beings who have feelings and needs.

Pangburn also advised us to use highly compelling visual elements. I have a nice little formula for you. Don't worry, word whizzes. There isn't much math to this:

Stories + Compelling Visual Elements = Better Content

With her parting words, Pangburn encouraged us to focus on investing, instead of selling. She told us emotional connections were meaningful, and these authentic interactions were more effective. She advised us to appeal to the consumer's senses and to understand their lingo.

Overall, this was a very noteworthy presentation, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you missed the luncheon today, I hope this article was useful. I'll see you all at September's meeting!