By Amber Mann
Former UNCP Public Relations student David Scott returned to campus on Oct. 3 to share his knowledge of social media and how to best use it for storytelling.
The 2018 grad was invited by Dr. Emilia Bak to enhance her Public Relations Social Media class, by sharing tips and knowledge he has gained by working in the field.
“Since graduation, he’s acquired valuable experience in multiple communication roles, particularly in social media. He’s advanced his education with a master’s degree and currently works in communication,” Bak said.
Scott’s position in the city of Fayetteville as Public Information Specialist has allowed him to use social media as a tool to help get information out to the community. He focused on the importance of storytelling in social media.
“Stories should (be) relatable, authentic, emotional – build trust and humanizes the brand,” Scott said. “To tell better stories, you have to listen to what the people are saying.”
Another point he brought out in class was the importances of having good communication with the brand employees. Employees are the people that will be able to help give information about stories that can be shared on social media.
By highlighting certain stories in the brand, it allows the viewers to make a stronger connection with them. Using stories on social media also gives the brand plenty of content. Scott talked to the class about the important of having content and the convinces storytelling has to offer.
Good communication starts internally and spreads outward to the public. It is important to have good communication internally to bridge the good communication externally.
Social media can link the viewers back to key issues or information. There are many ways to do this linking, by stories and highlighting certain problems or solutions. Students were able to learn to these techniques and reasons why storytelling is so important to social media by listening to Scott.
“I learned that everybody has a story and that you need to find what makes you stand out and what makes you unique, then take that and use it to share how you can be authentic, relatable, and emotional to engage your audiences,” said UNCP Public Relations student Synara Peterson.
Other key points Scott highlighted included the importance of having a seat at the table in the company to be able to know some of the important aspects of the brand and how to best show them on social media.
He also talked to the class about how it is best if both the social media pages and website are in total sync to ensure the viewers can get important information not matter where they look. “As a former mass communication major, David serves as an inspiring example for students thinking