Excellence in digital storytelling: Exploring how best practices of digital storytelling are embraced by professional communicators

Abstract

This study examined how professional communicators attribute value to digital storytelling in the workplace. Specifically, this study analyzed the gap in how communicators are adapting to the changing digital landscape. The study further sought to investigate the following questions: How and to what extent do organizations embrace best practices? How and to what extent does digital storytelling affect the organization’s reputation? And how and to what extent is executive-level management aware of digital storytelling’s potential ROI and its impact on organizational reputation. This study is novel as it explored best practices in digital storytelling. While the value of storytelling is evident, there is room to explore how digital storytelling is embraced in organizations as we emerge into a new post-pandemic communications world. This study evaluated best practices with an extensive literature review, followed by 12 in-depth interviews and a content analysis that analyzed peer-reviewed digital storytelling content. Finally, ten key takeaways were recommended by the researcher for communications professionals to implement the best practices in digital storytelling.