The Deep South may be the last place you’d expect to find some of the nation’s greatest social media gurus. But Wade Kwon is determined to change that.

Kwon is a well-known blogger, journalist, and communications consultant based in Birmingham, Ala., and is the director of the upcoming blogging and social media conference Y’all Connect.

Y’all Connect is all about digital and corporate storytelling and will be held July 23 in Birmingham.

“Birmingham is too talented and too rich of an environment to keep quiet any longer,” Kwon says.

The conference will feature speakers like Mack Collier, an Alabama-based social media strategist, trainer and speaker and author of the book Think Like a Rock Star: How to Create Social Media and Marketing Strategies That Turn Customers Into Fans. Collier will help business owners figure out how they can use blogging and social media to tell the stories of their companies and teach bloggers how they can build a strong fan base and vibrant community around their work.

Meteorologist and Twitter superstar James Spann of Birmingham’s ABC 33/40 will also be speaking on how to tell your story across multiple platforms and to wide demographics.

The conference will be flying in some speakers, too, including Erika Napoletano of Redhead Writing, who will be speaking on the power of storytelling and giving tips to entrepreneurs who feel their businesses are stuck in a rut.

You can view the complete conference schedule here.

Though the focus of Y’all Connect is corporate storytelling, a new mode of reaching potential customers through blogging and social media, Kwon stresses that Y’all Connect will be beneficial to bloggers and writers too, especially those looking to help businesses with their online presence.

“Someone has to do the storytelling,” Kwon says. “Bloggers and writers are best equipped to tell the story in digital form, whether through prose, photos, videos or other clever means. I believe the smart companies will hire more digital natives to help them reach their audiences.”

If anyone knows the power of social media, it’s Wade Kwon. The Poynter Institute selected him as one of 35 Influential People in Social Media. And in 2011, Kwon co-founded the Alabama Social Media Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people in social media. He currently serves as chair for the board of directors.

But why has social media become such a powerful tool in the world of business?

The answer is simple, Kwon says: “It’s free, That is a price tag that is hard to beat, especially when considering how much other forms of marketing could and do cost.”

Y’all Connect blogging and social media conference is set for Tuesday, July 23 and will be held at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in downtown Birmingham, Ala. Tickets for “Y’all Connect” can be bought on the website for $129. The price covers a full day of seminars, food, access to the pre- and post-parties. See Jane Write Magazine readers can receive a $30 discount by using the code SJW89.