7 keys to recruiting and retaining talented millennials

Millennials make up 35 percent of the workforce. In 2020, that number will soar to 50 percent.

Now more than ever, organizations are making their workplaces as great as possible to attract and retain millennials. Although perks, benefits and flexibility are enough for some employees, the growing influx of millennials to the workforce requires deeper incentives.

According to The Deloitte Millennial Survey 2016, millennials express little loyalty to their current employers and are planning near-term exits.

How do you keep this growing population of talent interested in your company? You keep them engaged. You define your company values and stick to them. You put them first. You give them a voice.

Listen to what they have to say.

Millennials are looking for employers who put employees first and who have a solid foundation of trust and integrity. To provide those elements, open the lines of communication. Listen to them.

Institute one-on-one meetings with your employees at least once a quarter, and listen to what they have to say. Implement an engagement program using idea software to receive their feedback and ideas. Prove to them that they have a voice in the future of the company.

[RELATED: How to attract—and keep—a millennial workforce.]

Prove that you don’t care only about profits.

Millennials are not impressed by the size, age or general buzz surrounding an organization. Nearly nine in 10 (87 percent) believe the success of a business should be measured in terms of more than just its financial performance.

How is your company improving society? How does it treat its employees and customers? These are questions you must consider in trying to attract the new wave of talent.

Demonstrate that you appreciate them.

The next time you want to show your employees that you value them, skip the gift card. According to studies, leaders who are responsive to their employees and recognize their hard work and achievements on a regular basis see higher levels of satisfaction and engagement.

Keep in mind that no two employees are the same, and so different tokens of appreciation will be needed. (A given employee may enjoy public attention; another might prefer a private handwritten note or card.)

Focus on career development.

To keep millennials around, let them know what growth opportunities are available from the start. In order for them to advance, they have to know that the company will invest in them and continually up-train them, providing the new skills they need to advance in their career.

Get involved and set up coffee meetings with leaders in roles to which they aspire. Host sessions for skills development. Most important, consider the talents and skills of the employee, and make sure he or she is matched with a role that they will enjoy and excel in.

Challenge them.

According to a Gallup study, 60 percent of Australian workers are disengaged and 16 percent are actively disengaged. These numbers are largely due to one of the least-recognized productivity killers: boredom. Your employees may seem busy and inundated with tasks, but many are mundane and require little innovative thinking.

Challenging your employees comes with a host of benefits, including these:

• It keeps their skills and minds sharp.

• They feel valued as they are performing more than simply “grunt work.”

• Employees who are challenged are more engaged and productive in their work.

Have great managers at the helm.

Middle managers matter. These people have daily contact with your employees and directly influence how they work. One of the greatest challenges for organizations is finding terrific supervisors. Make sure the manager receives adequate training and understands the value of employee engagement.

Recognize their contributions.

Employee recognition is one of the top engagement drivers. It goes a long way toward creating that ideal company culture, and it proves to employees that what they do is valued. Keep the individuality of each employee in mind when recognizing each for his or her efforts, and you will be well on your way to creating an outstanding workplace.

A version of this article originally appeared on HR Daily.

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Buzzfeed study challenges viral content myths

PR pros are often told to abide by certain “rules” if they want to see their organization’s content go viral.

Do these sound familiar?

o Keep it concise.

o Use plenty of images.

o Don’t exceed 800 words.

o Tell a story.

A recent study from Fractl examines content from BuzzFeed—a vaunted platform for viral content—to determine which forces (supernatural or not) had the greatest influence on a post’s garnering of shares.

“We wanted a get a better understanding of the anatomy of content on BuzzFeed, so we used BuzzSumo to analyze 100 most-shared articles between March 15, 2015, and March 15, 2016,” Fractl’s study states. “We looked at word count and image count. We also categorized the articles into 11 different topic areas.”

From Fractl’s website, here’s the study’s breakdown by article type:

• Books, movies and TV: From “Parks and Recreation” to “Pride and Prejudice,” BuzzFeed has a lot to say about pop culture.
• Current events: Articles related to the news.
• Family and friends: Lists and articles about best friends, sisters and everyone special in your life.
• Generations: BuzzFeed has a fondness for guessing your age and talking about the ’90s.
• Lifestyle: Everything from cooking to DIY to articles geared toward elephant lovers and certain professionals (e.g., hairdressers).
• Mental health: Articles about coping with mental illnesses or assisting and understanding others with mental health challenges.
• Parenting and kids: BuzzFeed helps you raise the tykes in your life.
• Physical health: Anything related to exercise or coping with physical illnesses.
• Region-specific and travel: Articles about the unique aspects of being from a certain place, as well as travel articles.
• Teaching: Teaching memes are huge on BuzzFeed.
• Women: Articles tailored to women, including posts on body positivity.

Content lengths and shares

As the number of people who consume content on their smartphones and tablets continues to rise, a trend among content marketers—dubbed “bite-size” or “snackable” content—has emerged.

From Social Media Week:

Folks simply don’t have time to read a 10-page article or even a 750-word whitepaper. At the same time, as our attention spans are shrinking, the amount of content available for consumption is increasing. Snackable content is not just truncated information; it’s content pieces that are intentionally designed for quick, easy, on-the-go consumption. You see it, you scan it, you ‘like’ it or retweet it and move on with your day—all in just a matter of minutes.

Of the articles Fractl examined, content length ran the gamut. It analyzed 600-word and 1,000-word stories, as well as articles that boasted 5,000 words or more. Despite the increase in “on-the-go consumption,” data show that with the right topics, long-form articles were shared as much as shorter pieces.

Articles about books, TV shows, current events and travel were among BuzzFeed’s longer pieces (900 words or more), yet they still received a substantial amount of shares.

Although 75 percent of the study’s viral articles had 600 words or fewer, if a piece of content had wide appeal, offered an interesting narrative or discussed popular culture, word length didn’t dampen people’s desire to share it.

Influential images and viral content

It’s widely believed—and, in some instances, proven—that adding an enticing image to a press release or blog post improves your content’s reach. To grab attention online, an article’s text-to-image ratio is something many content marketers consider before crafting an article.

[RELATED: Produce content that boosts lead generation, brand awareness and reputation.]

Fractl data found that although readers tend to prefer roughly 25 words per image, not every top-performing BuzzFeed article had that many images.

“The least image-laden article, ‘This is why your baby doesn’t sleep through the night,’ had 456 words per image—which is almost a full page (of 12-point, single-spaced font) per image,” the study states.

BuzzFeed is known for posting plenty of GIFs and images with its content—Fractl’s study averaged 25 images per story. When considering various topics, however, the widespread sharing of a post had more to do with audience appeal than the number of images.

Particular topics were widely shared despite their low number of accompanying graphics and pictures.

“Generations, physical health, family and friends, women, parenting and kids, lifestyle, and teaching all included less than 25 images,” the study states. “Readers were more willing to share higher text-to-image ratio content in current events, mental health, travel, books, movies and TV shows.”

Tips for more sharable content

If you’re looking to improve your content’s reach but don’t have a dedicated team of investigative journalists or graphic designers on staff, focus on your niche and post stories that relate to specific audience members (millennials, pet owners, New York residents, parents, news lovers, etc.).

Also focus on content that tells an emotional story, capitalizes on trends, provides useful advice or relates to a specific area or region.

For example, a story that’s geared toward Chicago-based PR pros might have a greater chance of being shared because it’s focused on a single niche. If one Chicago-based PR pro with a large social media following finds your post useful, it’s probable that his or her entire network will, too.

Here are a few other tips for expanding your content’s potential reach:

• See that dot and the ones beneath it? Bullet points are your friends. Nearly 75 percent of BuzzFeed’s most-shared posts featured lists.
• When in doubt, shoot for 500 words. Collectively, articles across every listed topic averaged 420 words.
• Some article topics lend themselves to extra length, such as current events, entertainment and travel. Each of these averaged more than 900 words per piece.

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4 writing tactics that compel readers to take action

“This is just FYI.”

Next time you draft that sentence into a business message, stop. Admit that you are either:

• Wasting your recipient’s time; or
• Lying.

You wouldn’t really bother your busy target audience with a message that doesn’t require their involvement, would you? You must expect some action or response. There is an outcome you hope to achieve.

The point of business communication is action.

We craft messages so people will understand, believe and do what it takes to move business forward.

You can create a message to achieve practically anything—as long as you know what must be done. Ask: In order to move from where you are to where you want to be, what must your recipient do? The options are nearly infinite. Here’s a sampling, from A to Z:

My X word is a stretch, but you get the idea. You have many opportunities to get people involved in your message. Choose wisely.

[FREE DOWNLOAD: 10 ways to enliven senior executives’ communications]

Write for action.

Once you’ve settled on a desired action, you can write in that direction. Here are four strategies that will help you compose a message that makes things happen:

1. Tell me what to do.

One of the biggest favors you can do for your audience (and yourself) is to be direct and specific about not just what you want them to do, but how and where and when.

Think in terms of how-to instructions. “Let me know what you think” has a friendly, casual tone, but it leaves a lot to the imagination. “Please complete and return the attached questionnaire to me via email by 3 p.m. Central time on Friday, May 6,” is more likely to get the results you need.

With detailed direction, your recipients won’t have to guess or ask what you want. They’ll know how to respond.

2. Get to the point.

If you’re asking for the right action—one that makes sense and matters to your audience—your message may not need much setup. Open with the most important details, including your call to action.

If the circumstances demand more detail, follow with context or rationale, but keep it short. Link to or attach nice-to-know information, trim unnecessary words, and write in the active voice. Active sentences are almost always shorter than passive ones.

3. Don’t miss the point.

You’re rushed. You’re so close to the subject that you can’t be objective. Maybe the message has been through so many reviewers and revisions that you can’t remember what’s in and what’s out. Any of these situations can cause you to omit useful details—or forget the call to action altogether.

Don’t let that happen. Review your work, and have someone else review it, too. On a scrap of paper, write out your intended call to action, including every essential detail. Keep this note in front of you while reviewing. Use it to cross-check your message, to be sure the right words are actually on the page.

4. Format for skimmers.

Consider the way you consume email. Most of us glance at subject lines, select messages worth opening, then scan the content for need-to-know information. We don’t read. We skim.

Help skimmers get what they need by using visual strategies such as these:

• Include headings to divide content into manageable, meaningful sections.
• Highlight important phrases with bold text.
• Focus on a big idea with a single-sentence paragraph-the shorter the better.
• Use bullet points and lists to organize and prioritize information.
• Replace complex data with images, charts or diagrams.
• In link text, share the “why” of clicking. Not “Click here,” but “Learn about X.”

It’s not enough to reach your audience. You need to involve them. By writing a message that’s clear, concise, complete and skim-worthy, you improve the odds that people will respond the way you intend.

A version of this article originally appeared on SpencerGrace.com.

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In lieu of toys, Cracker Jack offers QR codes

Cracker Jack, one of America’s most iconic treats, has gone mobile.

No longer will you find a prize inside the snack—as the box has promised consumers for years. Now, in an effort to reach tech-savvy consumers, the snack comes with a QR code that links to mobile games.

The QR codes—which come inside new packaging—link to games called “Dot Dash,” “Dance Cam,” “Get Carded” and “Baseball Star.”

“They allow users to boogie on a simulated Jumbotron, participate in their own dot race (a 6th inning tradition of the Texas Rangers) and create their own baseball cards and autographed photos to trade with friends and family,” The Chicago Tribune reported.

In a press release, Frito-Lay’s senior marketing director, Haston Lewis, said though the toy has been just as important as the snack, the brand is using technology to give consumers a new experience:

The Cracker Jack Prize Inside has been as much a part of the nostalgia and love for the brand as the unforgettable combination of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts. The new Prize Inside allows families to enjoy their favorite baseball moments through a new one-of-a-kind mobile experience, leveraging digital technology to bring the iconic Prize Inside to life.

However, fans of Cracker Jack—and its trinkets—are not happy. Many took to Twitter and Facebook to express their disappointment:

Buy me some digital Crackerjack.
The past that you knew will never come back.

— danny (@Mardigroan) April 29, 2016

‘A world with prize-less Cracker Jack is not a world I want to live in’ https://t.co/3eGDdZHl4V

— Sean M Tuffy (@SMTuffy) April 23, 2016

No prize in your #cracker jack! QR code is not what made you famous! This will be the end for Cracker Jack!

— Mucking Moms (@MuckingMoms) April 23, 2016

Other consumers have flocked to the brand’s Facebook page to criticize the change, with one social media user creating a page called, “Put the prize back in Cracker Jack,” which already has nearly 2,000 “likes.”

PennLive further elaborated:

On Cracker Jack’s Facebook page, commenters overwhelmingly derided the move calling it “totally dumb” and the “worst decision ever.”

“Wow. In all my nearly 56 years on this planet, I have never been so disappointed in a product,” one Facebook commenter wrote.

“Well, there goes any reason at all to buy Cracker Jacks. Thanks for the childhood memories and good-bye,” another said.

Danette Chavez, a staff writer for The A.V. Club at The Onion, wrote that getting rid of the toys altogether would have been a better move for Frito-Lay’s marketing team:

“We are a brand that authentically reminds people of simpler times, childhood memories and family experiences,” the company says. Now, the prizes had decreased in quality over the years (temporary tattoos, meh), but it was still a nice chaser for the old sugar high. Frito-Lay would probably be better off just nixing the idea entirely, instead of creating a dubious online “experience.” That, or it should at least consider hiring Tom Haverford to adapt Cracker Jack prizes for the new millennium.

What do you think of the move, Ragan readers?

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PR Daily's Nonprofit PR Awards wants to thank you for your 'thankless' work

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Learn how to become the media at our PressPage luncheon

Brand journalism is one of the hottest trends in digital marketing and PR.

For a communicator balancing meetings, memos and media relations, it might seem impossible to set aside time to incorporate it into your strategy.

We’re making the impossible possible with the most productive lunch of your week. Join us at “The Revolution in Corporate Newsrooms: Becoming the Media” at Petterino’s restaurant at 150 N. Dearborn on Friday, May 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

PressPage CCO Bart Verhulst and Ragan/PressPage NA Sales Director Paul Wittcoff will present the latest in digital newsroom transformation software, PressPage, complete with testimonials from a few of their happiest customers.

You’ll learn how to:

• Transform your static press release library into a vibrant, heavily trafficked, multimedia resource for reporters, customers, employees and target audiences

• Publish each story online with graphics, photos and videos at least three times as fast as you do now

• Get instant-and huge-exposure for your content on external social media platforms with just one click

Email Paul Wittcoff to register for the PressPage lunch now.

Get a quick preview of PressPage in one minute:

PressPage in 1 minute from PressPage on Vimeo.

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Communicators, are you ready to podcast?

Starting a podcast is an incredible marketing tool and can help tremendously in generating new leads for your business.

Apple reports over a billion subscriptions to podcasts via iTunes, and there are an estimated 31 million Americans who listen to podcasts regularly.

People are consuming podcasts at an incredible rate. To enhance your marketing efforts, consider these reasons to jump on the podcast bandwagon:

• Branding. An effective podcast series can reach tech-savvy consumers and position your brand as innovative. Make sure your content is relevant and timely for your target audience.
• Lead generation and nurturing. Podcasts are a smart way to keep prospects engaged with your brand while you earn their trust by demonstrating your expertise.
• External communications. No matter whom you need to stay in touch with—investors, board members, journalists, industry pundits or customers—a podcast is a simple and interesting way to make regular contact.
• Website content improvements. Having multimedia content on your website will add to your brand’s credibility. Also, Google and the other search engines will rank your site higher if you have a greater variety of content.

Here are some tips on attracting and keeping an audience. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll have to be patient; this is a marketing tactic that you must stick with if you want to see results.

[FREE DOWNLOAD: Not all staff sit at a desk all day. Here are 10 ways to reach them.]

Don’t start a podcast if you aren’t going to give it a good year to take seed and grow. Here are a few ways to ensure results:

• Keep it concise. Most people have an attention span of 15 to 30 minutes—at the most—for any given topic. Don’t be afraid to be brief; even a five- to 10-minute podcast can be effective. Remember, one podcast should cover one key message.
• Use MP3 for your file format. Most rich media players can play an MP3 formatted file. You can offer other options, too; just make sure to upload an MP3 version.
• Let your audience subscribe. Without subscription offers, you shouldn’t count on too many repeat customers. Give listeners an option to receive a notification each time you produce new content.
• Teach, don’t sell. If your podcast is a sales pitch, no one will stick with you. Instead, offer your prospects meaningful insight. Once they value your expertise, they’ll gladly endure a product or service spiel.

Putting together a podcast series takes time and energy, but it often yields incredible results. You can use the same podcast to relate to various audiences and repurpose your content for blog posts, sales material and other marketing tools.

Drew McLellan is an author and national speaker and has owned McLellan Marketing Group since 1995. A version of this article first appeared on his blog.

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