How to Engage Millennials

Who runs the world? Millennials! Sorry Queen Bey, Millennials make up one-third of our population today, making the largest generation represented.

With that being said, it’s nearly impossible for brands and marketers not to think about marketing this group since they control most of the market share. Millennials are vastly different from any other generation. They aren’t as traditional as the baby boomers or Generation X. They care about social issues, immersed in technology, and have different goals. All these things create a need to understand and develop new strategies to capture this interesting group.

In order to engage millennials, three factors are important:

Incentives, Incentives, Incentives.

Millennials are more reluctant than other age groups to look into something new, especially brands; I like to call us the “cynical” generation. Recently, Urban Outfitters wrapped up a contest in which customers were supposed to take picture-in-hand photos and use hashtags on Instagram. The prize was something that this generation is currently reclaiming Polaroid cameras, similar to the return of vinyls. To get millennials engaged, brands have to cultivate incentives that are creative as well, something millennials will enjoy and see as important.

Create an Environment

While a brand’s main objective is to sell, many brands have had shift focus to improving their selling tactics. For millennials it’s all about an experience. Think of Starbucks: it’s a home away from home. They have mellow music, outlets for electronics, jargon that’s only a Starbuck’s regular can understand, like tall, grande, venti. Starbucks creates an ambiance that’s irresistible to millennials. It’s not about the quality—it’s about the experience that a customer walks away with.

Be Accessible and Digitize

Saying millennials are obsessed with technology is an understatement, so it is vital for brands to create a digital presence. In four seconds, a brand’s layout, mobile responsiveness, or content can drive a millennial away.  As for social media, a brand doesn’t have to post every day but often enough that their audience doesn’t acknowledge their absence. Engage and respond to your customers. It’s important to communicate that a brand cares about their audience.

With these three factors incorporated into your marketing strategy, millennials will be lining out the door, ready to snap and share their brand loyalty!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Taylor Carnard.

What PR Professionals Can Learn From This Girl Scout

This past President's Day, 13-year-old Girl Scout Danielle Lei decided to set up shop outside of a San Francisco medical marijuana clinic, The Green Cross. Needless to say, her Girl Scout cookie sales skyrocketed. With the help of her mother, Lei sold over 117 boxes of cookies in just two short hours. What's more? She sold 37 less boxes during the same two-hour period in front of a Safeway the following day.

Now how does this relate to public relations you ask? It's all about knowing your audience and catering to their needs. More often than not, a PR campaign will be unsuccessful if an audience is not clearly determined. Knowing your audience is the basis for every other decision made in a PR campaign. What platform should you use to reach out? Would social media be effective for this campaign or would print be more helpful? Where is the best place to set up my Girl Scout cookie stand? These are questions that can only be answered by first pinpointing who your campaign is trying to reach.

Lei and her mother did that very effectively when setting out to sell their Girl Scout cookies this year. "It's no secret that cannabis is a powerful appetite stimulant, so we knew this would be a very beneficial endeavor for the girls," said Holli Bert, a staff member at The Green Cross, in an email to Mashable. Not only did the Leis choose a key demographic of customers, but they did so by thinking creatively.

The answer to the lofty, "So who is my audience" question, isn't always black and white. Because that is left up to the discretion of the PR practitioner, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. When developing a campaign, be open and flexible when determining your audience. You may be closing off your campaign to an entire demographic that could really respond to the message you are trying to convey.

Have you ever had an experience where an audience could make or break your efforts? How did you handle it? Share below!

Ways To Embrace Your Audience

Blogging is about interaction.  While it’s great to deliver fantastic content, or have a brilliant style of writing, it’s seemingly useless if you don’t have strong followers to communicate with.  The purpose of blogging is to convey information to your readers and encourage conversation.  It is imperative, then, as a blogger, to make those who interact with you a part of your community.

Getting readers to engage with your blog seems easy, right?  Well, it can be.  There are several tips suggested toward effectively embracing your audience.  I thought it would be fun to explore a few. 

1. Encourage Comments and Forums

While it may seem “Blogging 101”, comments and forums are the simplest means of obtaining audience participation.  You have to get your audience talking, and encouraging comments is the easiest way to do so.  For example, your entire post can be based on a question (i.e. “Why Do We Blog?”).  Questions lead readers to interpret their own opinions on what you have just written and will encourage them to form their own opinions.   Comments and forum space are a rudimentary principle that should be engraved in the minds of all bloggers.  

2.  An “Ask The Author” Box

Utilizing an ask box unites your audience with yourself as the writer.  If audience members need clarification on misleading information or want a comment answered, an ask box is the best go about doing this.  Readers can get their questions directly answered from you, which translates to more audience interaction as a communal effort. 

3.  Utilize Social Media

    Ah yes, but where would audience interaction be without good ole’ social media?  While it’s easy to get confused by all the various social media platforms available, as long as you focus on the “social” part of it all, you’ll do just fine.  If you receive emails, tweets, or comments from readers, ensure a response is granted.  Include a personal touch by utilizing RTs and replies , keyword being personal.  You want your readers to WANT to come back to your site.  As social media relationships grow stronger, your audience gets wider!

While you’re working on actively engaging your audience it’s also important not to lose sight of yourself and your vision as a blogger.  Don’t get too wrapped up in whoever you think your audience wants you to be.  Make sure you maintain true to your values.  That’s why they came to you in the first place. 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Emily O'Connell.

We Are the Twenty Percent!

In the world of business, ROI is everything. In order to increase your ROI, you need to ensure you are delivering the right message, to the right audience, through the correct channel.

Online, there are seven types of audiences: altruists, selectives, passionates, connectors, trendspotters, provocateurs, and careerists.Of these consumers, only 20% are high sharers, active users, like us, whom generally create original content and whom are loyal to online brands, and the other 80% are considered low sharers, consumers not loyal to a specific brand and whom are not very active on social media. In general, campaigns should be tailored to your company's or organization's high sharers. Below, I will highlight the characteristics of each type of high share consumer and how to cater to them.

1. Altruists account for the largest percentage of social consumers. They re-tweet, post and share because of a desire to help others. Altruists are especially important to focus on for non-profits and fundraising endeavors. The most effective way to engage altruists is through Facebook and email.
2.  Selectives make up the second highest percentage of social consumers. They strategically share information and content with specific users. These consumers use email most frequently to share content.
3. Passionates share content and information because of a common passion they share with their followers and friends. They can be frequently found on Facebook and on customer review sites.
4. Connectors share information in order to create opportunities. They generally will link multiple account to optimize their social experience. They are most commonly found and can be reached on Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Facebook.
5. Trendspotters want to be in and let others know they are in the know. They attempt to increase their credibility via multiple social channels and can be found on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, foursquare, Flickr, Facebook and Delicious. 
6. Provocateurs are always looking to get a reaction. Bloggers are generally included in the this category and can be reached on YouTube, Wordpress/Blogger, Twitter, LinkedIn, foursqare, Flickr and Delicious. 
7. Careerists general use social sites for business and networking purposes. In general, Careerists utilize YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Facebook.

The number of followers and analytics of your company's page are no longer an appropriate measure of a campaign's success. Targeting high share consumers to generate recommondations and inspire creation of content is the appropriate means to increase engagement, brand loyalty, and ROI.

This post is based on the Huffington post article written by Jennifer Nagy,  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-nagy/social-media-marketing_b_1695186.html 

Hitting the Bullseye on your Target Audience

When writing a strategic plan for your client, a large portion of the process goes to establishing your target audience. It's important to target the correct audience, as they are the ones you are trying to sell your brand or idea to. These individuals will (hopefully!) buy into what you're pushing, and influence others to jump on the bandwagon. Below, PR strategist Catriona Pollard highlights tips on "How to determine your target audience":

• Who needs to hear your message? Suppose the client you're representing deals with housewares. You probably wouldn't be pitching to sports or business journalists, right? Think about who uses your client's product and frame your plan accordingly in order to reach the highest volume of potential outlets.


• Who are the influencers? Going along with the housewares example, if your target audience is comprised of stay-at-home moms, who will they look to for advice on what products to buy? Think logically; stay-at-home moms spend most of the day at home with the kids, so they have the computer and the TV at their fingertips. Mommy bloggers, for instance, are huge on the web. Mommy bloggers primarily write reviews on products they've tried and trusted, so pitching to them will hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Put yourself in the footsteps of your target audience, who influences you the most, family, friends, teachers, celebrities, talk show hosts, etc.?


• Who has the greatest impact on the business's outcome? Who will dictate whether your campaign or strategy succeeds or fails? Is it the media, consumers, or the influencers? Keep these in mind when you are laying down the foundation of your plan, and target the best way to cater to each game changer.

How are you targeting your audience? Have you included these tactics when writing your strategic plan? Let us know!