Creating great content that gets (and keeps) employees' attention

Our lives are awash in content, some of it useful, much of it an unnecessary distraction. Those of us who make our living helping companies communicate more effectively with their workforces face a content challenge unlike any I have seen in 25 years in this industry: How do we compete for (and win) employees' attention with great content in a world full of "external" distraction like endless cat videos and click-baitey Buzzfeed quizzes?

Fear not, it can be done.

There are six aspects of creating content that will break through the clutter to reach employees, each one quite important:

1) Message: At its most fundamental level, what do we need to communicate? Are we launching a new product, announcing bad earnings, changing CEOs, opening a new plant, laying people off or celebrating a big customer win? As odd as it may sound, we sometimes start with the expression of the message (see #3 below) before we've even figured out all the details of what we need to communicate.

2) Audience: Who needs to receive and understand the message? What do we need them to do as a result? How will it be received? Do some employees (perhaps those in a call center or in sales) need to know more than other employees? Also important here is understanding how these audiences access information so when you get to delivery (see #4 below), you're delivering the information in a way that works for your audience(s).

3) Expression: How do you bring the messages to life in a format that is appropriate for your audience and will do the best job clearly communicating them? This is where you can get appropriately creative and think about things beyond the tried-and-true communications methods. Is it an infographic, a poster, a virtual reality experience, a short (and I mean 90 seconds maximum) video, a supervisor discussion guide and/or an environmental experience? It's important to strike the right balance of time and investment here: If it's a less critical communication, don't spend a million dollars to express it. But if it's a piece of information that is core to your organization's strategy or purpose, give it just due.

4) Delivery: How do you get the communication out into the organization in a way that is timely, accurate and inclusive of the audiences you've identified? As I sometimes tell clients, "You've written a beautiful love letter, but what's the point if it doesn't reach the object of its affection?" Make sure your distribution methods and lists are foolproof.

5) Engagement: This is an often-overlooked aspect of employee communications. What we mean here is making sure you're providing opportunities for employees to do something with the great content you've just put out there: Like it, share it, comment on it, get into a discussion or debate about it, or have a supervisor/manager follow up to see if it's understood. When we include the aspect of engagement in our content strategy, we're more likely to avoid the pitfall of just pushing information without a clear purpose or call to action.

6) Measurement: The job isn't done until you've closed the loop back to steps #1 and #2. Did your message get across to the audiences you intended? Did they do what you needed them to? Was delivery (#4) timely and accurate and did your audiences engage (#5) with the content in a way that shows they internalized it? When plotting your measurement strategy, it's important to focus on outcomes (did my key audiences do the thing we needed them to?) versus just activity (did they open an email, go to a website, attend a town hall, etc.?).

As always, I welcome your thoughts and opinions!

Christopher Hannegan is a senior adviser to companies on employee engagement, culture, communications, and inclusion and diversity