We are living in the age of the content consumer. There is more demand than ever for engaging content that adds value, teaches, and entertains.

The average Millennial spends 17.8 hours a day consuming different types of content. Often, media is overlapping—like watching a video on your laptop while you send texts from your smartphone, or listening to music as you browse through articles. The common theme is that we are all nearly always plugged in.

This is great news for content creators: for those looking to capture attention, it is ever-present in the digital sphere, waiting to be reeled in.

“Attention is the new economy. It’s the world’s most valuable resource. You shape hearts and minds only with attention,” says Fox Network’s president of advertising, Joe Marchese.

With attention, you can capture leads and customers, sell your products and services, spread brand awareness, and build a winning reputation.

So just how do you create engaging content that captures attention?

This week I interviewed someone who has cracked the content code, reliably attracting millions of views with every post… in a ridiculously short amount of time.

Meet Julius Dein, a 22-year-old influencer with a following of 9M+ across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. You wouldn’t believe Dein started out with zero followers just a year and a half ago. Today, Dein is a sought-after content creator whose viral videos have amassed 1B+ views. He’s collaborated with leading brands like Doritos and Ubisoft, feature films Now You See Me 2 and Watch Dogs 2, and a handful of celebrities.

This week on the Unconventional Life Podcast, Dein reveals his secrets for dependably creating viral content and building a highly engaged following you can sell to.

1. Aim To Be Real, Not Hollywood. “Forget the quality, the glitz and glam,” Dein says. A common misconception about filming great content is that the production quality should be professional-grade. While it’s important your camera captures high resolution sound and audio, you can skip the $3,000+ camera equipment and film crew—your smartphone will do just fine.

Dein recommends recording your content on a smartphone camera because it’s raw and relatable. “I’m 22, I don’t have the budget of a film crew. I filmed my grandma on my phone and it got 87M views,” Dein says.

2. Create ‘Feel Good’ Content. The biggest determinant of whether or not a video will go viral is if people feel compelled to share it. “Before you post something, ask yourself, ‘Are people going to share this?’” Dein says. “People share content that makes them feel good—things that are cute, funny, emotionally eliciting. Boring things don’t stand a chance, it has to be entertaining and provocative.”

It helps to have a general understanding of what the general public will be able to relate to. If your video represents beliefs that are controversial or extreme, you may have a harder time connecting to your audience and thus getting them to like and share your content. Aim to appeal to a mass audience in order to go viral.

3. Get Into The Action Right Away. The average attention span today is 8 seconds, which means you’ve got no time to spare in capturing your audience. Avoid a lengthy introduction and show, don’t tell. “Jump into the action in less than a second,” Dein says. “No ‘hey guys I’m Julius and today I’m going to do this.’” Once you’ve caught your viewer’s attention, keep them on their toes. The most engaging content is full of unexpected surprises and is designed to evoke emotion.

Emojis—heart-shaped eyes and twinkling hearts might not seem like much, but to Millennials, they’re everything.

92% of online consumers use emojis, while 30% of Millennials can’t go a day without using them. Die-hard emoji users say “emojis express their feelings more accurately than words.”

Why should you care? The emoji phenomenon has real implications for business. With Millennials possessing $200B+ in annual spending power, engaging the Millennial demographic is now more important than ever.

If you want to engage them, you’ll have to speak their language—of which emojis are a primary part. But with 1,800+ emoji symbols supported on current platforms, the task is easier said than done. And there’s nothing more embarrassing than an emoji faux pas.

Luckily, here to guide you in the treacherous realm of emojis is one Millennial native, who is actually an emoji app developer giving us an inside look at emojis straight from the source.

Meet Thomas Ma, a recent college grad and the co-founder of Sapphire Apps, which creates custom-branded emoji keyboards for celebrities and influencers. Though the company launched just one year ago, Sapphire Apps boasts an impressive rolodex of clients, including Lindsay Lohan, Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, and YouTube sensation Bart Baker, who has 9M+ subscribers.

This week on the Unconventional Life Podcast, Ma shares how brands can leverage emojis to increase brand awareness and engagement among Millennials.

According to Ma, he was able to enroll high-profile clientele as a startup company with cold emails because of the sheer amount of Millennial interest there is around emojis.

“Imagine you are a celebrity with 1M followers. I would contact your agent and say ‘Hey, I noticed you have a lot of followers and that’s great but you can do better if you have a personalized app with your name on it’,” Ma says.

The emoji insider says all brands today can benefit from becoming emoji-savvy and implementing them in strategic ways. The average client Ma works with experiences a surge in visibility and engagement after introducing emojis, which ultimately boosts revenue.

Below, learn seven powerful ways you can use emojis to grow your business.

1. Put Emojis In Email Subject Lines. Brands who use emoji in their subject line experience a 56% higher open rate than brands who don’t. Emojis stand out in a crowded inbox—they are compelling and eye-catching. Plus, they can convey emotion and save space on a subject line, helping you target 49 characters or less to increase click-through rate by 75%. Make sure the emojis you use are relevant to your subject, and remember fewer emojis are better.

2. Introduce Emoji Hashtags. If you want to engage your social media audience, using emojis in a hashtag can help increase your brand awareness drastically. The American Music Awards #AMAs hashtags featuring emojis of stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and One Direction generated 14 billion impressions. Create a signature emoji hashtag for your brand to promote more engagement.

3. Create An Emoji Call To Action. Remember when Domino’s Pizza gave customers the ability to place an order by texting a pizza emoji and it went viral? Talk about understanding your customer. You can replicate Domino’s success by introducing an emoji call to action for your brand. Pair an emoji with a popular product you sell and allow customers to rapid-order the product by sending your company a text via cell phone or Facebook Messenger.

4. Get Rapid Customer Feedback. Emojis are ‘fast data’—they can help you understand how your customer feels in an instant. “There’s a huge data implication around emojis,” says Rob Pace, founder of the tech platform HundredX, which recently launched an app that collects customer feedback through emojis. You can capitalize on emojis to help you improve your products and services by sending out surveys with emotion-based emojis.

5. Launch A Branded Emoji. There’s a reason why top companies like General Electric, Dove, Mentos, and Comedy Central have released branded emoji keyboards. They allow you to connect and relate to your audience in a more personal way, ultimately leading to more sales. Not to mention, you can retail a branded emoji keyboard on the app store as an additional revenue stream—messaging app Line generates $270M+ a year through emoji sticker sales.

“When I got in touch with a couple of our early clients, I told them they needed to take advantage of this great opportunity. We launched 3 [custom-branded] apps this year,” Ma says.

6. Don’t Go Overboard. While emojis can help your brand, they can also hurt it when used incorrectly. When Goldman Sachs tweeted 20+ emojis in a single tweet, user’s comments indicated they weren’t impressed; many were put off and felt the company was trying too hard. Be tactful in your emoji usage by limiting your content to just a few emojis.

7. Lean Towards Popular Emojis. In order to get the most engagement, use popular emojis that your audience will recognize and love. Obscure emojis are less likely to result in engagement, so steer clear. 2016’s most popular emojis were the laughing face with tears, the red heart, and the clapping hands. The most-used emojis change by month, according to seasons and holidays, so factor festivity into your emoji content for the best results.

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Think you’re not cut out for entrepreneurship? Think again.

This Millennial stay-at-home-mom-of-three with no business experience launched a 6-figure company out of her home in her spare time.

Meet Kiera Fogg, the founder of Little Box Of Rocks, an innovative ‘bouquet’ company that sends crystal bouquets to recipients instead of flowers. Because there’s no better way to say ‘I love you’ than with a heartfelt box of rocks.

There’s a ‘bouquet’ for just about every occasion—you can send loving Rose Quartz on Mother’s Day, fortuitous Citrine as a ‘thank you’ gift, and soothing Amethyst to help someone get well soon.

With a tagline like “the bouquet that lasts forever,” the Little Box Of Rocks has bashed expectations and turned heads. It’s been endorsed by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, and Oprah, and been featured in People, Vogue and The Today Show.

So what made Fogg’s company such a hit?

Fogg says her secret was her willingness to act on a crazy-seeming business idea that came to her when she was bathing her 6-month-old in the tub. “The idea literally came to me in one of those moments of inspiration that you hear about,” Fogg says. “The name ‘Little Box Of Rocks’ popped into my head and I got chills. I knew exactly what it was, sending crystals the way we typically send flowers. I thought, if nobody’s doing this, I have to give it a try.”

How many times have we all dismissed these bursts of inspiration because they seem too “out there” or we doubt they will resonate with anyone?

Here’s the kicker—Fogg wasted no time in executing on her idea. In just one year, Fogg was able to launch her online business as a stay-at-home-mom with no prior business experience.

This week on the Unconventional Life Podcast, Fogg shares the practices that were integral to her success.

Refurbish The Old

If you’re stuck trying to decide on a business concept, Fogg recommends to look no further than a timeless trend that could use an update. The benefit to this strategy is that you can piggyback off of the positive attitudes people already have towards the concept, like gifting flowers, and generate interest about your offering by introducing a unique twist, like gifting crystals.

In deciding how to refurbish, lean towards something that is popular and relevant today. Fogg was successful because crystals are currently making a comeback in mainstream culture today. If you can bridge a beloved tradition and a rising trend, you may be able to replicate her success.

DIY

Fogg’s story is so inspiring because she represents humble roots—she didn’t have an entourage of branding specialists, professional photographers, or website designers. She was simply a stay-at-home-mom who wanted to earn more income online.

Fogg says she taught herself everything she needed to know to launch a business. “I took all my product pictures on my kitchen counter. People don’t realize when they’re looking at a glossy website that that’s actually possible. It’s not this insurmountable thing. You can Google it, take it to your kitchen counter, and figure out how to light it and edit it properly,” Fogg says.

The mom-of-three warns to watch out for Fairy Godmother Syndrome, wherein you’re relying on others to take action for you. In an age where most startups are looking to full-service branding and marketing agencies to assist them, Fogg is a mythbuster who reminds us that you can actually accomplish everything on your own. Educate yourself and make use of all of the resources at your disposal and you will be successful.

I can remember just a year ago when, by chance, I found myself having a conversation with a woman affiliated with the United Nations. I began to open up to her about my vision for reimagining higher education.

I recognized there wasn’t anything logical about why she should be interested in my idea. I didn’t have much to show for it like a fancy website, sponsors or a big social media presence, but I did have one thing that set me apart—passion. I was able to convey my “why” behind my project, the burning need I felt for the education system to expand its horizons to prepare students for nontraditional career paths. She was immediately enrolled, and on the spot she invited me to present my idea to the UN in 3 weeks.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten doors to open for me simply because the other person could feel the passion in my heart behind my idea. In fact, it’s the #1 thing that’s set me apart and helped my businesses take flight in the world.

That’s because the culture around business is shifting—as Simon Sinek famously said, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

The classic elevator pitch, in which we share “what” we do, is outdated. People are no longer swayed by a list of credentials; they are desensitized to it. Instead, they want to feel something when you share your idea, which is why your cause is the first thing you should lead with.

94% of Millennials today would switch brands to support a cause. It’s clear—the trend is towards impact and service.

So how do you craft a pitch that instantly enrolls others in your “why”? One entrepreneur whose “why” is spreading like wildfire can teach you.

Meet Jack Delosa, a serial entrepreneur, investor, and the founder and CEO of The Entourage, Australia’s largest education institution for entrepreneurs, which has over 300,000 members. He’s also a two-time bestselling author, has been featured in popular publications like GQ and Men’s Health, and has over 10,000 hours of speaking experience for audiences like TEDx, AMEX, Virgin, and Microsoft.

This week on the Unconventional Life Podcast, Delosa shares why enrolling others in the “why” behind your business is the most effective way to generate support for your company.

Below, read Delosa’s tips to craft a powerful, 60-second pitch for your business that conveys your purpose and invites others to align with your vision.

1. Understand your audience. In order to create a vision that resonates with others, you need to understand who it is you’re serving and what it is that they crave. “I want to know what frustrates my audience, what problems they have that they talk to their friends about, problems they don’t talk to anyone about, the fears and reluctances that hold them back, their immediate desires and their dreams,” Delosa says.

“Go deep into the hearts and minds of your audience so that you can best speak to them, connect with them, market to them, sell to them, serve them, and retain them.” When you seek to empathize with your audience, you will learn how to strike a chord of resonance with them so they will care about your company and stand behind you.