In an economy where everyone is creating, selling and competing for visibility, attention has become one of the most valuable currencies. The challenge is no longer simply creating good content, but learning how to make people stop, listen and remember.
My first book, Donjazzyfied, was written in 2015 when I was a young reporter.
Yes, it was about the career lessons I had learnt from Don Jazzy. But I deliberately did something with the title. I coined the word ‘Donjazzyfied.’
I wanted people to see it and wonder: What does that mean?
Looking back, I realise that I was learning one of the most important lessons in today’s digital economy: attention has to be earned.
We live in a world where everybody is creating.
The entrepreneur is creating. The professional is creating. The celebrity is creating. The small business owner is creating. The journalist, consultant, pastor, comedian and influencer are all competing for space on the same screen.
And there is only so much attention available.
This has created what is often described as the attention economy – an environment in which human attention itself becomes a scarce and valuable resource because there is an overwhelming supply of information competing for it.
The implication for anyone building a business, career or personal brand is simple: being good is no longer enough.
People have to notice you before they can know you.
And that is where the ability to engineer attention becomes important.
By engineering attention, I do not mean manipulating people or trying to trick an algorithm. I mean deliberately thinking about how an idea is packaged, where it enters a conversation, what makes it relevant and why someone should care enough to stop scrolling.
Over the years, I have learnt that attention can be designed for.
I call the approach HACK.
Hook the attention
Before people can engage with your idea, you have to give them a reason to stop.
That reason could be a headline, a question, an unusual phrase, a visual or simply a perspective they have not encountered before.
That was what Donjazzyfied did for me in 2015.
The subject was familiar. The packaging was not.
That distinction remains important today.
Research into online behaviour continues to show that the way information is expressed can influence the attention it receives. A recent study published in Nature Human Behaviour, for example, found that aspects of how people express themselves on social media can be strongly associated with the attention their posts attract.
In plain language, you can have something valuable to say and still lose the audience because of how you said it.
Don’t just have a message. Learn how to package the message.
Adapt and adopt
One of the biggest mistakes people make online is confusing adaptation with imitation.
A trend starts and everyone either copies it or ignores it.
I prefer to ask a different question:
What is this trend really telling me?
A recent example was Woli Arole’s viral Ajo conversation.
The subject had already captured public attention, with celebrities and ordinary Nigerians joining the conversation.
Rather than simply participate in the trend, I looked at it through the lens I understand: marketing and visibility.
I created a carousel examining the marketing lessons entrepreneurs, professionals and ordinary people could learn from the Ajo phenomenon.
Then I sent Woli Arole a collaboration request on Instagram.
He accepted.
The post went on to generate more than 80,000 reach.
The important lesson was not that I had created the attention around Ajo.
I recognised attention that already existed and found a relevant way to enter the conversation.
I call this borrowed attention.
You do not always have to manufacture attention from scratch.
Sometimes, you can enter a conversation people already care about and contribute something useful to it.
A fashion designer can analyse a viral celebrity outfit.
A lawyer can explain the legal implications of a trending controversy.
A restaurant can connect its brand to a cultural moment.
A business consultant can turn a popular frustration into a business lesson.
The opportunity is not always in creating the trend.
Sometimes, the opportunity is in interpreting the trend better.
Customize the conversation
But adaptation without originality quickly becomes imitation.
Your audience should be able to recognise your fingerprints on your content.
I experienced this with a post I created around Mr P. The post generated more than 80,000 reach, several comments and new followers.
The subject was already familiar to the public.
What changed was the framing.
This is where many brands struggle. They ask, ‘What is everyone talking about?’ but fail to ask the more important question:
‘What can I say about this that sounds like me?’
Two people can discuss the same celebrity, song, controversy or business trend and produce completely different results.
The difference is often perspective.
Your experience.
Your expertise.
Your worldview.
Your ability to make an unexpected connection.
That is customization.
Take something people already recognise and give them a reason to look at it differently.
Keep the conversation going
Getting attention is not the end goal.
It is the beginning.
A post can generate thousands of views and still produce little meaningful value for the person who created it.
The better question is: what did the attention achieve?
Did people remember you?
Did they follow you?
Did they visit your page?
Did it start a conversation?
Did it strengthen your positioning?
Did it lead to an opportunity?
Did it bring you closer to the people who might eventually buy from, work with or recommend you?
This is why I don’t believe the goal should simply be virality.
A million views from people who have no connection to what you do may be less valuable than reaching 20,000 people who are genuinely interested in your expertise or product.
Attention is the doorway.
What happens after people walk through that doorway is what determines its value.
That is why the final part of HACK is to keep the conversation going.
Respond to the comments.
Create the follow-up.
Turn an interesting question into another piece of content.
Look at what people reacted to and explore it further.
One successful post should not be the end of the conversation.
It should become the beginning of another.
Attention is not influence
There is another distinction businesses and personal brands need to understand.
Attention is not the same as influence.
You can attract attention without building trust.
You can go viral without building a business.
You can trend without becoming memorable.
And you can get thousands of likes without generating a single meaningful commercial opportunity.
The objective, therefore, should not be attention for attention’s sake.
The objective should be relevant attention.
Attention that creates familiarity.
Familiarity that creates trust.
Trust that creates opportunity.
And opportunity that creates value.
That is particularly important for entrepreneurs and professionals who often complain that nobody is talking about their businesses.
Sometimes the problem isn’t that the business is not good.
The problem is that nobody has been given a compelling reason to notice it.
The real hack
Looking back at Donjazzyfied, I realise that the book was more than a clever title.
It was an early lesson in something I have continued to practise through journalism, PR, content and personal branding.
My work around Tiwa Savage’s Energy, the Woli Arole Ajo trend and the Mr P conversation have reinforced the same lesson in different ways.
You do not necessarily need the biggest audience in the room.
You need to understand the room.
Understand what people are talking about.
Understand what makes them curious.
Understand what makes them share.
Understand what makes them stop.
And then bring your own value into the conversation.
That is the real HACK:
Hook the attention.
Adapt and adopt the opportunity.
Customize the message.
Keep the conversation going.
In a saturated digital space, don’t just compete to be seen.
Learn how to make people stop.
Because people cannot consider what they have not noticed, and they cannot choose what they cannot remember.
Attention may not be everything. But without it, too many great ideas, businesses and talents remain invisible.