How do we get humans' attention?

A rooster mask, a 90-pound pumpkin and a lot of showing up. Notes from trying to get Nashville to look up from its phone.

Everybody wants attention right now. Every business, every page, every person with a phone. So how does a brand-new local page with a chicken for a mascot get anyone to stop scrolling?

I'm figuring it out in public. This column is where I write down what's working, what flopped and what I'd do differently. No guru stuff. Just notes from the field.

Real beats perfect

The first Daily Cluck episodes were me in a rooster mask reading Nashville news off a printed sheet of paper. No teleprompter, no fancy edits. Then at a pumpkin patch I fell straight into the back of a trunk trying to load a 90-pound pumpkin. I posted it anyway.

That clip did more than anything I've ever polished. People don't stop for perfect. They stop for real.

Show up in person

Ads are easy to ignore. A person standing in front of you isn't. The biggest door that's opened for us so far came from buying snacks at a campus shop where the right people happened to be watching. That turned into a sit-down meeting.

Spend your time where the decision-makers actually are.

Nashville can tell when you're pitching.

Be a neighbor in the comments

Before we had 20 followers, a local business replied to one of our posts and messaged us. Comment sections are free. Show up there like a neighbor, not a salesman.

Give first, ask later

Our giveaways come out of our own pocket, and we say that up front. When someone wins, I call to say thanks. I don't ask them to tag anybody. I text after the event and ask how it was.

People remember how you made them feel, not your call to action.

Judge the batch, not the post

One video flopping means nothing. We test a format for 21 days, then decide. And when something doesn't work, I'll say so right here: this didn't work, and here's why.

The short version

Be real
Show up in person
Comment like a neighbor
Give before you ask
Judge the batch

Attention isn't something you grab. You earn it by being around, being real and giving before you ask.

Your turn: What actually gets your attention in Nashville? A sign, a video, a person, a smell walking past a kitchen? Tell us in The Coop. A few answers will show up in the next column.

*Christ at the center. By the locals, for the locals.*