Eyeballs, while easy to attract, are hard to sustain. This is because everyone is competing for them, and as a result, it can be challenging to make sure people keep thinking about you, so you can sell them products, services, or yourself.
The question immediately becomes whether something that becomes viral or widespread can also be made addictive, or continued. The answer: sort of. Typically, those that have lasting power have cultivated a brand over time, so that people that are interested in the latest thing can reach for more.
Here are two examples: Marginal Revolution and Slate Star Codex. Each of these blogs have bubbled up into mainstream press at several occasions, but consistently give something for their loyal fans to feast upon. In MR’s case, it’s several blog posts daily. in SSC’s case, there’s a couple posts or classifieds a week.
It often feels like both blogs are building upon their oeuvre, and allow for their fans to gain appreciation for things over time. You need to throw a lot of spaghetti at the wall if you want something to stick.
Virality is often not as easy to monetize as sustained audience growth because of the limited amount of tries you have to refine what you want. By the time an event happens, are you going to have built a custom T-shirt, sticker, or mug? Probably not. However, when you’re gradually building your audience, they can more see themselves as part of your community and see merch or other products as a chance to further engage with something they already like.
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