Virality vs. Community Building: How To Approach Content Creation

In the digital age, content creation has become a pivotal aspect of marketing, personal branding, and community engagement. Two of the strategies available stand out for their distinct approaches and outcomes: aiming for virality and fostering community building. Both strategies have advantages and drawbacks, and understanding when and how to employ them can significantly impact your content strategy's success.

Understanding Virality

What is Virality?

Virality refers to the rapid and widespread sharing of content across the internet. Viral content typically achieves significant visibility quickly, often driven by novelty, emotional impact, or relevance. The term "viral" is derived from how content spreads, akin to a virus, from person to person, exponentially increasing its reach.

Characteristics of Viral Content

1. Emotional Appeal: Content that elicits strong emotions such as joy, surprise, anger, or sadness is more likely to be shared.

2. Novelty and Uniqueness: Unique and original content stands out in a sea of information, capturing attention quickly.

3. Relatability: Content that resonates with a broad audience, often through common experiences or cultural references, has a higher chance of going viral.

4. High Shareability: Easy-to-share formats, such as short videos, memes, and infographics, enhance the likelihood of spreading content.

They said said it looks like this was his first day on earth! Lmfaooo pic.twitter.com/HJVDLh7omo

— ISSA KHARI (@IssaKhari) December 28, 2022

Benefits of Viral Content

1. Increased Visibility: Viral content can dramatically increase brand awareness and reach.

2. Cost-Effective: Achieving virality can result in massive exposure with minimal investment in paid promotions.

3. Quick Impact: The rapid spread of viral content can lead to immediate engagement and response from the audience.

Drawbacks of Virality

1. Short Lifespan: Viral content often has a fleeting presence, quickly losing relevance as trends shift.

2. Unpredictability: Virality is difficult to predict and control, making it a risky strategy.

3. Superficial Engagement: Viral content may attract attention but not necessarily lead to meaningful or sustained interactions with the brand.

Understanding Community Building

What is Community Building?

Community building involves creating and nurturing a dedicated group of followers or members who share common interests, values, or goals. This strategy focuses on long-term engagement, fostering relationships, and creating a sense of belonging among members.

Characteristics of Community Building

1. Consistent Engagement: Regular interaction through content, discussions, and events helps maintain a strong connection with the community.

2. Value-Driven Content: Content that provides value, whether through information, education, or entertainment, keeps community members engaged.

3. Authenticity and Trust: Building trust through transparency, authenticity, and responsiveness is crucial for community growth.

4. Shared Purpose: A clear and shared purpose or mission unites the community and fosters loyalty.

Benefits of Community Building

Message to the Black Photographers from @DapperDanHarlem… #NYFW

(Translation: 🗣highlight eachother as much as you try to highlight these celebrities) pic.twitter.com/XZFWSwmjdc

— ISSA KHARI (@IssaKhari) February 6, 2024

1. Loyal Audience: A strong community provides a loyal audience that supports the brand consistently.

2. Sustained Engagement: Unlike the fleeting nature of viral content, community engagement is more stable and long-lasting.

3. Organic Growth: A thriving community can lead to organic growth as members invite others with similar interests.

4. User-Generated Content: Community members often contribute their content, enriching the overall content pool.

Drawbacks of Community Building

1. Time-Intensive: Building and nurturing a community requires significant time and effort.

2. Slower Growth: Community building tends to be a slower process compared to the rapid visibility that viral content can achieve.

3. Resource Demanding: Maintaining high-quality interactions and content for the community can be resource-intensive.

Strategies for Viral Content Creation

Leveraging Emotional Triggers

Creating content that taps into strong emotions can significantly enhance its shareability. Emotions such as awe, amusement, and curiosity are powerful motivators for sharing.

Utilizing Trends and Timing

Staying abreast of current trends and leveraging timely events can boost the relevance and shareability of content. This includes capitalizing on holidays, news events, and trending topics.

Creating Visually Appealing Content

Visual content, particularly videos and infographics, tends to perform well regarding shares. Ensuring the content is high quality and visually engaging is crucial for virality.

Encouraging User Participation

Interactive content encouraging user participation, such as challenges, quizzes, or polls, can enhance engagement and shareability.

Strategies for Community Building

Regular and Meaningful Interaction

Consistent interaction with community members, through comments, discussions, and live events, helps build a sense of belonging and loyalty.

Providing Value and Education

Creating content that educates, informs, or entertains the community ensures that members find value in staying engaged. This can include tutorials, how-to guides, and insightful articles.

Fostering a Safe and Inclusive Environment

A positive and inclusive community environment encourages members to participate and share. Establishing clear guidelines and moderating interactions are essential for maintaining a healthy community.

Encouraging User-Generated Content

Inviting community members to contribute their content fosters a sense of ownership and participation. This can include guest posts, member spotlights, and collaborative projects.

My most liked photo on that other app. https://t.co/iawDde4Sa9 pic.twitter.com/NQTQbqIv8H

— ISSA KHARI (@IssaKhari) April 20, 2024

Balancing Virality and Community Building

While virality and community building may seem like mutually exclusive strategies, a balanced approach can leverage the strengths of both. Here’s how:

Integrating Viral Elements into Community Content

Incorporating elements that have the potential to go viral within your regular community content can enhance visibility while maintaining engagement. For instance, creating shareable snippets or highlights from community events can attract a broader audience.

Using Viral Content to Attract Community Members

Viral content can serve as a gateway to introduce new members to your community. Once you capture their attention with viral content, guide them toward deeper engagement and membership.

Sustaining Engagement Post-Virality

After achieving virality, ensure that you have mechanisms in place to sustain engagement. This includes follow-up content, exclusive offers, or invitations to join community platforms.

Monitoring and Adapting Strategies

Regularly monitor the performance of both viral and community-focused content. Use analytics to understand what resonates with your audience and adapt your strategies accordingly.

Case Studies

Case Study 1: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a prime example of viral content that also fostered a sense of community. The challenge went viral due to its unique and engaging format, but it also built a community around a common cause, raising significant awareness and funds for ALS research.

Case Study 2: Reddit

Reddit exemplifies community building with its diverse and highly engaged communities (subreddits). While specific posts or threads may go viral, the core value of Reddit lies in its robust community structure, where members consistently engage in meaningful discussions.

Case Study 3: GoPro

GoPro effectively balances virality and community building. Their user-generated content strategy encourages community members to share their adventures using GoPro cameras, leading to viral videos that simultaneously strengthen the GoPro community.

Conclusion

Virality and community building are both powerful content strategies, each with its unique advantages and challenges. By understanding the nuances of each approach, content creators can craft strategies that not only capture attention but also foster long-term engagement and loyalty. A balanced approach that leverages the strengths of both virality and community building can lead to sustained success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

In summary, while the allure of virality can provide immediate and widespread visibility, the enduring value of community building lies in creating a loyal and engaged audience. By integrating the two strategies thoughtfully, content creators can achieve both short-term impact and long-term growth.

Pride NYC 2023

The Pride March (NYC) is hands down one of my favorite events to shoot, and I always look forward to it on my calendar. I didn’t make it out to Dance Africa (B.A.M. Africa) so this is the first major event I’m covering this year and wanted to push myself to create those immersive photos I was known for back when I did event photography.

Pride NYC 2021

I attended my first Pride this year in New York City. I didn’t get the full experience being the official Pride march was a “virtual” event, however, i did get to cover several events over the weekend. Protests and gatherings in the city that i feel very much the true spirit of Pride as the community still fights for rights and respect throughout the world.

To achieve this i decide to bring out my trusty Canon 7D Mark II with my OG 24-105mm L lens. (You see below in the shots from the Washington Square Park Fountain shots where i really put this set up to use) as well as my daily setup of the Canon EOS R with the RF 85mm F/2 IS STM lens. With the 7D being almost 10 years old and the 24-105 even older i wanted to create a cohesive photoset that didn’t have a drop off in quality between the cameras. I would to see if yall can tell which camera is which in some of the telephoto shots.

I like to get my beauty sleep after staying til 3 am so naturally I made it out to the Pride March around the start time, ( which if you cover events like this you know its a ridiculous idea lol.) and with my luck, they started the march 30 mins early lmao. So I spend 15 minutes running around in hopes of finding a cool police officer that let me through the barricades of course this would never happen without those coveted press credentials I mentioned in a previous post. I eventually made it through and began to capture these beautiful moments you see below.

After maybe an hour of walking down 5th Ave I began to get bored so i decided to break off a little earlier than normal since I wasn’t on assignment, said fuck it, and found my way to Washington Square to setup up for the fountain shots. Now the fountain gets crazy once those who have indulged in some “fire water” show up, but I was there so early that there were a few parents and their kids swimming in the shallow waters of the fountain. This gave me some time to get out the 7D and my lens cloths. As you can see from the show there water splashing every where so the lens cloths were mandatory! (I brought two lens larges lens cloths knowing what I was getting into and it still wasn’t enough.)

I might have to share my key to getting water out of my camera body and lenses in a future post.

To check out the full Pride 2023 Photoset Click here.

The goal was to outdo my last year's photos and capture the love and joy the community has for each other and I hope I did that with this photoset. I have some ideas to step up my documentation for next year’s coverage cause I brought my GoPro along and didn’t even use it. My next event on the calendar is Afropunk 2023 but i might hit Curlfest and i believe Essencefest might be back in NYC. Follow me on Twitter to keep up with photography and where you might catch me next.

til next time…

My First NFT Project "Petit fi Ayiti" has be released

So You may have heard, I just dropped my first official NFT for those who are into digital collectibles. However, I know most people are confused about what an NFT is. There are several answers you could receive depending on who you ask.

In celebration of Haitian Independence day, I present one of my favorite pieces “Pitit fi Ayiti” a collaboration between myself and Haitian Artist Sasa Juste.

There is the technical answer, “NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. It is a digital asset representing ownership or proof of authenticity of a unique item or piece of content such as artwork, music, videos, and even tweets.”

Then there is the enthusiast answer, “NFTs are a revolutionary new way to collect and own digital content. They represent a paradigm shift in the art world, where digital art can now be bought and sold just like traditional art.”

Then there is the perspective of those with a traditional financial background who might say, “an NFT is a non-fungible asset, it is not easily exchangeable for other assets, and this attribute limits its liquidity. As such, it may be difficult to determine its fair market value, and there may not be a well-established secondary market for NFTs. Also the value of an NFT is largely subjective and relies on the willingness of someone to pay for it. This can lead to price volatility and speculation, which may not be suitable for all investors.”

Well what is Issa’s my perspective? It’s simply another way to sell my art. If you spent time any of my Twitter Spaces you know I’ve had quite a few critiques and why I don’t believe the current iteration of NFTs are ideal for mass adoption. But I also feel it’s great way to reach a new audience and immerse yourself in a maturing community. The collective is not receptive of critique, its hands-on, and very malleable as it attempts to meet the needs of its users.

But enough about NFT’s lol. This is an announcement about releasing new art…

In celebration of Haitian Independence day, I present one of my favorite pieces “Pitit fi Ayiti” a collaboration between myself and Haitian Artist Sasa Juste.

The Haitian Revolution was a major event in world history, as it was the first and only successful slave revolt in modern times, leading to the establishment of Haiti as the first independent black nation in the world. The Haitian Revolution took place between 1791 and 1804, and it was sparked by the French Revolution, which had inspired people to think about freedom and equality. The Haitian Revolution was led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, who united the enslaved Africans and led them in a successful rebellion against the French colonists and their white allies. The Haitian Revolution had a profound impact on world history and the abolition of slavery, and it remains a significant and inspiring event to this day.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

As we bring in the new year, it's a time to reflect on the past and look toward the future. We have so much to be grateful for, especially the support and encouragement of our community. Thank you for being a part of this journey and supporting me through the ups and downs.

Thank you all for an incredible year...
Now let's double up! ‘23 🥷🏾

— ISSA KHARI (@IssaKhari) January 1, 2023

This new year brings new opportunities and new challenges. It's a chance to set new goals and make positive changes in our lives and the world around us. Let's strive to be the best versions of ourselves and inspire and support others on their journeys.

For the content creators & photographers out there I'm working on this “Creators Network” and will be disclosing the details soon. You can always jump into one of my Twitter Spaces for our creator sessions and talk social media strategy. Stay tuned.

Here's to a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year!

Thank You,

• Issa

End Of the Weak 2x World Champion, Osyris Antham continues to be mentioned in the same realm as Hip-hop's legends by Lupe Fiasco.

For those of you who have followed me and my journey in the NYC art scene, you know I always credit Nasiyr, better known as Osyris Antham, for me even becoming a member of Legendary Cyphers and becoming acquainted with most of the artist that I know today. From the first time I heard him rap at Nicholas Brooklyn, a small African-centered variety shop, I immediately recognized his talent. I bring this up because recently well-respected Emcee and Grammy-nominated lyricist has championed Osyris as one of the best Emcees in the world. Even putting his well-respected opinion on the line against veteran Emcee and Detroit native Royce Da 5’9”. So I thought it would be only right to bring back this moment I happened to be present and personally documenting for the culture. Below you can see the rounds for Osyris’ third U.S. title defense where he destroyed his competition in front of no other than Lupe Fiasco himself.

OSYRIS ANTHAM ROUNDS • End of the Weak 2019 US Emcee Challenge

Do you think we will get an Osyris Antham vs Royce Da 5’9” battle? Check out Mickey Factz IG Live to see how this all came about. The underground hip-hop scene hasn't seen this kind of buzz since another heralded emcee by the name of Joe Budden decided to challenge a top battle rapper.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mickey Factz (@mickey.factz)

If you want to check out the full performance for the EODubb (End of the Weak) MC 2019 U.S. Challenge just check out the link below. You can see performance from Mickey Factz, the whole End of the Weak family, the complete U.S. MC Challenge as well as a rare freestyle from Lupe Fiasco himself.

(Sidenote: I recorded this entire event by myself standing in one spot for almost 5 hours including waiting for the event to begin and guarding the best angle for the stream. lol, never again I should have charged them 5x for that. I was exhausted)

Over the last 20 years the MC Challenge has been held in over 25 countries across 5 continents. Over a dozen countries are active each year, with entrants competing in regional competitions and the winner advancing to the National Finals. Every year, each nation sends one champion to represent their country in the annual World Finals, where one MC is crowned the new World Champion.

Learn More About the World Finals

The first-ever MC Challenge was held during August, 2000 in the back of a restaurant in NYC’s Lower East Side and featured Immortal Technique and WebbaFied. Other Challengers and Champions include: Hasan Salaam, Jin, Iron Solomon, Immortal Technique, Pack FM, Pumpkinhead, Reef Da Lost Cause, Breez Evahflowin, C-Rayz Walz, Poison Pen and many more.

The MC Challenge was invented as the evolution of the MC Battle. We envisioned a unique competition that tests the most talented MCs on a wide set of skills. In the MC Challenge, contestants compete in five rounds: Beat Juggling, Written’s, A Capella’s, Cypha’s, and the crowd favorite: Freestyle Grab Bag.

During the event a panel of judges awards points for lyrics, creativity, stage presence, delivery and crowd reaction. We pride ourselves on the love of competition, the mutual respect and the talent level of the MCs who compete.

Gary Vaynerchuk broke my Twitter Spaces! (My first week as a beta tester)

So I've been granted the honor of being among the first few hundred people to beta test Twitter’s newest feature Twitter Spaces. I don't remember exactly how I found Twitter spaces (you have to be following someone who hosting or speaking in a room to see the feature) but I was definitely in love with the user interface and sound quality in comparison to the clubhouse app. So before I get into how Gary Vaynerchuk broke my Spaces, I'll give a run down into what I like and what I feel needs improvement before launch!

At the time of this post, the Twitter Spaces beta feedback group is a very small group of people, so for you to experience the feature for yourself, you’ll need to find and follow a beta tester. (hopefully, you’re already following me.) If you’ve used the clubhouse app you be fairly familiar with the audio chat interface. Though the moderation tools are as well fleshed out yet, however, the host feels very much in control of their space. Unlike the seemingly unlimited amount of people who can jump on a mic like in the clubhouse app, you are limited to 10 additional speakers. No one is sure how many people total can populate a space but I am sure we have plenty of time to test that out.

Sidenote: much like the Clubhouse audio chat app, only iPhone users are able to utilize the feature at the moment. I am hearing the iPad is getting the ability soon.

Ok most of you are really only here because you want to know how Gary Vee broke my Twitter Space, lol.

Wait ... twitter has a clubhouse competitor ? pic.twitter.com/1YeXw6yM3s

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) January 25, 2021

So boom. I startup a twitter space, I think it was my second time hosting a room. After about 15 minutes of chatting with some of my followers and other beta testers, Kayvon from Twitter jumps in we start talking a little about my periscope days. (Kayvon is the founder of Periscope, which is owned by Twitter.) The thing is Kayvon is pretty popular so lots of people start jumping into the Space. The only way right now to find a Twitter Space is to follow the host, follow someone who has been given speaker privileges or get a direct link to spaces. So as Kayvon’s following starts to pile in and people start asking questions the room starts to become pretty popular turning my little “dinner party” into a town hall meeting. Things are going great people are spending limited time "on stage" and asking some great questions But little did we know Gary Vaynerchuk found the space! So Gary decides to screenshot the Space and shoot it out to his timeline and all hell breaks loose. lmfaooooo. My Space quickly goes from 3-4 people requesting to speak to Kayvon to about 40 all at the same time. At this point, this system is getting pushed to its limits because listeners are spamming the request button to get my attention, and some people who were granted speak privileges are getting kicked. Plus the UI isn’t designed to efficiently sort through 40 requests at the same time. So as I’m vetting each profile while simultaneously moderating and greeting each person who joins the convo, the tweet from Gary Vee is shared inside the space and we all realized what going on. so for about 15 minutes tech enthusiasts, Journalists, etc.. are flying into the space until Kayvon leaves, and then the room goes back to normal, or at least I thought. Turns out for the next 4 days the Twitter team was trying to figure out why 2 out of every 3 listeners would get kicked from the room when I brought them up to speak. Which I called the “Issa Khari bug” since my space was the only account that this was happening in. I haven’t seen Gary jump in since but he did jump in fellow beta tester Kyle Harris’ space later on that day and came up to speak on the “hustle” culture which was interesting, to say the least. lol

I think the best thing about the whole situation is that a lot of feedback was submitted from the experience and created the opportunity to see what would be needed for larger accounts to utilize the feature. My Fellow beta testers as well as myself have made several suggestions like co-hosting and some better moderation abilities, like muting individual speakers as well as the whole room. I do want to say the Twitter team has been incredible with reaching out, they are regularly in the rooms and even come up to speak from time to time to listen to feedback in real-time. It reminds me of my Periscope VIP experience, with a great line of communication and genuinely listening to those who cultivate communities to be a significant voice in how these apps are shaped. I’ll give an update down the line as the app gets some new features which I'm hearing should be rolling out soon. So that’s about it for now, let me go start up another space, go find me on Twitter!

Protesters Riot in Brooklyn Over Walter Wallace Jr. Shooting

Walter Wallace Jr, who was shot 10x in West Philadelphia on October 26, is the latest Black Man to be killed by police. The incident has thrown more fuel ton a fire that has burned all summer nationwide which started with the death of George Floyd. Wednesday night a crowd of a little over 100 demonstrators took the streets of Brooklyn in a pure rage smashing windows, throwing trash, and lighting whatever they could find on fire.

Wallace, who was said to suffer mental is illness has not only pushed the divide between the Black community and law enforcement further apart. But it also strengthens the call for better training of officers across the U.S. in addition to less-lethal options and professionals within the mental health field to answer calls of distress instead of armed officers. Though these riots in Brooklyn won't solve the problem by any means, it seems to display the lack of patience from those who feel they have no other means to get the attention of those in power.

⚡️ “Brooklyn WalterWallace Riots 10.27.20”
Protesters take over the streets of Brooklyn in solidarity with city of Philadelphia after fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace #WalterWallaceJr #nycprotests #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/dfeqvdm5Hl

— ISSA KHARI PHOTOGRAPHY (@issakhariphoto) October 30, 2020