At the end of each month, I've made it a habit to take a look back at analytics for the month and highlight the most viewed content on this blog. In January, the top ten posts were:
- A List of Social Media Marketing Examples
- Social Media Predictions 2009
- It's Time To Transform
- Why Web 2.0 Still Matters
- Reputation Matters
- How to break free from the echo chamber
- A framework for measuring social media
- Now's the time, the time is now
- The need for services in social technology
- How to set an ego trap
Some things I noticed:
– The top two posts are collaborative content.
– Blog content is highly perishable, but five posts are pre-2009.
– My style is best suited for posting once or twice a week.
– I've been publishing this blog for three years. Tempus fugit.
Hey Peter… remember back when this blog use to be mainly about advertising? š I do! (i also vaguely remember my site being listed on a blogroll on that earlier version…but then again, so much has changed in the last three years, both in our careers and relative industries that my memory for such things might be a little ‘clouded’)…
Just giving ya a hard time, everything will always change over time, especially when it comes to blog themes.
The real reason for the comment was to point out an interest twist on your five-tool employee theory that i just came across in the rss reader (courtesy of Godin)- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/01/what-would-a-professional-do.html
here’s the snippet concerning it (for those under time-constraints):
His post was about competing against ‘Professionals’ and the four available options to those of us who happen to ‘wear many hats’ when it comes to our profession. The fourth was the most interesting (in my humble opinion): “Do work that a professional wouldn’t dare do, and use this as an advantage.”
He later goes on to further explain that:
” From personal YouTube videos to particularly poignant and honest presentations or direct and true sales pitches, the humility, freshness and transparency that comes with an honest performance might actually be better than what a professional could do. Harvey Milk was an amateur politician, not a pro. If you’re the only person on earth who could have done what you just did, then you’re a proud amateur.
You can’t skate by when you refuse to mimic a professional. You must connect in a personal, lasting way that matters. That’s difficult, but the professionals have no chance to compete with you.
Be an amateur on purpose, not because you have to.”
Now other than the somewhat cheese-laden closing statement, i found it to be rather on-point with what i’ve experienced even as far back to when I was just a 14 year old trying to get some extra cash by creating websites for local businesses (not to date myself but at that time, most of the business owners I approached either hadn’t hear of the internet or felt that it was only an educational resource only available for universities). The experience taught me not only how to sell but also how to accept minor set-backs as building blocks for improving my strategy/business plan.
What do you think though? Do you think that those that can and willingly perform multiple ‘job roles’ have to compete against Seth’s definition of a professional? (which btw just meant someone who “does industry standard work for hire” rather than go for achieving “the best they can get”). Or do you think that someone who spends their days focusing on one aspect of a career out-weighs those that might stray to other job tasks in an attempt to improve upon their initial responsibilities?
Oh yes, the advertising heritage. Here’s one of my earlier blog posts on the topic, as a guest on my colleague’s blog: http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2006/02/super_bowl_xl_a.html . Comments are a must read. I was ready for the commentosphere and it didn’t disappoint.
Brent, I’m not sure I can answer your question directly. It’s a big one. What I do think is there’s a certain amount of “corporate congruence” in the world. Big companies hire big companies. People seek to hire others with similar backgrounds. I think that many “professionals” making business decisions seek corporate congruence and choose other professionals for the job. Less risk, less reward.
Moreover, separating the professionals from the amateurs is near impossible in today’s social media advisory market. It’s too early. The market is not mature enough for most people to separate the carpetbaggers from the experts. So buyers look for “professional” queues, like a published book or an established corporate name.
I believe that doing one thing extremely well will win in the long run. Because doing one thing extremely well means you can do the supplemental things too. Being mediocre at many things isn’t a great idea – it’s all about shaping up a good story.
Peter,
Why do you use “most viewed” as the metric for popularity? Do you consider other metrics like comments, bookmarked, most linked? Just wondering, been obsessing about that lately.
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/01/using-metrics-and-insight-harvesting-to-track-and-improve-your-blog-content.html
Of course, for me, the most important part is the step back and looking for patterns/analysis like you’ve done.
I really don’t pay too much attention to metrics, but those are some great ideas in your post.
I wish that more blog-friendly analytics packages still existed. I used to like Blogbeat a lot, which turned into Feedburner, which turned into Google Analytics (aka Urchin). I didn’t get in with MeasureMap before Google closed off. Not sure I want to set up Mint and get into the world of hosting & maintenance.
The simple answer – Google Analytics is free and allows me to set a date range, which many other tools don’t allow. Page views is the primary measure of popularity in the tool, so I go with it (and blog-specific metrics like comments etc. don’t exist). Some people might use time spent as an alternative.
http://www.postrank.com/ offers some engagement metrics, but the program is
not as flexible or automated as one would like.
Maybe someday google analytics will incorporate engagement, RSS sub
tracking, etc.