The end of the year blog post wrap up is pretty easy for writers. Just look through Google analytics and see which posts had the most views. Not only is it easy, but this format is also a great way to get favorite content back in front of readers. Win, win! But is there a way to make it better? I think so.
Over on Association Success, my friend Arianna Rehak crowd-sourced a great idea (here is her post). What if the year-end list was not about popularity (which could be misleading for any number of reasons) but instead, about the impact? Which got me wondering, which posts were the most impactful on this site? What posts or ideas inspired conversation or even action?
There is no public conversation on this site but, there is a behind-the-scenes conversation. Sometimes lots of it. Subscribers hit reply to email posts to ask questions, share a similar story, or just say thanks. People chime in on social media, not only with likes but with anecdotes too. Attendees catch me at conferences and reference ideas they found helpful in research reports, or e-books, or posts. So in a very unscientific way, I tallied all of these discussions in my mind, and these are the most impactful articles of 2017:
- Is It Day 1 or Day 2 for Associations?
- The Problems Attendees Experience at Conferences
- Belonging to an Association Could Make You Happier
Likes, follows, subscribes, tweets, opens, and views are all good measures. Harder to measure, but more important is impact. What articles, posts, reports, or sessions made an impact on your members?
Here is to a super impactful (and great) 2018!