The Year of Culture: Our Most Shared Blogs of 2013

One of the great things about working in marketing is that we have an opportunity to talk about a wide variety of topics. Even better, we get to tell it like it is. We can weigh in on controversial subjects. We can be funny. We can be serious. We can take a stand against things that don’t make sense or things that are fundamentally wrong. And we can do these things without compromising our brand because our brand promise is to always tell the raw truth.

With that said, here are the topics from the past year that inspired the most discussion on our blog. These are the topics that really resonated with people. For us, compiling this list not only paints a picture of the year 2013, it gives us a chance to learn from the topics that best engaged so we can make our blog even better in 2014.

15. Coca-Cola & Happiness

 

 

Coke, in addition to being the biggest brand in the world, also finds itself a stone’s throw away from our Midtown Atlanta office. That means we get an up close and personal look at how they build their brand using smart storytelling. {read it here}

14. SEO & Game Theory

 

We’ve always believed in playing the long game when it comes to digital campaigns. In this post, we draw a comparison between proactive planning (game theory) and reactive decision-making in SEO. {read it here}

13. Grey Thursday

 

Every year it seems stores open earlier and earlier on Black Friday, and it’s gotten to the point where many major retailers are bringing their employees in to work on Thanksgiving night itself. This post argues that not only is Grey Thursday an affront to the holiday spirit, but it’s entirely unnecessary in the digital age. {read it here}

12. Rabushka’s Rules

 

Inspired by the likes of Emily Post, our social media etiquette series sought to emphasize manners in a world of digital narcissism. This introduction to the series debunks the myth that there’s a difference between the real you and the digital you. {read it here} 

11. True Measure of a Man

  

 

We’ve never been shy about tackling big question on our blog, and this post was no exception. How do you define a successful life in the modern era? Reproduction? Wealth? Or something more? {read it here}

10. Success is a Process

 

This post was written as a general response to the question “How can I become successful?” and in it, we argue that success is not a singular destination. It’s something you live every day. {read it here}

9. Empathy Driven Innovation

 

We spend a lot of time learning from how the world’s biggest brands innovate, but small-scale innovation can be just as effective. Making a difference in users’ lives doesn’t take deep pockets, just a healthy dose of empathy. {read it here}

8. Criticism & Creatives

 

When you work in a creative field, you will inevitably have to deal with someone cutting down what you think is your best work. This post about handling criticism (and why it stings so much) seemed to really resonate with our readers who no doubt know the feeling. {read it here}

7. Dignity & Performance

 

Another example of the importance of culture. In this post, we discussed how building purpose into your business is the true key to company culture – not parties, games, and beer. Allowing employees to feel a sense of pride in their work will always trump the extra perks. {read it here}

6. The Mobile Age

 

 

Every year since 2007 has been the “Year of Mobile”, but many brands still aren’t optimizing for tablets, phones, and other devices. Our guide to the Mobile Age argues that there’s more to mobile than just apps – it deserves a comprehensive and dedicated strategy. {read it here}

5. Go Daddy 

 

 

We’ve all seen the Go Daddy commercials featuring busty women parading around in skimpy outfits – which has absolutely nothing to do with web hosting. In this blog, we make the case for why consumers should start holding brands to a higher standard. {read it here}

4. The Hire & Fire Culture

 

Many of our most popular posts touch on agency culture, which really underscores how important the topic is to people in our industry. Here, we took a stand against the hire and fire mentality that runs rampant through many digital firms and we made a case for viewing people as people, not commodities. {read it here}

3. A New Search World 

 

 

We talk a lot on our blog about the importance of the digital Buyer Journey and how understanding it thoroughly is the key to great marketing. In this post, we took a step back to show readers how the Buyer Journey really works online and why it’s becoming infinitely more complicated every year. {read it here}

2. Facebook vs. Google

 

 

There was a lot of discussion this year as Facebook prepared to release its highly anticipated Graph Search feature. It was supposed to challenge Google’s rite to the search throne – some even called Graph Search a potential “Google Killer”. This post predicted that Facebook’s new tool would be a fun toy for users but make little impact on the search landscape. {read it here}

1. Lessons from 2012

 

 

It’s interesting that our most popular blog from 2013 was actually a look back at 2012. This post broke down the highs and lows of the previous year and distilled them into lessons we could use heading into 2013 in order to better serve our clients and our team. {read it here}

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And perhaps the biggest surprise of the year was that our most viewed and most shared post was actually one we wrote in 2012. So what was this thought-provoking piece that moved people so deeply, inspired them so mightily that they felt compelled to read and share it with their friends long after its publication?

Cannabis & Creativity 

 

 

Marijuana. Of course. Despite some stiff challengers, our most popular blog of 2012 successfully defended its title in 2013 as what was supposed to be a thoughtful rumination on creativity turned into a frequent footnote in the case for legalization. Shared by weed advocate sites, content aggregators, and the Joe Rogan podcast, the reads just kept coming for this piece as it discovered new audiences all throughout 2013. {read it here}