Marking A Peepshow Milestone


Idea Peepshow 1000 Posts

This is the 1,000th post on the Idea Peepshow.

Cue the crickets.

Actually, we’re proud we hit the mark. Not because 1,000 posts means anything by itself. Blogging is not a game of “Most Posts Wins.” But the milestone gives us a chance to think about what we’ve accomplished, how we’ve managed to do it and where we want to go.

Jörg kicked off the Idea Peepshow on May 21, 2008, with a modest post.

At long last, we’re pulling back the curtain on Idea Peepshow, the Fast Horse blog! Cue the crickets. Frankly, that’s the reception we’re anticipating. And that’s okay. We certainly didn’t launch with illusions of building a vast readership overnight. Or ever. We do, however, intend to have some fun and hope to engage a few folks along the way.

So 999 posts later, we can say we’ve definitely had some fun, stirred up the pot on occasion and shined a light on the Fast Horse way of thinking. And the crickets aren’t quite as noisy anymore. For a boutique agency in Minneapolis, we’ve built quite a following.

Plenty of companies launch blogs. Not everyone succeeds. We’ve all encountered those company blogs that get started with great energy only to wither on the vine. That’s why we’re proud to have hit the 1,000 mark with plenty of gas left in the tank.

Here’s what we’ve learned about building and maintaining momentum for a company blog:

1. Get all hands on deck — Everybody at Fast Horse writes for the Idea Peepshow. Two benefits of this approach: No one gets burned out and our readers encounter a variety of styles, mindsets and ideas.

2. Make blogging a priority — Our blog isn’t a “nice-to-have” item, like a New York Times subscription that could be cut when times get lean. The Peepshow is central to our business. Since 2009, the blog has been our homepage, the gateway to Fast Horse, our culture and our people. Jörg has made a big commitment by dedicating a big chuck of the agency’s time to the Peepshow. If you doubt his commitment, try missing your scheduled post sometime.

3. Keep it fresh and fun — We aim to post at least once per weekday. It’s a target we’ve managed to exceed: We’ve posted 1,000 times in the 945 weekdays since we launched. We write about hefty topics, such as marketing trends, the media business and technology. But we don’t take ourselves too seriously or bog down our readers with bureaucratic pronouncements from the CEO (do we even have a CEO?). We give our writers the opportunity to delve into lighter topics such as sports, entertainment, travel and pets.

4. Enforce a writing schedule — Everyone knows when they’re supposed to write. This gives them time to develop a topic … and keeps the “Who’s got something for the Peepshow?!!!” emails to a minimum.

Thanks for taking this ride with us.