Defining Success: Accountable Online Marketing for Book Publishing was a full-day session run by BookNet Canada and the ABPBC on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at the SFU Downtown Campus, Vancouver BC.

9:00, 9:15 am: Opening Remarks from Michael Tamblyn, BookNet Canada
Michael Tamblyn couldn’t print his presentation so he read it off his phone. A perfect intro to a day about online media and the changes it has brought to consumers and book publishers.

9:15, 10:00 am: Blogs, Context and Conversations: Interaction, Change and Measuring Results from Ehren Cheung, online marketing specialist for Dundurn Press
Ehren Cheung discussed the elements required to build, maintain and grow a successful blog like Dundurn Press’ Defining Canada with a focus on how to set goals that measure what matters. Ehren has been involved with expanding Dundurn’s Internet marketing initiatives since he joined the publisher a little over two years ago. I really like following Ehren online: Dundurn blog, on Twitter, he’s great.

Key Points from Ehren Cheung:

  • Using Facebook and other social media is about sharing. I’m defining my identity. I’m telling people about myself.
  • There are 3 basic ways we discover something new: Browsing (exploring), sharing, searching
  • Defining Canada started because Dundurn was overhauling its main site. In the interim the blog was created to tell people about what was going on. Sharing the news about the news: interviews, Q&As, videos, insider news.
  • In planning a blog, started with: What do we want to do? What are our goals? What should we be measuring?
  • Start by measuring: Unique visitors, how many pages do users visit, are they loyal, are they increasing their time spent on the site, how many clicks through to ecommerce do we see, what’s the impact of blog posts from authors …
  • Ehren has worked hard on the design of Dundurn blog, which I think works for them.

Ehren’s Top Take-Away Points:

  1. Make it simple.
  2. Practice.
  3. Make use of social media: Use Twitter and Shelfari.com
  4. Listen to the conversations, connect on a genuine level, Share content and information.

Questions from the Audience

Q: How has the purpose of Defining Canada changed over time?
A: Defining Canada currently is an extension of the brand messaging. We arel slowly moving toward building community, focusing on calls to actions.

Q: How does the management view the blog and outreach?
A: We have 521 unique visitors per month. How do they feel about that? Good.

Q: Why do you suggest Twitter?
A: It’s important to my day. Monique suggests it’s like a news ticker in the background. Keep a finger on the pulse of personal contacts and business. Follow us and see what it’s all about:
@ehrenc
@definingcanada
@somisguided
@BookNet_Canada