Web Business by Ken Burbary

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Introducing The Book – Digital Marketing Analytics

We all have our bucket list items. For me one of those items has always been writing a book. Now, I’m actually going to do it. I’m excited to be able to announce that I’ll be writing a book, co-authored with my good friend Chuck Hemann. There are few people I respect more within the digital analytics, social media and digital marketing worlds than Chuck, so when this opportunity arose I jumped at the chance. What are we going to be writing about you might be asking? Well, digital analytics, of course. The title of the book is still being finalized, but the premise of the book is that companies are faced with a mountain of digital data and in a lot of ways that data is being underutilized. Similarly, those same companies struggle to find and utilize tools that help them gather and analyze data, turning it into actionable insights that drive business results. Those are just a few of the items we will be tackling in this book. Some of the other issues we will address include:

• Measuring social media – This book will be covering multiple digital analytics topics, but we would be remiss if we didn’t tackle the 800lb gorilla in the room. Chuck and I approach analytics from different backgrounds, but similar perspectives so you should assume to see very practical measurement advice in this book. How do we create integrated measurement plans? What are some metrics companies can use to measure success on paid, earned and owned channels? Is there more to the world of measurement than ROI? These are just some of the questions you will see answers to in this book.
• Elevating listening within the organization – The first time Chuck and I worked on anything it was back in October 2009 when we introduced the social analytics lifecycle. The premise then was that listening data has utility beyond public relations and marketing. I think I can safely speak for Chuck when I say we still feel the same way now. That being said, the number of organizations capitalizing on listening data in this way is small. This book will give you some tips and tricks to elevate listening within your organization.
• Understanding, measuring and defining influence – This isn’t a book on influence, but to not tackle some of the tools, processes and algorithms available on the market would be a miss in our opinion. There is a lot of misunderstanding about this topic and our hope is that we can turn the boat around.
• Paid media analytics – The book is far from written, but there’s a very good chance that we will be preaching INTEGRATION throughout. While the world has been hyper-focused on social data (rightfully so in a lot of respects), we have missed an opportunity to bring in paid data to make the social story stronger.

That is just a quick sneak preview. We will be covering these topics and more in great depth in the book. For those of you wondering when it is going to be released, it is tentatively scheduled to be released in early January of 2013. Both Chuck and I are very pleased to be working with Pearson on this title, especially after it has worked with people we respect like Jason Falls on other successful books in this space.

I would be remiss if I left off perhaps an important aspect of this book. Chuck and I have decided to follow the lead of Michael Brito and donate the proceeds of the book to charity. My charity is the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association, and Chuck’s is Superhero Kids. Chuck provides details on Superhero Kids in his own post. I’ll share a bit about my choice.

RSDSA is an organization dedicated to promoting public and professional awareness of CRPS and to educate those afflicted with the syndrome, their families, friends, insurance and healthcare providers on the disabling pain it causes. CRPS is a a chronic and volatile neurological syndrome that causes severe and unmanageable pain in many cases. My father suffered from this condition, and I learned first hand the damage that it can inflict on the patient and their family. Given how little awareness and treatment options exist for RSDS sufferers, I cannot imagine an organization more in need of funds to help with its mission.

There are too many people to thank for pushing me toward this pursuit. Needless to say if you are one of them, you’ll be hearing from me throughout this process with many words of thanks. We’re looking forward to this book, and hope you are looking forward to reading it! Thanks for all of your support!