6 Best Social Media Conferences In 2013

Over at Windmill Networking, social media expert Neil Schaffer put together his annual list of the best social media conferences to attend this year. His initiative inspired us to put together our own roundup. Break out the frequent flyer miles. In order by date: Social Media Week: February 18-22, New York, Copenhagen, Lagos, Hamburg, Milan, Miami, Paris, Singapore, DC and Tokyo. Social Media Week is a worldwide event exploring the social, cultural and economic impact of social media. It's grown, in under five years, to more than 100k members in 26 cities around the world. This year, SMW takes place in 10 cities around the globe (see above). Join the global conversation by attending Social Media Week in your city, online via livestreaming channels or through social media using #SMW13. Previous speakers have included founder & CEO of Tumblr David Karp; Paul Adams of Facebook; Jeff Berman of the NFL; Caroline Drucker of Etsy; and Beverly Jackson of the Grammy Awards. Social Media World Forum: March 18–19, 2013, London. The Social Media World Forum, also known as #SMWF, aims to connect marketers, digital brand managers, agencies and social tools and platforms while promoting itself as a showcase of best practice in social media marketing strategies. The conference also runs in New York, but that edition just passed in November 2012. Inbound Marketing Summit: April 3–4, 2013, New York City, New York; June 18–19, 2013, San Francisco, California; October, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts. Inbound Marketing Summit is the one event that brings together enterprise CMOs, business leaders, agency execs and their teams, awesome keynotes, expert panels, plus solutions providers and their tools. Learn about the latest in social strategy and branding, content marketing, online video, Social CRM, mobile payments and more - and enjoy pay-what-you-want pricing. Social Media Marketing World: April 7–9, 2013, San Diego, California. Brought to you by Social Media Examiner, Social Media Marketing World claims to be the world's largest social media marketing conference. Brands presenting include: Sony Electronics, Ebay, Walmart, Cisco, Zappos.com, Sharpie, Dell, Whole Foods, SAP, Citrix, Dun & Bradstreet, Caterpillar, Taylormade and San Diego Zoo. BlogWell: April 17, 2013, New York, New York; June 19, 2013, Chicago, Illinois; August 6, 2013, Bay Area, California. Eight great case studies on the best social media programs at large companies are presented to audiences, this year in three locations around the country. This year's presentations so far include TD Bank, Walgreen's, ComEd and Wendy's. Social Fresh Conference (East): April 18–19, 2013, Tampa Bay, Florida. If you're looking for a non-conferencey social media conference, this is your best bet. The Social Fresh team curates one track for the conference (so you don't have to mix and match your own schedule and hope you don't miss out on the best discussions), includes no panels, limits sessions to 30 minutes to avoid fatigue and maximize value, and places a huge focus on group learning. And one bonus: If you aren't able to attend a social media conference in person, you're not out of luck. Mediabistro's Social Media Bootcamp is pretty spectacular. This virtual event takes place from Feb 21-April 11. Over eight weeks, you'll participate in a dynamic online event to tune in to live weekly video webcasts, participate in ongoing forum discussions, complete strategic assignments, and work with a small group to receive one-on-one feedback on your social media plans. Register before Jan 24 to save! (Image from Shutterstock)

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6 Best Social Media Conferences In 2013

Allison Stadd

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Allison Stadd