Why Should You Attend a Social Media Conference?

Social media conferences are more important than ever as social media becomes more pervassive in our daily lives and a leading source of product discovery for most consumers. Understanding what work and what is a waste of time for your business is key.

Luckily, we all have bosses and/or bottom lines that smack us back into reality once and while. “Yes, I promise this cat video on YouTube is relevant to our upcoming new user campaign.”

So how can a social media conference help?

I’m glad you asked! Let’s have a look…

1. Networking With Peers

Getting together with a bunch of people that do the same thing you do can do wonders for your social media marketing efforts. Compare notes, get your competitive juices flowing, and discover best practices and common mistakes.

Attending a conference always results in new professional relationships. From the discussions you have in between sessions to the longer relationships, you form with peers that can help out as a sounding board down the road. Offline relationships within your industry can save your sanity and help you advance your career or business.

Since our first conference Social Fresh, we have built-in networking space (this includes time spaces and physical spaces). In between sessions we have more time than most. Our exhibitor space is a lounge. There is no designated lunch space to encourage groups to form.

A lot of the networking benefits of a conference come down to vibes and how much effort the event planners put into the broader event experience. I’ve outlined some of the best marketing conferences in the US specifically based on some of these vibes based benefits. That’s why most of us attend conferences in the first place. For those those great hallway conversations and insghts.

2. Immersive Environment

We can all take a few moments here and there to watch a webinar or read the latest social media research report. But that next meeting or call is always a few moments away holding our attention. Take a day or two at a conference and focus on refreshing your social media skills, and the value of that training increases.

We learn better in serene environments. Where there is a lack of noise. Noise is something social media is really good at creating. A conference can separate you from the distractions of work and the industry long enough for the information to better sink in.

3. Access To Unique Info

Conferences act as a stage for some of the smartest people in the industry. It is a chance for speakers to show off their smarts, vendors to show off their data and tools, and companies like Social Fresh to show off their access to all these wonderful resources. I would say that pulling this type of content together on your own from free webinars and books and blog posts is not even possible.

A lot of the content we ask our speakers to present on are things they may have tweeted about or blogged about. But they have rarely sat down and asked “how do I teach this to others?” That step in itself is a big help to making content more valuable for Social Fresh attendees.

4. Community Affect

Brining together a bunch of smart speakers, top vendors and agencies, leading brands, eager attendees, and a focused/smart curriculum is not easy. But the work is well worth it. All these stakeholders contribute to a learning community at a conference. Each dishing out insights and experiences from the hallway to the stage to the lunch table.

Having this group of people together, in one room, for 2 days, creates an opportunity where learning thrives. Whether you need to learn a few tactical steps to augment some success you are already seeing or maybe you need to a completely new direction to take your marketing in, you will learn better in a community.

—-

Have you benefitted from attending a social media conference? What made it so helpful for you?