18 Must-Attend Social Media Conferences in 2017

Here’s a list of the top social media marketing conferences for this year.

By Alfred Lua | Apr 06, 2017
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VidCon | Youtube

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Working on social media can be a little lonely at times, especially if you are working as a team of one.

Imagine being around like-minded people who understand your daily struggles and learning from top professionals in the marketing world. Maybe even doing this while on a vacation!

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Social media conferences are the secret to all that. These conferences, ranging from one day to a week, promise talks from top social media experts, workshops on the latest , networking opportunities with fellow marketers and more.

Pro-tip: If you are traveling to any of these conferences, you could also turn it into a mini-vacation.

Here’s a list of 18 top social media marketing conferences for 2017, with all the information you need to know such as date, location and price.

The 18 Best Social Media Marketing Conferences of 2017

Here’s a quick overview of the top social media marketing conferences for the rest of 2017. This list is arranged chronologically. To see more details, click on the respective links.

  1. (April 11-13, Boston)
  2. (April 26-28, Chicago)
  3. (April 26-27, San Francisco)
  4. (May 3-4, Victoria, British Columbia)
  5. (May 17-19, Prague)
  6. (May 22-24, Atlanta)
  7. (June 11-13, Boston)
  8. (June 12-16, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Milan)
  9. (June 15-16, New York)
  10. (June 19-20, London)
  11. (June 21-24, Anaheim)
  12. (September 5-8, Cleveland)
  13. (September 25-28, Boston)
  14. (October 2-4, Austin)
  15. (October 18, Boston)
  16. (November 6-9, Las Vegas)
  17. (TBA)
  18. (September 19-20, Los Angeles)

1. Content Marketing Conference

Date: April 11-13, 2017

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Price: Starting from $1,249

With the mind-blowing amount of content being created daily, wants to give you actionable tips and strategies to create great, engaging content. The talks will cover everything from planning, to creation, to optimization, to distribution and more.

2. Social Media Strategies Summit

Date: April 26-28, 2017

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Price: Starting from $1,599

has been running for seven years now. Apart from the conference in Chicago (), there will also be in New York (SMSS East, October 17-19), Boston (Higher Education, November 2-3) and San Francisco (SMSS West, February 2018).

3. Social Media & Web Analytics Summit

Date: April 26-27, 2017

Location: San Francisco, California

Price: Starting at $1,695 (Recordings and slide decks are available at $600.)

covers more than how to use social media but also how to measure and analyze your social media data to perform better. Besides this summit, the organizer, Innovation Enterprise, hosts more than a hundred and on various topics each year.

4. Social Media Camp

Date: May 3-4, 2017

Location: Victoria, British Columbia

Price: Starting at $599 (Digital tickets are at $97 each.)

is Canada’s largest social media conference, and this year’s conference is its eighth annual event. On top of marketing discussions, there will be sessions on ethics, work-life balance and security on social media. To help you make the most of the conference, there are (social media professionals in various industries), who would tell you which are the best sessions to attend according to your goals and help answer any questions you have after any sessions during the conference.

5. Engage Prague

Date: May 17-19, 2017

Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Price: Starting from $599

is organized by the team at , who provides social media marketing and analytics tools. The first two days will be filled with more than 40 hands-on workshops, and the final day will be a conference. There will also be coming up next.

6. The Social Shake-Up

Date: May 22-24, 2017

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Price: Starting from $1,195

This is organized by and . Speakers from companies such as Twitter, Google and The Coca-Cola Company will teach you about social media marketing, content strategies and PR. One thing in the agenda that stood out for me is the case studies sessions where real-life examples will be discussed.

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7. WistiaFest

Date: June 11-13, 2017

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Price: $750

83 percent of marketers want to create more video content if they aren’t restricted by time or resources. might just be the conference you need to help you improve your marketing efforts through videos.

8. Social Media Week

Date: June 12-16, 2017

Location: Los Angeles, Mexico City and Milan

Price: $799

organizes conferences in 12 cities around the world throughout the year. While the next conferences are in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Milan, there will also be conferences in Jakarta, London, Rotterdam and more for the rest of the year. There are also in more than 10 other cities.

9. Corporate Social Media Summit

Date: June 15-16, 2017

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Price: Starting from $1,995

If you work in a big company, might be the best one for you. You’ll get to hear from leaders of top brands such as Unilever, Adidas, Lego and more. There’ll also be a chance to be paired with one of the speakers, who would discuss and work through your social media strategies through breakout sessions.

10. Digital Marketing World Forum Expo Global

Date: June 19-20, 2017

Location: London, U.K.

Price: Starting at £299 (about $366)

While covers a range of topics from content marketing to AI and VR in digital marketing, it has . Besides this expo, there will also be (3-4 April, Amsterdam) and (dates TBA, New York).

11. VidCon

Date: June 21-24, 2017

Location: Anaheim, California

Price: Starting from $125

is all about online videos, from social media videos to YouTube videos, to even virtual reality videos. While it doesn’t focus purely on the marketing aspect of videos, I believe there’s a lot to learn about creating great videos and engaging your community. VidCon is also happening in (April 7-9, Amsterdam) and (September 9-10, Melbourne).

12. Content Marketing World

Date: September 5-8, 2017

Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Price: Starting from $1,095 (Post-show video access is available at $495.)

The largest content event, , is expecting more than 4,000 attendees and 225 speakers this year. With an amazing of content marketing leaders, it promises to give you all the information you need to create and execute a content marketing plan.

13. INBOUND

Date: September 25-28, 2017

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Price: Starting from $299

, organized by , is probably the most well-known inbound marketing conference around. INBOUND 2016 featured a diverse group of speakers like Gary Vaynerchuck, Anna Kendrick and Serena Williams and had almost 300 breakout sessions with top sales and marketing experts.

14. Spredfast’s Smart Social Summit

Date: October 2-4, 2017

Location: Austin, Texas

Price: VIP pricing of $695 until April 30

was able to get incredible speakers for the previous summit, and I believe, will continue to do so this year. There were keynote speakers such as Cubby Graham, social media strategist of charity : water and also speakers from Airbnb, Twitter, ESPN and more. If you want to see whether you might like the summit, you can catch up on the recaps of the summit .

15. Social Tools Summit

Date: October 18, 2017 (as by the co-founder, Neal Schaffer)

Location: Boston

Price: TBA

If you are a fan of social media tools, is made for you! It is a conference dedicated to social media tools, focusing on the tools that are available and how to use them to maximize the ROI of your social media efforts. There is also a for conference attendees and anyone interested in discussing social media tools and best practices.

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16. PubCon

Date: November 6-9, 2017

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Price: Starting at $349

was listed as one of the must-attend conferences for entrepreneurs in in 2013. While it is a social media and SEO conference, it covers a wide range of other marketing topics such as SEM, content, email and more.

17. Social Fresh Conference

Date: TBA (Social Fresh 2016 was at August 18-21.)

Location: TBA (Social Fresh 2016 was at Orlando, Florida.)

Price: TBA (Tickets for Social Fresh 2016 started at $1,450.)

is a social media marketing education company which creates articles, podcasts, research and courses. It has also organized 18 so far! I believe Social Fresh will host another conference this year, and it’ll be a great one to look out for.

18. CMX Summit

Date: September 19-20, 2017

Location: Los Angeles, Calif.

Price: $749

A great thing about social media is being able to engage and connect with your customers and community. is one of the top conferences for community builders. If you are curious about the types of talks at CMX Summit, the CMX Hub team is awesome enough to share all the talks from their past events on .

Working on social media can be a little lonely at times, especially if you are working as a team of one.

Imagine being around like-minded people who understand your daily struggles and learning from top professionals in the marketing world. Maybe even doing this while on a vacation!

Related:

Alfred Lua • Community and Marketing at Buffer

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