Upcoming Social Media Conferences

With the economy starting to show signs of improvement, businesses are shifting their focus from how do we survive to how do we grow. When the recession hit, we saw a gradual shift by marketers away from traditional marketing practices and toward online, on-demand venues that eventually fueled a significant deterioration of the traditional marketing model.

The move from traditional to interactive--from push to pull marketing--offered ground floor opportunities for start-ups and businesses of all sizes to combine marketing and advertising with true customer engagement, which is something traditional marketing never offered. Now, with social media, companies are starting to realize that they can tap into timely interaction with customers and prospects at a fraction of the cost associated with traditional marketing.

But, as the folks coordinating a conference this March in Chicago say in their conference registration brochure;

It's a new world with new rules, lower tolerance for errors, and intensified scrutiny over expenditures . . . Every second, every penny and every decision counts, and CEOs across industries are counting on you, more than ever, to demonstrate where and how marketing investments can translate into profitable growth.

Enough said. If your start-up or business is interested in taking its social media-related marketing efforts to the next level, here are some conferences you should consider attending:

February 16, 2010 | San Diego, California

BlogWell

For more information, visit the BlogWell website

Note: Apply the coupon code MIKALSENTME for 10% off registration!

February 22, 2010 | Los Angeles, California

2010 Gravity Summit

For more information, visit the Gravity Summit website

March 9-10, 2010 | Calgary, Alberta, Canada

For more information, visit Managing Social Media

March 10-12, 2010 | Chicago, Illinois

Measure UP: Linking Marketing to Financial Value Creation

For more information, visit the Measure Up website

March 15-16, 2010 | London, England

Social Media World Forum

For more information, visit the Social Media World Forum website

March 25, 2010 | Mount Vernon, Washington

2010 Social Media Conference

For more information, visit the 2010 Social Media Conference website

April 20-23, 2010 | San Mateo, California

NewComm Forum 2010

For more information, visit the NewComm Forum website

May 3-5, 2010 | Boston, Massachusetts

Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies Conference

For more information, visit the Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies Conference website

May 3-6, 2010 | San Francisco, California

Web 2.0 Expo

For more information, visit the Web 2.0 Expo website

May 23-26, 2010 | Washington, DC

4th International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media

For more information, visit the ICWSM-10 website

June 16-18, 2010 | Beverly Hills, California

The Social Media Conference

For more information, visit The Social Media Conference website

While the above list of social media conferences is by no means inclusive of every single event taking place between now and June, it does highlight some that you and your team should consider attending. That said, if your event or an event you're attending is not included on this list, please feel free to leave some basic event info by commenting below.