Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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
Note: Apply the coupon code MIKALSENTME for 10% off registration!
February 22, 2010 | Los Angeles, California
2010 Gravity Summit
March 9-10, 2010 | Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Managing Social Media
March 10-12, 2010 | Chicago, Illinois
Measure UP: Linking Marketing to Financial Value Creation
March 15-16, 2010 | London, England
Social Media World Forum
March 25, 2010 | Mount Vernon, Washington
2010 Social Media Conference
April 20-23, 2010 | San Mateo, California
NewComm Forum 2010
May 3-5, 2010 | Boston, Massachusetts
Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies Conference
May 3-6, 2010 | San Francisco, California
Web 2.0 Expo
May 23-26, 2010 | Washington, DC
4th International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media
June 16-18, 2010 | Beverly Hills, California
The Social Media Conference
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.